Package Protection Prototype
The Challenge
My Role
Design a solution for package theft that provides security to the package and peace of mind to the user.
Research, Design, Prototyping, Conduct Usability Tests
Concept
Package theft is a fairly common problem faced when ordering goods from the internet. This is a unique problem, with many contributing factors. Designing a device to hamper the efforts of intelligent, motivated humans is difficult enough to begin with. Then there is the delivery side of the problem. There is a lot of uncertainty within the experience of monitoring the status of a shipment using tracking numbers because updates seem to experience significant lag and are communicated in terms of where the package has departed from most recently.
Consumers must trust delivery personnel to practice good judgement in placing their packages in a secure location to prevent thieves from finding it until they return home. Having to pick up a package at the holding station or lock box completely eliminates the convenience of delivery service.
A viable solution should therefore be able to add protection within the context of the entryway to any home without obstruction or disruption. Given the complexity of the problem, it was satisfying to have designed the Package Anti-theft Device (PAD) system, with which my team hoped to give consumers peace of mind when receiving mail.
Video Prototype of our Package Anti-theft Device
Design
Initial Research
The PAD’s design started with a competitive analysis of other package theft prevention devices. Currently there are many different lockbox devices that people can purchase to protect their packages from being stolen. These lockboxes are bulky, heavy, expensive, and usually only beneficial to those living in a more permanent residence. After performing our initial user research by observing conversations in nextdoor.com (a location based forum that connects you with neighbors in your area), we found that people were struggling to “teach” their delivery people to use the lock boxes. We also found that some people expressed uncertainty over whether their packages had truly been stolen or had simply been delivered to the wrong address, ultimately resulting in mistrust with the delivery people.
Initial Sketches
We began sketching ideas for alternatives to the traditional lockbox and with each of our designs, we attempted to implement solutions that resolved the unique issues presented within the context of package theft situations. Sketch 1 and Sketch 2, shown below, represent some of the initial sketches. Both designs have methods for confirming the presence of a package and tracking suspicious activity around the device. Sketch 1 shows a very secure design, similar to what can be found in lockboxes. The limitation of this design is that it requires the user to have a lockbox that must accommodate a variety package dimensions - giving this design the bulky characteristic of current lockboxes. Sketch 2 on the other hand shows a very portable design to be easily moved outside the front door when a delivery is expected. However, this design fails to secure the package from theft. After looking at the pros and cons of each design, we spent the next few days brainstorming new designs.
Sketch 1
Sketch 2
Prototyping the PAD Design
One of the biggest challenges in our previous designs was the need for an electricity source to power the camera on the device. We felt this was problematic because it would not work for many homes. We wanted our device to work for any home. However after some careful consideration about the technology needed to secure a package, we came up with an entirely new design that could potentially secure packages and notify users when a package is successfully delivered with only using a small amount of power for a RFID scanner and GSM (text message) modem.
The PAD’s core mechanics are designed to work with a unique package design that allows the package to be easily and safely secured to the device. The base of the PAD would have spring loaded hooks in it that, when pressed down by a delivery service setting down the package, spring upward to hook into the base of the package. This first design of the PAD features a combination lock and lever that can be used by the receiver of the package to finally unlock their package from the PAD. Once locked, the PAD can also set off an alarm if a thief tampers with the device or the package.
Left image shows the PAD (red) locked into the package (green).
Right image shows the lever being used to unlocked the package from the PAD.
Usability Testing
After creating an interactive prototype, we conducted a study to observe and gather behavioral data from a series of user interactions with our prototype. The tasks requested of the participants were simple enough to avoid confusion, and the feedback we received from participants proved to be valuable to the next PAD iteration. The PAD’s thin and light design allows it to be easily stored and moved to the most appropriate position outside whenever the user is expecting a package delivered. However, this highly mobile design also makes it easy for thieves to steal the whole device.
Participants in the study expressed a lot of interest in the PAD, but there was a common concern that the PAD had failed to completely secure packages if it did not have a better method of locking the PAD down in some form. We addressed this concern by implementing a better way of securing the PAD with a chained bike lock, but unfortunately due to the timeframe of this project, we were not able to study potential users’ opinions on this feature. Instead, we added this feature along with possible improvements to the PAD’s unlocking mechanism and storability for representation purposes in our prototype video.
Locations where participants in the study placed the PAD
Future Implications
As mentioned before, our design would require package shipping containers that feature a Lego-like bottom to lock into the PAD. This would require the development and adoption of reusable shipping containers that meet these specifications. This is not entirely discouraging because there are already warehouse to front door businesses, like Amazon Fresh which make use of reusable shipping containers. Therefore, future work on this project would go into assessing the viability of implementation. This would include studies to assess the cost associated with package theft every year and current package shipping materials (both environmental and financial). We would also expect there to be a significant amount of additional prototyping, user research and usability testing. Eventually, this would require development of a prototype that is sufficiently functional to test against thieves.