Survey: Package theft totaled $12.8 billion in 2025
Package theft remains a persistent problem for Americans.
Nearly a third (30%) of U.S. households reported having a package stolen in the past year, according to a new survey from Omnisend that combined FBI crime data. In total, Americans lost an estimated $12.8 billion from approximately 228 million stolen packages in 2025.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of victims received a refund or a free replacement, costing retailers an estimated $7.9 billion in 2025. A further 16% were offered a discount or store credit. Roughly a quarter (24%) of retailers refused responsibility entirely.
In response to porch piracy, 23% of victims order online less often, while 18% limit purchases to retailers with easy refund policies and 12% shift to lockers or in-store pickup. Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed by Omnisned reported no change to their habits at all following package theft.
Omnisend’s report shows that theft clusters seasonally, with nearly half of all incidents occurring in November and December. December is the peak month, with 27% of victims hit during the holiday rush and November (21%) close behind.
"When you have 228 million stolen packages with retailers quietly absorbing $7.9 billion of that loss, it stops being a consumer inconvenience and starts being an industry-wide cost of doing business," says Marty Bauer, e-commerce expert at Omnisend. "The retailers who will win long-term will be those who are building delivery and returns infrastructure around the reality that roughly a third of their customers will face this at some point."
[READ MORE: Survey: Consumers over 45 make up growing share of U.S. e-commerce market]
Additional highlights from Omnisend’s survey include the following:
- Clothing, shoes & jewelry tops the list of stolen categories at 37% — more than double the next. Electronics (18%), home & kitchen (17%) and toys & games (17%) follow.
- Nationwide, households averaged 1.8 stolen packages over the year, but in Arizona that figure climbs to 3.7, and in Kentucky to 2.9. Oklahoma (0.1) and Minnesota (0.4) see the fewest package thefts per year on average.
- By total dollar losses, California, New York and Texas together account for approximately 28% of all money lost to theft nationwide.
"The data makes it clear that thieves are taking anything that arrives,” added Bauer. “A jacket, a toy, a kitchen gadget. That's what makes the holiday season so dangerous: more packages, more doors, more opportunity.”
Omnisend’s survey included 1,000 U.S. adults and was fielded in March 2026.
