Disappearing deliveries cost online shoppers £250m last year as Britons shun leaving packages with neighbours
Sometimes, it seems, the postman doesn't ring at all.
More than 3.6m unlucky online shoppers have been sent a package that has gone missing or not been delivered in the past year, according to figures released today by Direct Line Home Insurance.
The disappearing deliveries have cost Britons more than £250m, with the average value of a missing package reaching £68.
More than 18m people have had a package go missing or undelivered in the last five years, Direct Line said, making up 41 per cent of the UK's online shoppers.
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For one in 10 online buyers, the average value of an absent delivery was £300.50, while more than one in five (22 per cent) have had multiple packages go missing in the last five years.
Direct Line said a "reluctance to leave packages with their neighbours" could be one cause.
Almost half, 45 per cent, of the 2,000 people surveyed said they did not want to burden their neighbours with their packages, while 32 per cent said their neighbour works and would not be around for a collection.
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However, around 14 per cent of respondents said they did not trust or like their neighbours.
And more than two million, around five per cent, have gone a step further and explicitly requested that delivery drivers do not leave their packages with a neighbour they do not trust or get on with.
Direct Line said young people were less likely to leave packages with their neighbours than older generations, with double the number of 18 to 34-year-olds who refuse to leave their parcels reporting they do not get on with their neighbours – 18 per cent of young people vs nine per cent of older people.