There is a story in today’s newspaper about a Lafayette County man who had packages delivered from Amazon stolen from his front door.

He was out-of-town when the boxes were delivered and returned home the next day to find they had been taken. Fortunately, the man had a video camera on his front porch so he could rewind to find that a man walked up and took the packages.

This is increasingly a risk in this new era of online shopping, to have packages left at the front door with no signature or recipient home. Amazon, for instance, would not function as well if it packages could not just be dropped off at the door.

We’ve noticed some area residents having six to 10 boxes at the door some days, and wondered if these types of thefts happen.

Well, they do.

Fortunately, this one resident has a video and it is possible police can match that up to catch the culprit. Most people don’t have video cameras on the porch, however. Even then, it might not be enough.

The best words of caution involve making larger orders when you know you will be home for delivery or having a neighbor come by to pick them until your return.