We all know that Christmas is the season of giving. Hence, it is expected for people to flock over malls to complete their Christmas shopping lists. But for those who do not want to be caught in the sea of holiday shoppers, buying gifts online sounds perfect.
Since it has been introduced in the late 1970’s, a lot of people prefer buying various items through online shopping. After all, technology truly innovated the shopping experience of consumers through shopping platforms online.
Now people can easily look where can they buy the specific things they are looking for, they can check-out a product without waiting in a long line, and they can compare prices as well. On top of it, all of these can be done without wasting their precious time and without leaving the comfort of their home.
However, it is not always rainbow and butterflies for online shoppers, especially when they must guard their parcels from the pesky porch pirates who steal their packages!
According to statistics, 26 million Americans have had a holiday package stolen from their porch. Now that Christmas is fast approaching, it is expected that a lot of packages will fall prey to porch pirates again. Want to know the best way to deal with them? Well, Mark Rober got you covered!
Mark Rober, a former NASA engineer who worked with Curiosity Rover knew how frustrating it is to lose one’s package to thieves. Months ago, the famous engineer and Youtube star, caught thieves stealing his package on his porch on his security cameras. He sought help from the police authorities, however, as it turned out, cases like this is something that they cannot be concerned about.
Not one to go down without a fight, this NASA engineer decided to put the matter in his own hands- quite literally!
“If anyone was going to make a revenge bait package and over-engineer the crap out of it, it was going to be me…” Mark Rober shared on his Youtube video.
And so, Mark Rober committed the next months of his life crafting the best revenge package that would educate the porch pirates to know better!
After six months of planning, designing, and testing Mark Rober finally came up with a brilliant special package that is ingeniously evil!
“Ultimately, when they opened the package, I wanted to celebrate their choice of profession with a cloud of glitter,” Rober happily explained.
Upon un-boxing the package, the porch pirates are in for a big surprise! The package will release a stinky smell that sprays every 30 seconds. Afterwards, the box will spew a pound of the finest sparky glitters in all directions!
To record the priceless reactions of the package thieves, the NASA engineer put 4 unsuspecting Iphones inside the box. The box also contains a GPS tracker, so that the wicked engineer will be able to retrieve it easily. And in the event that the package won’t be found, the phones are already connected to the iCloud. giving Mark an access to the videos.
In preparation for his big revenge, Rober disguised his trap inside a cellophane-wrapped Apple HomePod box, which definitely looks enticing to thieves. And as a tribute to his childhood hero and inspiration, Kevin McAllister of the famous Home Alone movies, Rober even slapped a return address of the home used in the movie.
All set, all Rober has to do was put the package outside of his porch and wait for the porch pirates to attack! Rober was at work when he received a notification that his special package is no longer in front of his porch. Looking at his GPS tracker, Rober followed the tracks of the mischievous thieves.
And lo and behold, the unsuspecting porch pirate that fell on his trap, was not prepared for the hell that he was about to unleash upon opening the package.
“What the F****************CK! No way!” The unsuspecting thief exclaimed when the stinky smell of fart spray hit his nose and the fine glitters exploded inside his car. “Look at that, look at my car dude! I don’t know what these is, they’re literally everywhere!”
Rober also lend his brilliant invention to his friend Cece who was also a victim of porch pirates. The thief also could not say anything besides a couple of obscene words after package unleashed a huge mess and funky smell inside their cars.
“It’s like lighthearted engineering fun,” The engineer shared with The Washington Post during a phone interview. “[With all my videos], I try to get people stoked about science and engineering. But this clearly struck some kind of nerve.”
Rober also clarified on the beginning of the video that he is not merely playing a prank on the thieves, he simply want to avenge his stolen package and teach them a valuable lesson- to not steal from anyone, especially from a man named Mark Rober!
Watch the detailed viral video below and see the priceless and hilarious reactions of the porch pirates who learned not to steal from this NASA engineer, the hard way!
Photos and Video | Mark Rober