Thanksgiving week is one of the riskiest windows of the year for cargo theft: Verisk CargoNet's analysis of last year's Thanksgiving period counted 79 incidents across the holiday window, up 64.6% year over year, with the Monday after Thanksgiving the single busiest day (Verisk CargoNet, Nov 2025). This year, Thanksgiving falls on November 26, which puts the highest-risk stretch between Tuesday, November 24 and Cyber Monday, November 30.

The losses per incident are also getting larger. CargoNet counted 677 thefts in Q2 2026, down 26% year over year, but estimated losses rose to $304.6 million from $135.7 million, driven by high-value loads (Verisk CargoNet, Aug 6, 2026). Fewer thefts, bigger targets.

That combination calls for a specific holiday-week protocol, built around the two things that change over Thanksgiving: freight sits longer, and fewer people are watching it.

Why does theft rise over Thanksgiving?

The reasons are mostly operational, not mysterious:

• Freight sits. Receivers close for the holiday, so loads picked up Tuesday or Wednesday often wait until Friday or Monday to deliver. A loaded trailer parked for a long weekend is an easy target.
• Staff is thin. Brokerage and carrier offices run reduced hours. A check call that would normally be noticed when missed may go unnoticed for a day.
• High-value freight is moving. Electronics, consumer goods and other holiday inventory are in the network.
• Change requests get less scrutiny. A "new pickup time" or "updated delivery address" sent on a holiday evening is more likely to be accepted without verification.

The last point is where many holiday incidents start. We covered the email side of it in our post on carrier email fraud and contact-change verification.

What should the holiday-week check-call protocol include?

A holiday-week protocol tightens check-call cadence on high-value loads, bans unattended weekend parking for those loads, requires out-of-band verification of any pickup or delivery change, and assigns after-hours coverage so a missed check call is escalated within the hour, not on Monday morning.

• Check-call cadence, high-value loads — Normal week: At pickup, mid-route, delivery · Thanksgiving window (Tue Nov 24 to Mon Nov 30): At pickup, then on a fixed short interval, plus every stop
• Parking — Normal week: Driver discretion · Thanksgiving window (Tue Nov 24 to Mon Nov 30): Secure, pre-approved locations only; no unattended loaded trailers
• Pickup or delivery changes — Normal week: Confirmed by email · Thanksgiving window (Tue Nov 24 to Mon Nov 30): Verified by phone with a known contact before acceptance
• Missed check call — Normal week: Followed up next business hours · Thanksgiving window (Tue Nov 24 to Mon Nov 30): Escalated to on-call staff immediately
• After-hours coverage — Normal week: Limited · Thanksgiving window (Tue Nov 24 to Mon Nov 30): Named owner for every high-value load, every day

1. Classify loads before Tuesday. Identify every load moving in the window that is high-value or a frequently targeted commodity. Those get the tighter protocol. Standard loads keep normal cadence.

2. Plan the dwell. For any high-value load that cannot deliver before the holiday, decide in advance where it will sit: a secure yard, the carrier's own facility, or a delivery appointment that avoids the long weekend. Unattended parking at a truck stop over Thanksgiving is the scenario to avoid.

3. Tighten the check-call interval. Set a fixed interval for high-value loads and stick to it, including overnight and on the holiday itself.

4. Verify every change. Any change to pickup time, pickup location, delivery address, driver or truck gets verified by calling a known contact at the carrier, using the number on file, not the one in the email.

5. Assign after-hours owners. Every high-value load should have a named person responsible each day of the window, with a clear escalation path if something looks wrong.

Where does the protocol usually break?

Rarely at planning. Protocols break in execution, on Thursday afternoon and Sunday night, when the person who was supposed to make the check call is at dinner, or the driver's update went to an inbox nobody is watching.

This is not about effort. A rep covering a holiday shift with a dozen high-value loads cannot call every driver on a short interval and also verify every change request and also notice the one load that went quiet. The cadence is the part that falls apart first.

How do agents keep cadence when staff is off?

Agents are well suited to the repetitive part of the protocol. They do not take the holiday off, and they do not lose track of which load was due for a check call 20 minutes ago.

• Run the cadence. The agent sends check-call requests to drivers or dispatch on the set interval, by text, call or WhatsApp, reads the replies and logs location and status against the load.
• Detect silence. If a driver does not respond within the window, the agent retries through another channel, then escalates to the on-call owner with the load details and last known location.
• Hold changes for verification. When a pickup or delivery change arrives, the agent compares the sender to the carrier profile, holds the change, and routes it to a person for out-of-band verification.
• Watch for anomalies. Unexpected stops, location updates that do not fit the route, or a delivery ETA that suddenly moves get flagged for review.

The identity side of this, including driver and truck verification at pickup, is covered in our post on load hijacking and truck-swap verification. For a broader view of how detection works, see our guide to how AI detects and prevents fraud and theft in the supply chain and our overview of using AI to protect shipments from logistics fraud.

What to do before Tuesday, November 24

1. List every high-value load scheduled to move between November 24 and November 30.
2. Confirm dwell plans for anything that cannot deliver before Thanksgiving.
3. Publish the check-call interval to carriers and drivers on those loads.
4. Set the verification rule: no pickup or delivery change accepted without a phone call to a known contact.
5. Name the after-hours owner for each day of the window and share the escalation path.

Frequently asked questions

When is cargo theft highest around Thanksgiving?

CargoNet's analysis of last year's Thanksgiving period found the Monday after Thanksgiving was the peak day. Risk is elevated across the whole window, from the days before the holiday through the following Monday.

What is a check-call protocol?

It is a defined schedule and process for confirming a load's location and status with the driver or carrier during transit, plus rules for what happens when a check call is missed.

Should high-value loads move over Thanksgiving weekend?

They can, but only with a plan for where the freight sits while receivers are closed. Unattended parking of loaded trailers over a long weekend is the main risk to avoid.

Can AI agents make check calls?

Yes. Agents can send check-call requests by text, call or messaging apps on a set interval, log responses, retry when drivers do not answer and escalate missed check calls to on-call staff.

The bottom line

Thanksgiving theft risk comes from freight that sits and offices that empty out. Classify high-value loads, plan where they dwell, tighten check-call cadence, verify every change by phone and assign after-hours owners, and let agents keep the cadence running from Tuesday through Cyber Monday.

Debales deploys AI agents for holiday check calls, missed-call escalation, change-request verification and after-hours load monitoring. Book a demo.