Doorman App Eliminates Holiday Package Theft

— -- No more stolen packages this holiday season. Doorman is a new service that receives packages on your behalf and delivers them until midnight, seven days a week.

An estimated one billion packages are expected to be delivered this year by UPS, FedEx, and the U.S. Postal Service combined, according to estimates from those companies. And last holiday season, more than two million deliveries were delayed, or went missing due to front porch theft. Doorman's founder and CEO Zander Adell said he's determined to address this issue.

"It’s been a problem my entire life," he said. "One day after missing a delivery twice, I thought there's got to be a way where we can control deliveries from our phones."

Rather than missing a delivery or becoming a victim of package theft, Doorman allows you, the customer, to control deliveries from your smartphone.

Once you install the app, you'll get a unique shipping address for your package. When ordering from a retail site, just enter Doorman's address into the shipping info instead of your own.

"That address goes directly to our warehouse," Adell said. "When it arrives we can associate it with your account."

Doorman is currently serving the San Francisco area. The company has plans to launch in both New York and Chicago in 2015.

Once you schedule your delivery time you'll receive a notification and updates on your shipment status. One of seven drivers in San Francisco will communicate with you through the app, then hand-deliver your package directly to you.

Customers can sign up for the $19-a-month plan for unlimited delivery with a two-hour window, or $29-a-month unlimited for a one-hour delivery window with unlimited package returns. The one-time a la carte option costs $3.99, which includes two-hour delivery.

Shopper Jill Newquist of San Francisco agreed that Doorman could solve her package delivery problems.

"It sounds like a great idea,” said Newquist, noting she was a recent victim of package theft. “I don’t mind having small items delivered to my office address. But with larger items, I’d like to have those sent to my house. It offers security that you’re going to get what you want when you ask for it."

Since launching earlier this year, Doorman has already delivered more than 5,000 packages, Adell said. The company has delivered 1,500 packages in October alone.