Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 940 posts

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#101

Post by kaivi »

cosmotron wrote: post #73

What are people's thoughts on if this is staged? Considering the views / subscriptions are the main motivation here, it might justify the expenses poured into this project – that is, it would be quite a waste if all that effort went into the build just to have no one actually take it off the porch. If actors were used, it would explain the lack of police involvement (it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ). A…

I've had the same thought when I first saw it. Some suspicious things: thieves talking to themselves, that lady throwing the box into her own garbage bin, zero attempt at disassembly or closer inspection of the box, no police involved.

Also GPS is just not that good for locating anything of that size in given circumstances, and it would not have worked in the parking garage.

Too many things could have gone wrong here, but they did not. The design is subpar in my opinion, for somebody who worked on a Mars rover. Custom printed board plus a bunch of smartphones, seriously?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#102

Post by hossbeast »

ataturk wrote: post #43

I would like people to stop doing this childish nonsense. There is a guy who does "Operation Krampus" every year and brags about putting gifts out filled with cat shit. And people think he's so funny and cool. Thing is, he could be spending his time doing something uplifting and productive instead of being a low-life asshole himself. It's not funny, first of all. It's childish. It isn't in keeping with the spirit of…

You did not watch the video. Some of the theives caught on video live in nice homes. And yet they're stealing packages from a stranger's doorstep. Why?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#103

Post by TomVDB »

ataturk wrote: post #43

I would like people to stop doing this childish nonsense. There is a guy who does "Operation Krampus" every year and brags about putting gifts out filled with cat shit. And people think he's so funny and cool. Thing is, he could be spending his time doing something uplifting and productive instead of being a low-life asshole himself. It's not funny, first of all. It's childish. It isn't in keeping with the spirit of…

> It’s not funny

I think you just have a different sense of humor than many others.

This project has clever engineering, excellent presentation, tackles a problem that many of us have to deal with during the holidays, and ... it’s funny.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#105

Post by mirimir »

Yes, he did a great job on design and construction.

But I wonder if sought legal advice before implementing. Because, as others have noted, I gather that booby traps are illegal in the US. Maybe this one is benign enough, but I rather doubt it.

Also, while it's true that thieves aren't so likely to press claims, what about parents of juvenile thieves?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#107

Post by alkonaut »

chrisseaton wrote: post #35

I don't understand why the delivery people just leave packages on porches? Why not leave somewhere safe and out of view? Or leave it with a neighbour?

If I’m not home then I get the package delivered to a post office or more commonly the shop on he corner (a network of thousands of little shops acting as pickup points). I think it’s a good trade off between convenience and safety.

What delivery options do large online retailers in the US offer if you absolutely don’t want a package left on your porch?

Here it’s usually

- directly to pickup point: free for orders over say $50 or $100, otherwise $10

- to door, or pickup point if not home: $20

Very rarely is there free delivery to the door.

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#109

Post by dageshi »

kaivi wrote: post #101
cosmotron wrote: post #73

What are people's thoughts on if this is staged? Considering the views / subscriptions are the main motivation here, it might justify the expenses poured into this project – that is, it would be quite a waste if all that effort went into the build just to have no one actually take it off the porch. If actors were used, it would explain the lack of police involvement (it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ). A…

I've had the same thought when I first saw it. Some suspicious things: thieves talking to themselves, that lady throwing the box into her own garbage bin, zero attempt at disassembly or closer inspection of the box, no police involved. Also GPS is just not that good for locating anything of that size in given circumstances, and it would not have worked in the parking garage. Too many things could have gone wrong here…

> Custom printed board plus a bunch of smartphones, seriously?

Why wouldn't you use this? Seems like if you want to push video data over the cell phone network then using some cheapo android phones with data sims is by far and away the simplest and most robust solution? Anything you build yourself to do that job is gonna be way more prone to error?

Re: Glitter bomb tricks parcel thieves

#110

Post by tylerl »

cosmotron wrote: post #73

What are people's thoughts on if this is staged? Considering the views / subscriptions are the main motivation here, it might justify the expenses poured into this project – that is, it would be quite a waste if all that effort went into the build just to have no one actually take it off the porch. If actors were used, it would explain the lack of police involvement (it's easy to say, "police weren't interested" ). A…

Given who made the video, I'd give it about a 0% probably of being staged. That's not Mark's gig.
Post reply on HN