Please god not another "smart" gadget, just use a bent piece of metal:

https://media.istockphoto.com/photos/book-drop-picture-id979...

But neither of our ideas will work, because the boxes are too big some of the time.

Installing a drop box is significantly more complicated than putting a cheap, plastic garden box on your porch/lawn/etc. The only thing “smart” about the box is the electric lock. It wouldn’t need to be connected to any network.

It’s a low value crime of opportunity. Merely hiding packages visually would likely prevent most incidents.

Why wouldn't thieves just take the whole box?

Look at 50-100 gallon deck boxes. Even if you drove around with a truck, how many could you possibly fit in the back?

You don’t even know if they contain anything of value and most would probably be empty.

These thieves are just snatching a dozen (or two or three) small boxes at a time, opening them in an alley (or whatever) and dumping anything that isn’t of value.

The major shipping carriers offer a service where you can have them put packages inside a garage door or other place.

Even then I find about half of my packages still end up on the front porch despite me indicating otherwise using the carrier's service to indicate where to leave packages. I haven’t had a package stolen in very many years so I guess that’s a good thing.