Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: tordemon on January 08, 2012, 04:02 pm
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I've been looking around at the various delivery confirmation options, and I've seen some sites that have offered the payment and printing of the DCN label online, but I haven't found any way to do it that leaves me anonymous. (I'm talking about USPS, here.) Anybody found a better way to do this? I'd prefer not to have to wait in line in the post office if possible...
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Can you pay for the shipping label with one of those disposable Visa gift cards?
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There are programs you can get that will print DCN labels but do not require you to submit payment information. That is to say, it'll come up with what you owe and generate a label, but you can just add stamps. However, these programs do connect to USPS with your IP address to authenticate the label, so take the proper precautions with that.
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ChillyP, do you have any links to any of those programs? If I were to go that route, I presume I could put the program behind Tor to prevent them from discovering my IP address from the program. That would be amazing.
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The one I found was called sendIT. I'm unaware of how to configure it to use Tor, but I agree that it would be amazing if it was actually a secure method to use for shipping. I simply don't know enough myself to make that judgment and will stick to the traditional methods for now, but it really would be a worthwhile contribution to the community if someone could investigate it further.
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I probably will go through the investigation of it, though I'd be unlikely to use it myself. I just thought it'd be interesting. Some testing might have to be conducted about whether or not that would be a tip-off to LE as well. My best idea right now, since running an arbitrary program through Tor is somewhat complex, would be to run a Virtual Machine Program through Tor (which I've successfully done before) and then run this sendIT program from within the Virtual Machine.
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Sir DCN costs .80cents. Place an .80cent stamp on the package and place the DCN label. That's all you have to do. Now to mail the package get a $4.95 stamp from the post office and attach to whatever your mailing is. Drop it in the blue box and you're set. Make sure to wear gloves while getting the stamp, never touch inside contents or outside of the package with bare hands always use more than just latex gloves those can actually leave a print with prolonged use. I hope this helps.
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Sir DCN costs .80cents. Place an .80cent stamp on the package and place the DCN label. That's all you have to do. Now to mail the package get a $4.95 stamp from the post office and attach to whatever your mailing is. Drop it in the blue box and you're set. Make sure to wear gloves while getting the stamp, never touch inside contents or outside of the package with bare hands always use more than just latex gloves those can actually leave a print with prolonged use. I hope this helps.
Just read the part about the stamps in another topic, but thank you very much for the advice. I don't sell anything, and nor do I intend to, but I might have to do a little bit of investigation, myself, for the benefit of communal knowledge.
Also, though, I remember reading that the packages have to be large enough to be considered parcels in order to use DCN. Is this true, or will they do DCN on anything that you pay for DCN with?
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They will put DCN on anything you pay the postage for I'm not aware of any restrictions with relation to DCN.
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They will put DCN on anything you pay the postage for I'm not aware of any restrictions with relation to DCN.
Interesting, I'll have to try that and see how it goes.
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They will put DCN on anything you pay the postage for I'm not aware of any restrictions with relation to DCN.
Not true! I recently posted about this is another thread and will just copy my reply here:
The DCN issue is not straightforward. I've been doing as much research as I can, and what it comes down to is that your packages must meet certain criteria to be eligible for DCNs -- or they will be returned!!! Furthermore, a lot of postal employees don't even know their own regulations and will give you false information when you ask, or even worse, return your package even when you've done it right because they don't think it was eligible for DCN.
To be eligible for DCN, a First-class item must qualify as a First-class parcel, meaning it is 3/4" thick, rigid, and less than 13oz. I've also read though, even at the USPS website, that if a package has more than 1/4" in variation of thickness, if is eligible as long as it is a 'sturdy, rigid package'. This is where the bubble mailers come into play: usually they have one end that is very thin before the main compartment of the package, which I think is designed to exploit this loophole. I've read from ebay and amazon vendors who say that many postal employees aren't aware of this exception, however, and will erroneously return these packages. Obviously that is very bad for business here on SR, especially if your returned packages get turned into LE at any point. If that happens, I believe it is very likely that your post office will start looking for similar packages or packages with the same return address and will intercept them.
I encourage you do more research on this. A safer bet is to use Priority envelopes. You can put DCN on those, attach stamps, throw them in a drop box and not really have to think twice about it, but the first-class thing is a little more complicated from what I've gathered. Sadly, first-class seems even faster than Priority, so it's kind of a waste of money. But customers like DCN, though it's really a false sense of security against being scammed. As a seller it does give you one more piece of credibility if your transactions get disputed though.
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That's actually exactly what I thought, ChillyP. I wasn't aware of how the bubble mailer might be exempt, but if the priority envelope doesn't qualify as a "parcel" will it still go through? I think more research and then some testing might be in order. After some more researching, I'll probably contact a couple friends out of town and test out what's acceptable with USPS.
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Priority envelopes are fine, you'll never have DCN issues with those so long as you attach the correct postage (I believe it's 80 cents on top of the priority stamp (4.95)). It's when you're trying to ship First-class with DCN that things get really convoluted. Let us know how your tests go if you decide to try some First-class with DCN.
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USPS states specifically in their terms of service that DCNs are NOT valid on first class envelope mail. You can stick one on there, but first class envelope mail goes through a sorting process of its own, and that does NOT include scanning DCNs. The system doesn't allow for them.
Use a Priority envelope with a priority stamp, a DCN and an eighty cent stamp.
Job done.
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Well, given what both ChillyP and Variety Jones are saying, I don't see any reason not to go with the priority shipping with DCN option. Sure, the shipping is $5.75, but that's what the shipping charges on SR are made for, anyway. With this information I don't really see a purpose to investigating DCN issues with first-class mail; priority should just be used imo.
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I hear ya, although speaking for myself, using Priority shipping on all my orders just adds too much to the cost to include it in the price -- even partially -- given my low margins. On top of that, Priority actually seems slower than FC too -- go figure. So there is both a cost and speed advantage to shipping first class, and DCN CAN be done, you just have to make sure you follow the rules, which unfortunately are not clear-cut. I might try some experimenting myself...
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Whatever happens, I'm sure the community will appreciate the results. =]
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At a post office today I was told I couldn't add DCN to a priority box mailed outside the PO because they need to scan the DCN barcode when shipped. Anyone have experience with that? Does it work just affixing the extra 80 cents and dropping it in the mail with the DCN sticker? May have been another misinformed PO worker for all I know...
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At a post office today I was told I couldn't add DCN to a priority box mailed outside the PO because they need to scan the DCN barcode when shipped. Anyone have experience with that? Does it work just affixing the extra 80 cents and dropping it in the mail with the DCN sticker? May have been another misinformed PO worker for all I know...
What everybody else is saying is making it sound like they may just be misinformed, but testing it is probably the best way to find out.
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Very true tordemon, I won't ship a product like that till I confirm that it won't get kicked back or run into any other problems. I'll shoot a package out of state to someone and see how it goes. I'll report back later this week on that process.
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Very true tordemon, I won't ship a product like that till I confirm that it won't get kicked back or run into any other problems. I'll shoot a package out of state to someone and see how it goes. I'll report back later this week on that process.
That would be greatly appreciated information. Make sure that you check if the DCN is registered online just a day or so after you ship it, too. (If you're testing that aspect out in particular.)
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DCNs are just about useless. I'm pretty sure I have a stack of DCN labels around here somewhere, you just take them off the counter... If anyone wants to know these mail related things, usps has a website that is the authority over ignorant postal workers. there's a whole list of special things most people dont know, that come in very handy at times. for instance,you can get mail to someone much faster with nothing on the envelope but 9 digits and a stamp. dont go and try it for illegals,but it works,lol
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DCNs are just about useless. I'm pretty sure I have a stack of DCN labels around here somewhere, you just take them off the counter... If anyone wants to know these mail related things, usps has a website that is the authority over ignorant postal workers. there's a whole list of special things most people dont know, that come in very handy at times. for instance,you can get mail to someone much faster with nothing on the envelope but 9 digits and a stamp. dont go and try it for illegals,but it works,lol
I'm not sure what you're trying to say, here. I don't get how the fact that you can just pick the DCNs up off the counter makes them useless; they let both parties know that the package was actually delivered, which is very useful in disputes. And I know that USPS supports the zip+4 for shipping, but, yes, it looks rather suspicious.
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Okay, finally dropped one in the mail today. I paid the flat rate and added $.80 and slapped the DCN sticker on next to the address and dropped it in a blue box. I used legitimate addresses of known folks so I can tell if it gets kicked back for any reason or whatever. I'll check and see what the usps online/my buddy says over the next couple days about the delivery/DCN and pass the info.
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Okay, finally dropped one in the mail today. I paid the flat rate and added $.80 and slapped the DCN sticker on next to the address and dropped it in a blue box. I used legitimate addresses of known folks so I can tell if it gets kicked back for any reason or whatever. I'll check and see what the usps online/my buddy says over the next couple days about the delivery/DCN and pass the info.
That's greatly appreciated.
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That would be greatly appreciated information. Make sure that you check if the DCN is registered online just a day or so after you ship it, too. (If you're testing that aspect out in particular.)
Checked this morning and the conf# is showing up on the site. It was scanned a few cities away while being sorted, looking good.
Update 1/23: Out for delivery according to USPS. Seems like affixing the extra postage works, just add the .80 and drop it in the mail with the label; keep in mind that this was a flat rate priority box.
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Shows up as delivered this afternoon online, buddy confirmed it. So affixing an extra .80 and throwing a DCN label on works fine on a priority box.
Bottom line: if you're still wondering if it will work with your particular shipping method, try it with a buddy.
As far as buying DCN online goes...not sure why you would want another avenue that you would have to obfuscate somehow. I hand out prepaid cards and everything I need comes back to me.
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Shows up as delivered this afternoon online, buddy confirmed it. So affixing an extra .80 and throwing a DCN label on works fine on a priority box.
Bottom line: if you're still wondering if it will work with your particular shipping method, try it with a buddy.
As far as buying DCN online goes...not sure why you would want another avenue that you would have to obfuscate somehow. I hand out prepaid cards and everything I need comes back to me.
That's great to hear! That makes things a lot easier. Any chance you could explain exactly what a priority box is, though?
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That's great to hear! That makes things a lot easier. Any chance you could explain exactly what a priority box is, though?
Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes and envelopes:
https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail-flat.htm
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That's great to hear! That makes things a lot easier. Any chance you could explain exactly what a priority box is, though?
Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes and envelopes:
https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail-flat.htm
He made it sound like there was a drop-off location specifically for priority mail; I know what the priority mail shipping supplies are. It made it sound like there were one of those blue drop-off locations only for priority mail, which would intrigue me...
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No special drop off location, just a drive-thru blue box.
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Haha, alright, that makes more sense.