Most people go away for a few weeks’ holiday each year. When you are away and your house is unattended it is vulnerable. There are some basic precautions which you should take.

 

Remember Security

In the excitement of planning your holiday remember that you should be making your holiday arrangements with the security of your house in mind.

Think Ahead – Deliveries

When approaching holiday times, in everything you do remember that you are planning to be away between given dates. Avoid ordering anything that may be delivered when you are away. When you do place orders, make sure that even if the delivery is later than the suppliers have promised, any goods you order will all be delivered before you go away.

If you have any doubts that a delivery will be made before you leave, or want to order something that will arrive while you are away, ask a neighbour or family member if you can have it delivered to their house.

Don’t under any circumstances have it delivered to your home address. Packages waiting on doorsteps are tempting to a casual thief, as well as advertising to a whole range of people that you are not at home and may not be around for a few days.

Leaving Notes

No matter what the excuse, never, ever leave a note on the door. Notes such as ‘Milkman – we are on holiday – no milk until 18th August’, or perhaps ‘On holiday until 18th August ALL Deliveries to Number 7 Please’ are a gift to criminals. Remember even a note saying ‘gone to shops back in five minutes’ may be enough to tempt a burglar.

Junk Mail And Circulars

Your letterbox and front step are important to maintaining your security. For a few weeks before your departure keep an eye on what is delivered. Not just the usual post and milk, it is the ‘unwanted deliveries’ that could be a problem. Free newspapers, circulars, flyers and pizza advertisements all flow through my letterbox or more often are just dumped onto the doorstep. I haven’t asked for any of them, I have no interest in them and they all go straight into the rubbish bin. Unfortunately, these are the deliveries that can cause you problems.

If not collected and disposed of, within a few days they could overflow your letterbox and doorstep, cascading out to blow around the garden for all to see. This is a clear indication that you are not at home and, by the time the doorstep is stacked up with this rubbish you clearly haven’t been there for some days. That will attract the attention of the local criminals.

In my area a free newspaper is published and supposed to be delivered every Wednesday, but it is actually usually delivered on a Saturday or Sunday by youngsters who cannot be bothered to push it though a letterbox. They fling it onto the doorstep in any weather, where it either gets soaked or blows around the garden. Worse than that it frequently contains other mail shots, which the ill-advised advertisers have paid to be delivered on the issue date.

I contacted the circulation manager of the publisher to complain, but she wasn’t interested. I tried to contact somebody with more seniority in her organisation, but I was brushed off, so I contacted some of the advertisers.

I collected a handful of the delayed mail shots in the next issue and looked through them. Some were advertising special promotions and offers that had finished by the time the paper was delivered so I began calling those companies. I asked about the offers to check that they had expired, then asked if they knew that their advertising material had been circulated late, after their closing date. I asked if they were happy that their advertising handouts were dumped on doorsteps and not pushed through letterboxes.

I asked if they cared that because of the late delivery and careless handling households by their association with the publishers of the free paper people were feeling annoyed with them and their products. I gave my name and told them I would be willing to support any claim they may want to make against the distributors.

Within a week I had a phone call from a smarmy man who introduced himself as a senior executive with the publishers of the free paper. He assured me that the past problems had been resolved and that a number of delivery staff had been disciplined. For a couple of weeks things were fine then they went back to their old ways, this time the free paper took my call, and this time they removed me from their circulation list, so I am not bothered with their annoying and forest denuding trash any more!

Whatever you do, make sure that while you have carefully managed and cancelled all deliveries this junk mail doesn’t spoil all your good work. Where possible get somebody to check the property each day, and if possible spend a few hours there, to make the place look lived in. Remember to make absolutely sure that they secure the house when they leave though!