Silk Road forums

Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: dance4life on July 24, 2011, 11:22 pm

Title: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: dance4life on July 24, 2011, 11:22 pm
So I go in and ask for x amount of priority envelopes with postage applied.  So he gets them out, hands them to me, and says, " So you better make sure and put a return address on here or else it looks reeaaalll suspicious." 

I was like... oookkk..

He totally eyeballed the hell out of me too.  It was like I was tripping balls and felt that severe anxiety that everyone knows you are totally tripped out.  Needless to say i drove an extra 10 miles out of the way to another post office to throw them in the box.

Has anyone else walked into anything like that yet?  I am guessing maybe on some level he was trying to be friendly, but he definitely eyeballed the shit out of me.  Glad I used cash as well.

So, just make sure you guys are putting a return address on that shit.  Apparently there are people that look for that sort of thing.  I always have anyway, regardless - just make sure to dot your t's and cross your i's.

:)
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: OpticalInfinity on July 24, 2011, 11:54 pm
That pretty much goes without saying.. you have to have a return address on everything you send. As for me, I just.. make one up. Doesn't particularly matter if it's real or not.
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: joeblow2 on July 25, 2011, 12:04 am
I have one modifier to the "fake return address" info:

If there are enough pills or even a small amount of heroin in a priority mail pak and it ends up back at the post office because it's undeliverable there used to be cirumstances when the USPS would open that package.  Maybe JanetReno can tell us whether they still do or not.  But it always struck me that it's better it go someplace where it won't end up being opened by officials and possibly taken for further investigation.

If, as an example, you used the LA headquarters of Citibank as the return address then, when it arrives and has a person's name on it that doesn't work there, it ends up in the mailroom.  The mailrooms of these big corporate outfits are usually staffed by college age interns and such.  The intern opens it, finds 100 oxy or a half oz of coke, smiles, puts it in his pocket, and never tells a soul.  He also disposes of the packing materials.

It's almost like having an employee, but you don't have to pay them! 

Just seems a lot better than having a package out there and not knowing if someone is going to take an interest in it; purely for the purpose of trying to find it's owner.

That's my $0.02  :)

Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: dance4life on July 25, 2011, 12:33 am
Yeah, I use a business address I know send out a lot of envelopes in the same manner.  My buddy worked for them for a bit so I knew exactly the kind of labels they used and everything.  Figured it was my best bet.

Just an FYI though to everyone out there.  I noticed international shipments ( the 2 I got at least ) both lacked a return address.  Maybe not a huge deal over there, but I believe it is becoming more and more of a need here ( if you are not doing so already ).
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: envious on July 25, 2011, 04:04 pm
You should use a real return address. The best way to do it is to just google the address of a local apartment complex. Use a fake name and don't put an apt. #.  This way the address is real, but if its returned it only goes to the apartment complex office and they can't do shit about it.
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: MarketMaker on July 25, 2011, 04:38 pm
Yeah I'm surprised sellers aren't all over this more.  They got scanners that read the addresses and the return address thing has been covered in guides.

No return address from international mail would have me pissed.

As far as the guy, that would have me extremely worried but I'm paranoid.  Even if he isn't going to snitch he lacks the tact to even let you know he knows whats up in a slick way to not put you at risk to all listening.  He could have just said "Make sure you put the return address on there, people have been shipping letters with no return address and it makes it harder on us, we have to hold it and stuff"  but instead he basically put you out there.  This is the kind of guy who is going to be telling the story to his friends in the office, not to snitch but to brag or tell a story.  Unfortunatly this is called Dry Snitching on the street.

What if he never thinks another thought of it but the "no return address looks reeeeeeal suspicious" was over heard by another employee, a true believer?

I'm paranoid but you know for a fact there is one location where a worker knows or think they know what you do and the guy has a big mouth.  I can imagine you walking in there a week from now and him yelling out as you enter the lobby "How's business" *WINK* probably with both eyes alternating.  "You get that return address thing fixed?  Yeah man, they will open the mail if you don't have one, just don't want you to get in any trouble dude".

Avoid that place.

You should use a real return address. The best way to do it is to just google the address of a local apartment complex. Use a fake name and don't put an apt. #.  This way the address is real, but if its returned it only goes to the apartment complex office and they can't do shit about it.
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: joeblow2 on July 25, 2011, 09:50 pm
This is a true story, about one month old:

I go to a local computer place to buy a Win machine so I can do some BTC mining and possibly other things.  Want to start fresh since I've been using the ole Mac for so much for so long.  Best to just keep it simple.

The guy gets all super technical on me about the machine I'm asking him to assemble.  Finally I say "it's just going to do those ASK-256 hash thingys and that's all.  So I just want it to have ultra-fast GPU's; like a gamer but not for gaming".  He goes "oh, you going to mine bitcoins?"  Well, he's all of about 17 yrs old so I say "yeah" and he goes "oh, so you want to buy some drugs, huh?". 

I had cash so I just thought fuck it and said "yeah, at first, but what I really want is some kiddie porn and a portable nuclear weapon".

Then I gave him the crazy eyes.  Needless to say, my registration is NOT in my real name.  Fucking publicity.   >:(
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: dance4life on July 26, 2011, 01:33 am
Yeah I'm surprised sellers aren't all over this more.  They got scanners that read the addresses and the return address thing has been covered in guides.

No return address from international mail would have me pissed.

As far as the guy, that would have me extremely worried but I'm paranoid.  Even if he isn't going to snitch he lacks the tact to even let you know he knows whats up in a slick way to not put you at risk to all listening.  He could have just said "Make sure you put the return address on there, people have been shipping letters with no return address and it makes it harder on us, we have to hold it and stuff"  but instead he basically put you out there.  This is the kind of guy who is going to be telling the story to his friends in the office, not to snitch but to brag or tell a story.  Unfortunatly this is called Dry Snitching on the street.

What if he never thinks another thought of it but the "no return address looks reeeeeeal suspicious" was over heard by another employee, a true believer?

I'm paranoid but you know for a fact there is one location where a worker knows or think they know what you do and the guy has a big mouth.  I can imagine you walking in there a week from now and him yelling out as you enter the lobby "How's business" *WINK* probably with both eyes alternating.  "You get that return address thing fixed?  Yeah man, they will open the mail if you don't have one, just don't want you to get in any trouble dude".

Avoid that place.

You should use a real return address. The best way to do it is to just google the address of a local apartment complex. Use a fake name and don't put an apt. #.  This way the address is real, but if its returned it only goes to the apartment complex office and they can't do shit about it.

Yeah, the drive out of the way to the more populated USPS location seems worth the hassle.  This guy knew what was up and read it all over me I think.  I am almost the definition of blending in as well.  Could have been high ( red eyes ) but really don't remember.
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: brockeh on July 26, 2011, 08:33 am
  Could have been high ... but really don't remember.

QFT haha, all my stories seem to have this disclaimer too :P
Title: Re: Guy behind the counter at USPS kinda freaked me out
Post by: Gordo on July 28, 2011, 01:35 am
You can get priority stamps...stamps of any amnt really. But you can go grab up as many flat rate pkg's as you want, buy the stamps separate and apply them yourself. Just make sure you put enough postage different flat rate boxes have different rates.