Officials are warning the public to be on the lookout for porch pirates as the holiday shopping season begins.

United States Postal Inspection Service representative Donna Harris says to have someone ready to pick up the package or have it delivered to your work instead.

Harris also says having some kind of security system doesn't hurt.

"That's also a good deterrent, if they do have some kind of security system to alert them if someone is actually trying to steal a package," says Harris.