Porch piracy outranks break-ins as top holiday worry for people living alone
An S-1 survey found Koreans living alone worry more about parcels left at their door than break-ins when they travel, highlighting growing demand for remote home monitoring.
Delivery boxes are seen at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Sept. 29, days before the Chuseok holiday.
YONHAP
People living alone in Korea are more worried about the parcel outside their door than about a burglar getting in while they are away on holiday, a survey by the security company S-1 found.
The security firm said on Sunday that it had asked 7,556 of its own commercial security customers what they feared most when they went away on holiday.
Theft of deliveries left at the door was the top concern for 59.1 percent of people in single-person households.
Break-ins came in second at 46.2 percent.
Among women living alone, 51.4 percent said they worried that the name and address printed on a delivery slip could reveal they live alone.
While stacks of newspapers and milk bottles once signaled an empty house, a delivery box now signals both the recipient's residency status and that they are out.
Multi-person households were warier of unfamiliar people. Strangers approaching their home was the top concern at 55 percent, followed by break-ins at 43.7 percent and the frustration of not being able to check on the house from a distance at 43.1 percent. In households that include parents, 35.8 percent worried about older parents left behind.
Those fears reflected lived experience. More than half of all respondents — 53.3 percent — said they have encountered at least one threat after leaving home. More specifically, unfamiliar traces at the front door were the most common at 36.5 percent, followed by a delivery going missing at 16.2 percent and a stranger caught on the CCTV at 10.2 percent.
The wish to look in on the house from a holiday spot cut across household types — 83.8 percent of single-person households and 87.0 percent of multiperson households expressed such a desire.
S-1 also asked whether respondents would use a "home security system" that detects trouble at the door and lets a user check remotely and call for a dispatch. Of single-person households, 53.4 percent said they would. Among multiperson households, the figure was 57.2 percent.
S-1 also asked whether respondents would use a home security system that detected trouble at the front door and allowed users to check the situation and call for help remotely. Of single-person households, 53.4 percent said they would use such a system, as did 57.2 percent of multi-person households.
BY KIM IN-KYOUNG [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
