Secure Your Deliveries: Preventing Package Theft & Ensuring Home Security - Around the House® Home Improvement: The New Generation of DIY, Design and Construction

Episode 1745

Secure Your Deliveries: Preventing Package Theft & Ensuring Home Security

In an age where online shopping is more prevalent than ever, the rise of package theft has become a growing concern for homeowners everywhere. But fear not! Join us on our podcast journey as we delve into the world of home security and share invaluable insights on how to safeguard your deliveries and protect your home.

In this episode we'll explore various strategies and technologies designed to thwart package thieves and fortify your home against intruders. We talk with Jeff Kutas from MB Sentinel about his products to stop those package thefts once and for all.

Tune in to "Secure Your Deliveries" and empower yourself with the knowledge and resources needed to outsmart package thieves and create a safer, more secure environment for you and your loved ones. After all, protecting what matters most starts right at your doorstep.

For more information about MB Sentinel check them out at https://mbsentinel.com/

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

Mentioned in this episode:

King Water Filtration. Your answer to clean and amazing tasting water! Don’t miss out on this amazing sale on a product made right here in the USA at King water filtration .com that’s king water filtration.com and don’t forget promo code Eric-23

Around the House Insider!

Around the House Insider! Join us and get: Early Access to the Weekend Show on Thursday Extedened Exclusive Episodes of select Weekend Shows Access to the back catalog of Around the House Show Special Access to Eric G with a special email address Special upcoming member exclusive shows

Around the House Insider

Baldwin Hardware

Baldwin Hardware

Transcript
[:

[00:00:23] Jeff Kutas: It's going to have a price point of 795 shipped right now. So in our closest product that would even that they had as a choice of our 2, 500. So we recognize that there's a, there's another customer there that really needs this product and sorry guys, that we came off with the luxury line first, but that's where the business started for us.

[:

[00:00:50] Eric Goranson: Welcome to the round the house show, the next generation of [00:01:00] home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house, online. com to find out everything about us, whether it's the radio show, the podcast, the TV show, there's information there.

[:

[00:01:33] Eric Goranson: Thanks for having us. Thanks brother. I appreciate you taking the time. I know how busy you are. You guys have really just taken over the market. On protecting people's online packages, deliveries, when it shows up on the front doorstep and that driver walks away.

[:

[00:01:55] Jeff Kutas: It's been quite a time just understanding what all the solutions are that everyone [00:02:00] requires for package delivery. It's not the same. We all have the same problem, but we don't require the same solution. MB Sentinel. Notice which solution is right for you. And it's only because we've had an opportunity to speak with everyone that requires a package delivery device, which who isn't that right.

[:

[00:02:24] Eric Goranson: Man, we've all driven down the street, seen our neighbor's houses, and they've got to the UPS, FedEx, Amazon, whatever's stacked up out front.

[:

[00:02:41] Jeff Kutas: order. You're exactly right. And that's a lot of homes in America, right? Super excited that we're in a position to make communities safer again, just one home at a time.

[:

[00:03:17] Jeff Kutas: Absolutely.

[:

[00:03:30] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. And that wall insert is amazing. It comes in two different sizes for both residential and commercial.

[:

[00:03:56] Jeff Kutas: And we're going to talk about some of that. I expect. But imagine your mom [00:04:00] never having to return a package or you never to return it for her. You do it right from the convenience of her home or your home. And then to think that she's never going to have to go on the front porch again to risk a slip and fall outside.

[:

[00:04:21] Eric Goranson: Absolutely. And yeah, we're going to talk about that in a little bit, but I think it's really good.

[:

[00:04:42] Eric Goranson: However, your house is laid out with the front porch or access and it just secures those packages.

[:

[00:05:04] Jeff Kutas: But as it turns out, we went and did the research and it actually need to be wider than that. So. If you can cut a window in and have to put a header in and below this, it's going to require that because it doesn't offer the capacity that it would need to, to make that work or to just fit between those studs, but it's really a simple product to install.

[:

[00:05:26] Eric Goranson: you're good to go. You are good to go. Really easy. So, and I love it because it's insulated. It's well built. You guys have just really thought out all the details on this and it looks good too. So it's not going to cramp your style.

[:

[00:05:57] Jeff Kutas: And it's just, everything's just very well done. And that's all we like to do. [00:06:00] And that's perfect, brother. That's absolutely

[:

[00:06:14] Jeff Kutas: for your porch.

[:

[00:06:36] Eric Goranson: On some of those too. It's great because not everybody has that spot that they can drop in. Maybe they don't have a garage. Maybe they don't have a, that's a more older house. It's in the middle of the city and you're really limited on what you can fit, or even some of the townhomes out there where it makes it a little harder to do.

[:

[00:06:51] Jeff Kutas: some great solutions for that coming up. Absolutely. People just, if they could help us understand how they receive packages now, it's pretty much that simple. [00:07:00] We can help them determine which solution is right for them. So, whether you're going to integrate something into a fence, where you need it to be a two door cabinet, or whether you want to put it in the garage so that we can keep the packets off your porch and get those products right into your house.

[:

[00:07:17] Eric Goranson: is

[:

[00:07:18] Eric Goranson: so cool to be able to have a solution for that. Cause you know, I don't know. It's funny at my house and more than once my wife's come home, take out a pictures of her front porch. And the FedEx UPS driver basically eliminated access to the front door because the 12 boxes were stacked up on the porch and there's no way you're getting in there without moving a bunch of stuff out of the way.

[:

[00:07:44] Jeff Kutas: The box got, it was certainly do that. You can convey packages into your garage at a large capacity, turns your garage into like its own receiving center. So it's just, it would definitely help you in that regard for sure.

[:

[00:08:16] Eric Goranson: So she's wheelchair walker, depending on the day of the week. But she is so scared to go across that door threshold and get outside because she could end up in a situation where it's harder for her to get in, or she might not able to get back in that, especially if that package is six, eight, 10 feet away, or in many cases with people, it's down a step or two, and that's a whole new fear factor for them.

[:

[00:08:55] Jeff Kutas: So you don't have to run over to mom's house to get the package off the porch or call a neighbor to do it. It really [00:09:00] just affords you that piece of time and just to be at peace to know that you've got that last step covered, whether you're bringing them into your home. Or put it in a secure place at your front gated entrance.

[:

[00:09:24] Jeff Kutas: So certainly look forward to helping people understand that experience. I think it's really

[:

[00:09:41] Eric Goranson: If you've got a conditioned space that's dropping into, for instance, with a box gobbler or one of those, it's going into your residence. It's a lot of sense.

[:

[00:09:59] Jeff Kutas: [00:10:00] Right? So instead of putting a bench on your front porch to have a nice place for mom to have her stuff be seen by everybody just so she can pick it up, it's, we moved that front, that bench into the garage. It offers the same solution without having it exposed to the elements or to the evildoers that are passing by.

[:

[00:10:19] Eric Goranson: yeah, it's crazy out there. We've had some, it's made the news here a couple of times that we had delivery trucks driving around and we had the, I'll call them undesirables following it around a couple of blocks behind them. And just hitting them as they drop off and people go up, steal it off the porch.

[:

[00:10:52] Eric Goranson: I think some of these other people are trying to get, take the easy way out and sell stuff online, if you know what I mean.

[:

[00:11:06] Jeff Kutas: So many of them have closed those poor shoplifters. They just don't have anywhere to steal anything anymore. So they're coming to your front door. So it's yeah, there's a lot of things for every action. There's a reaction. But we love package delivery at our home and heck, why wouldn't we? Now we just got to get that last step solution figured out.

[:

[00:11:24] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that. Cause I remember it's gotten to the point. Now, if I walk into, it doesn't matter if it's home Depot Lowe's target, let's just throw a major retailer out there. I don't want to stand there and wait for 10 minutes for somebody to come unlock that cage for me.

[:

[00:11:52] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah. It's, it's definitely, we've had a great reception for our products since we started doing this and really, like I said, have gone through all the motions to understand what all the [00:12:00] different scenarios are and yeah, we look forward to helping people get that time and that peace of mind back in their life too.

[:

[00:12:21] Jeff Kutas: There's really not a completely perfect solution, but this is so spot on for every type of scenario. We're super excited to have the privilege to be here at this point in time when it's so needed. And you guys are doing a

[:

[00:12:40] Eric Goranson: Jude's. Cause I just love Jeff. You guys is just give back attitude with MB Sentinel.

[:

[00:13:02] Jeff Kutas: Jude dream home program is. It's where these builders, they go out there and they build these homes. They work with all the building material. So Suppliers and everybody's working hard in the community to get this house up at a zero fixed cost is their goal. So they can donate these funds back for such a great cause.

[:

[00:13:34] Jeff Kutas: There's a lot of strain on these building materials companies to have to supply these, these great, uh, opportunities each year. But so with our company, we recognize that. And for those builders, once they have the experience with a product, they start proliferating into their communities. And we take a percentage of those sales and put it back into the dream home program to help support that the best that we can.

[:

[00:14:03] Eric Goranson: And you guys are just killing with that and I just love it because every time you and I talk Not in the media not anything else. We're talking like you're always talking about what you guys are doing with that And I just love the passion behind it This this isn't and I can say this guys just as just friend here that this is not just some marketing ploy These guys are really doing all they can to help these guys out So hats off to you brother for what you guys You're you and your team are doing here to help those guys out because it's such a great program that raises A ton of money for st.

[:

[00:14:33] Jeff Kutas: Oh, yeah, St. Jude, it's a great foundation. It's our favorite and we're so privileged to have the opportunity to work with all these builders across the nation. And introduce our products to them and further develop the opportunities to make communities safer. So it's, it's going to be interesting to see how this develops, but I think at some point in time that these law enforcement areas are going to notice what we don't get a lot of culture package stuff over there when Fresno.

[:

[00:15:07] Eric Goranson: Nice. I want to ask some questions of you just what your recommendations are for people because you know, we've got a lot of people listen to the show out there and they're like, okay, how does this work in my application?

[:

[00:15:29] Jeff Kutas: What you're talking about, Eric, is you're talking about solving my problem.

[:

[00:15:47] Jeff Kutas: So we're just wearing these postal carriers out. It's a phase of us. We hadn't quite got the prime trucks rolling yet. And that whole service. And we had all these contract carriers rolling around after you, but USPS, they're the ones that started making all these package deliveries. [00:16:00] It was, that's where I developed this idea.

[:

[00:16:19] Jeff Kutas: So if you need a curbside combination mail and package delivery safe. We've got it. If you need a package delivery safe that's drive adjacent because you have a gated entrance on your place and you just, you want to pull up in your gated entrance and receive your packages through a front door and it's only a front loader.

[:

[00:16:53] Jeff Kutas: Thanks brother. Now I want to

[:

[00:17:01] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah, we can talk about whatever we want, man. It's a package delivery. It's a, there are no secrets for us. We're out there, right? We're working hard to lead this thing.

[:

[00:17:31] Jeff Kutas: It's built more or less like a 2 by 2 ice chest. We can get one that's 2 by 3 and the lid comes up from the top. So it doesn't offer all the other ergonomic features that we do with our finger bottom designs and cabinets. That we work with in a lot of the luxury home placements, but this product is a solution it's a battery operated.

[:

[00:18:12] Jeff Kutas: So we recognize that there's a, there's another customer there that really needs this product and sorry guys that we came off with the luxury line first, but that's where the business started for us. It's where we decided to grow the business and develop one. And now we're coming back to the middle market and having a great time helping everyone.

[:

[00:18:34] Eric Goranson: Nice. And then you have a planter one coming out too, don't you? Or am I getting the cat out of the bag too early?

[:

[00:18:45] Jeff Kutas: Super cool. And we actually have, you know, quite a bit more merchandise to do on our website, but we have a full service mail and package to be safe that has the full electronics and security of all our other products that also has a planner top available for it now, too. So we understand [00:19:00] everyone's home is their castle and.

[:

[00:19:21] Jeff Kutas: So there it is security through obscurity, check out the planner safe. And that comes in a bunch of different colors too, doesn't it? It does. It does. Yeah. There there's a, gosh, I'd have to look at the names of the 10, but yes, there's a variety of colors and it's outside of boys. One that was super cool on your website with that one or something, or maybe you sent it to me.

[:

[00:19:51] Eric Goranson: It's great, man. It's a lot of style with that and I love what you're doing with it.

[:

[00:20:03] Jeff Kutas: right for them. Yeah, there's a look for him to go check us out at, uh, and several. com. It's what haven't we talked about?

[:

[00:20:25] Jeff Kutas: You know, call your wife up and maybe meet her for dinner somewhere and not have to worry about what's on the porch or you're not going to have to rush home anymore. So what we love to do is educate people about beyond package security and keeping those things safe. The experience that you're going to have with our products, it's the thing about how often you use your dishwasher at home or your washing machine, this is, it's really a household appliance.

[:

[00:21:03] Jeff Kutas: And that'll bring you right to us. Yeah. And if you want to follow me on LinkedIn, I hang out there a lot too. Just look up. Oh yeah. You do have our conversations over there. I love

[:

[00:21:11] Jeff Kutas: Oh yeah, no, it's great. We've got an awesome following with the architects and interior designers. They've done a great job of helping us help guide us through the solutions that people need.

[:

[00:21:35] Jeff Kutas: Eric, it's always be with you, man. You're doing an awesome job. Thank you so much for having us,

[:

[00:21:54] Eric Goranson: And what he's been doing with St. Jude's is absolutely amazing. That guy is such an entrepreneur [00:22:00] that likes to give. He is just one of my favorite people out there. So he's one of those guys. Once you get to know, you can tell that he's heading in the right direction and it's a great way to keep security front of mind.

[:

[00:22:40] Eric Goranson: And it doesn't matter what neighborhood you're in, it could be good, it could be good, it could be better, it could be bad, it could be amazing, everybody is at risk. And so here are my tips and tricks. And I want to talk about this for the rest of the hour here to really make sure that you've got those things dialed in to make sure your house is [00:23:00] safe.

[:

[00:23:29] Eric Goranson: So that's the first one. How easy is it? And then second of all, really, I start to get into lighting because a well lit place It's going to expose anybody trying to get into there. Now, of course, there's always brazen attacks and things like that, but the more you look like you have paid attention to security of your home, the better chance you have of them going down the street.

[:

[00:24:13] Eric Goranson: Can people get into your backyard easily? Can they walk up, cut across your lawn and walk right into your backyard and maybe take out a back sliding glass door or maybe pry open a window back there? The better you have security from there. The harder it is for people to get back there and make a scene while they're trying to do it.

[:

[00:24:54] Eric Goranson: And there's a lot of great products out there for a wood gate. If you've got a cedar fence [00:25:00] or a wood fence going around there, there are some great products out there. And we actually just talked about one and I showed the install in my around the house, Northwest television show, just a few weeks ago.

[:

[00:25:31] Eric Goranson: Look, it is a keyless gate lock. That really makes it easy to get in and out. And so instead of having that cable that goes through there, they have a combination lock on the front that you put in the four digit combination. And when that does is a pops open a door and it pulls on a cable on the lats on the other side that has a cover over it.

[:

[00:26:09] Eric Goranson: Take a look at it, but it is a very solid, safe, and secure way to lock that fence. And something that simple can really change the security around your house and still have to be able to go in and out of it very easily. You still have full access. Cause there's nothing worse than a fence where you've got a lock on one side, you go up to go in the other side.

[:

[00:26:54] Eric Goranson: And anytime you're just out having fun around the house. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. [00:27:00] Welcome back to the around the house show. The next generation in home improvement. If you're just joining us, you missed an amazing interview with Jeff from MB Sentinel, where we talked about keeping your packages safe.

[:

[00:27:48] Eric Goranson: Another security thing that I really want you to take a look at. Which is part of a smart home system, but it's easy. And this is making sure that you've got lights that are turning on and off [00:28:00] around the house during the day and night when you're gone. Now, here's the cool thing back in the eighties, nineties.

[:

[00:28:24] Eric Goranson: I use Samsung smart things cause it works well with all the different pieces out there. It's pretty universal, but I think it's really cool with that is that you can do this and when you're gone, you can turn lights on and off. Or you can program it to do it automatically. So like when I go to bed at night, I don't want to go around and turn this off, turn this on, turn this off and do that.

[:

[00:29:11] Eric Goranson: And that could be depending on the light outside. It could be dark. Or you want blinds to open up depending on what you've got going. It's a great way to make your house look like there's somebody there, even when there's nobody there weeks on end. And that's what's really cool with that. And I can also set up alerts on my garage door opener, which is just a simple Chamberlain or LiftMaster garage door.

[:

[00:29:59] Eric Goranson: [00:30:00] And when you want it to have your door locks opened up, it's great. Now, some of these things lift master also has this garage door key pad. So if somebody comes up, it's their video key pad. It's pretty inexpensive. It's battery powered. If someone comes up and starts playing with it, it'll shoot you video in the app.

[:

[00:30:40] Eric Goranson: And what it does is it shoves that bolt in front of one of the wheels. So when you close your door, it goes clunk and locks it. So you don't have to worry about somebody coming up with a tool fishing, pushing on the door a little bit and releasing that upper lock release to get the door open. It doesn't happen.

[:

[00:31:18] Eric Goranson: And that's a great little key right there to make it sure your house is safe. Now here's another one that I've been following and it's getting to be a bigger deal out there, especially with people that have newer cars. You do not. Want to keep your car keys on a hook by your front door because nowadays people can come up there and Hack into the your car take the code that's off of those without even going in your house And they can go through figure out what that code is And then turn around, unlock your car.

[:

[00:32:14] Eric Goranson: Didn't set off any alarms, didn't set off anything. So it's a good practice. If your car keys keep them 10, 15 feet away from that front door, make sure they're not right by the front door. Cause technically somebody can get that signal from those keys and get access into your car, especially if you've got a newer one and hack into it.

[:

[00:32:53] Eric Goranson: Like they own the car. And so just think about some of those things that'll really help you with car theft. Now, if you're in a [00:33:00] bad neighborhood, it's not a bad idea to keep that inside the garage. Cause then that's where that deadbolt keeps it. And somebody really has to bust in to try to get into that.

[:

[00:33:33] Eric Goranson: Now there's a lot of different fence materials out there in these days. I have really dove into liking metal. Maybe it's aluminum, maybe it's steel. But in my area with wildfires, it makes a lot of sense. And if you have any road noise, steel can actually drop down 10 or 15 decibels and reduce that noise and reflect it off into other parts of the neighborhood.

[:

[00:34:17] Eric Goranson: Steel will do that, but just a little bit less effective. Concrete might not be the look you want to do. You don't want to have Fort Knox here as your house. But steel fencing is a great thing. And if you've got fire prone neighbor, let's say you're in a wildfire area where a lot of the country can be right now, or if you've got homes that are really close by, that can be an additional fire break.

[:

[00:34:58] Eric Goranson: So that's another [00:35:00] great way to do that. So take a look at steel. I just did a segment here for this weekend's episode where I added onto Dura Bond. And I put in a gate and some steel fence there. It is a great product and it's something that is super durable. If you have a tree branch fall on it, I had a big one drop on mine.

[:

[00:35:45] Eric Goranson: So it's a great thing to have. Now, the last thing is to have some good quality door locks. Now I want to see you have. Locks that are installed correctly with longer screws into the jam. And I don't mean the super cheapy ones that are on [00:36:00] the home center brand. Get something good. Even a quick set. My favorites, Baldwin.

[:

[00:36:26] Eric Goranson: That's quality. That is solid brass. Made to last and it'll hold up, but really lock hardware is a big deal. A cheap lock. Somebody can get through pretty quickly and that becomes a problem. Now, if you want to go with security with a security system out there, we were just talking about MB Sentinel, similar name, different company, deep Sentinel, they are an AI smart home system.

[:

[00:37:13] Eric Goranson: That thing has 140 decibels siren on it. And here's the cool thing. They have a live guard right there ready to scare off that intruder. So if you've got problems with people around the house that are hanging around that you don't want out there, or you've got somebody casing out the place. That is the perfect security system for it.

[:

About the Podcast

Show artwork for Around the House® Home Improvement: The New Generation of DIY, Design and Construction
Around the House® Home Improvement: The New Generation of DIY, Design and Construction
Help for your remodeling, renovation, healthy home, interior design, and home improvement project for your kitchen, bathroom, and house!

Join Around the House Insider or Donate a Tip!

We would love you to join the Exclusive Club for Around the House Insider! You get exclusive content and the weekend podcast a couple of days early PLUS easy access to Eric G! Plus you get access to the hundreds of back episodes and so much more!
Join or Donate HERE
A
We haven’t had any Tips yet :( Maybe you could be the first!