Unattended delivery to the home: an assessment of the security implications

As the volume of retail sales distributed to the home rises, the proportion of deliveries made when there is no one at home (i.e. “unattended”) is also likely to increase. Traditionally unattended delivery involved leaving orders on the doorstep or with a neighbour. In recent years new systems of secured delivery have been developed, many of them employing reception boxes. This paper classifies the main types of unattended delivery and assesses their relative security. It identifies security problems common to most forms of unattended delivery and examines ways of overcoming them. It also advocates more rigorous analysis of the trade‐offs between delivery cost, customer convenience and security, particularly by the new generation of “e‐fulfilment’ companies.