Chicago customs

[moose eater]

I always use USPS (priority mail or first class when purchasing items online) I’ve only had one item go missing in my lifetime (eBay seller shipped media rate only, refused my offer to pay for priority mail)

My experience has been the USPS delivers far more consistent and reliable service period.

FedEx is pretty decent IMHO

BTW none of my beans has ever disappeared or got “lost”

With Fed Ex, UPS, et al, third-party private carriers in general, you forfeit any protection of the 4th Amendment where searches are concerned. I ship nothing controversial with private carriers for that reason.

 

[grayeyes]

USPS can crush them or lose them but they don't usually want to search them.

 

[moose eater]

USPS can crush them or lose them but they don't usually want to search them.

True 'nuff!!

 

[Three Berries]

You should be aware that USPS takes a photo of all addresses.

 

[grayeyes]

3 berries, how many pictures do you think they keep? How many terrabytes?

 

[kalopatchkid]

There's a book about the silk road and it talks about how Chicago Customs intercepted a package with a single ecstasy pill and was basically the start of the whole website being shut down.

 

[Three Berries]

3 berries, how many pictures do you think they keep? How many terrabytes?

I don't know how long they keep them. But all are scanned in B&W. They use them for tracking and claims. Probably paired with the return address too. It's how it gets sorted too.

 

[kalopatchkid]

I don't know how long they keep them. But all are scanned in B&W. They use them for tracking and claims. Probably paired with the return address too. It's how it gets sorted too.

yep, if you sign up for informed delivery you can see pictures of almost all of your mail before it gets delivered to you.

 

[Three Berries]

I hear due to the snow in Cheyanne WY Amazon dumped +13K packages on the PO instead of their drivers delivering them and said they will stop delivering until May 1st.

PO will get smart sooner or later.

 

[mexweed]

nah amazon doesn't give a fuck about their drivers and weather, drivers can call in and say they don't feel safe while delivering but it's like they've already picked up and are out with the load, I was out delivering on the night the crazy cold storm started happening and got sent into the mountains the next day

another time I was out delivering and a customer had forgot to give their apartment number and they weren't answering so I had to take the package back to the warehouse, but the warehouse was locked down because of a lightning storm and I was out there delivering to large metal mailbox/locker type things

 

[moose eater]

nah amazon doesn't give a fuck about their drivers and weather, drivers can call in and say they don't feel safe while delivering but it's like they've already picked up and are out with the load, I was out delivering on the night the crazy cold storm started happening and got sent into the mountains the next day

another time I was out delivering and a customer had forgot to give their apartment number and they weren't answering so I had to take the package back to the warehouse, but the warehouse was locked down because of a lightning storm

Had a Fed Ex driver show up here yesterday in his personal vehicle, out of town in a rural area. Didn't use the obvious door-bell, but rather knocked. 2 of 3 dogs went ballistic in alert mode. I never go to the door when it's a strange vehicle and unknown party, instead opening the winfow off to the side to address the visitor, just in case..

For what ever reason, they had this fellow using his personal vehicle.

 

[mexweed]

I use my own car and it's just an app on my phone that I scan the packages with, maybe fedex has a similar program now

there are some advantages to using your own car, it's not under DOT insurance like their fleet vehicles so no peeing, and most cars are just better to drive than those weird truck/van things, I also bring my dog with me

 

[Three Berries]

Why Did Amazon Just Dump Off 13,000+ Packages Resulting In Cheyenne Post Offices To Close? - Cowboy State Daily

There's a reason that nearly all Cheyenne post offices closed down when Amazon dumped 13,000+ packages off at the same time. There's an agreement the post office signed with carriers to finish deliveries and they had to scramble employees to get it done.

cowboystatedaily.com

 

[mexweed]

not because of the snow though it was the number of packages, amazon still had to deliver the packages to the post office

I think it doesn't help if the package is going to a legal state, I never ordered that frequently but it wasn't until I lived in CO that I got a $100 tshirt from the tude

 

[St. Phatty]

3 berries, how many pictures do you think they keep? How many terrabytes?

It's easier to just Hoover up ALL the information, and then to sort it through at their leisure.

Sort of like the software used to record video.

There's not time to run it through a CODEC, when the camera is spitting out 1920 x 1080 x 30 frames a second.

I capture a lot of wildlife video that creates big files that clog up my hard drives. Then go back later, and run them through Movie Maker, which cuts movies with audio but no movement from 4 GB down to about 100 MB.

Of course US gov has infinite $ to buy hard drives to store their raw surveil. data on.

After they've captured the security-ish data, they organize it according to priority, and eventually delete some of it, e.g. those photos of our mail.

 

[Three Berries]

Best I can find info is is up to 30 days for keeping pictures. It's part of a law enforcement effort they say. NYT has an article but I don't have a subscription.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/03/us/postal-service-confirms-photographing-all-us-mail.html

INFORMED DELIVERY - U.S.P.S.

For years all your 1st class mail (letters / post cards) and packages have been photographed by the USPS and the images stored in case you later come to the attention of a law enforcement agency and they want to take a look at what you have received or sent. The app allows people to monitor...

informeddelivery.blogspot.com

I worked for Kraft Foods where they packaged the mayo and Miracle Whip. They had a small rectangular plastic container with a snap on plastic lid that had the word Kraft raised and embossed on the top. They spend near a half a million on a machine that would optically scan and the orient the cap so they were all the same direction, none 'upside down' when trying to read. All at about 100 a minute. After having the British designers in the states for 6 months trying to get it to work, the best they could do is 50% of the time.

The whole reason was because WalMart/Cosco and such wanted to be able to just take the top off the packaging and and put it on the shelf so it would be oriented so the customer could see Kraft not upside down on the shelf.