In the recent episode of "9-1-1" there was a "porch thief"; a person stealing packages that had been left by delivery companies.
Years ago I been visiting friends. So a few days after I got home one evening after work on the front yard I saw a box that had been opened with crumpled newspapers scattered about. I thought what rude, messy neighbors. So I go to clean up the mess and saw the box had been addressed to me. The delivery company had left it at my doorstep and someone took it. I had a left a pair of pants behind. They were at the bottom of the box and whoever stole the box tore the newspapers out but did not dig down far enough to find the pants at the bottom of the box.
I then got a rent box at the UPS store for all my mail.
Having that box saved me a $1,000. Back in 1999 I became ill with cellulitis in my right leg. I called a friend and when she saw my leg called 911 and the ambulance took me to the hospital. My friend followed and checked me in. She was unaware of my UPS mailing address, only knowing my residence and gave the hospital that.
When I got back home I had an ambulance bill . Somehow they found my mailing address. But I never got anything from the hospital. A year later I got a letter from the credit bureau; the hospital had turned me in. I went to the hospital to arrange payments but was told it was too late. So I went to the credit bureau. They wrote the bill off.
In 2006 I had to go to the hospital again for the same thing. But this time before I could be released I was taken to the billing office to make payment arrangements.