Postage Stamps Are Obviously Insecure..

So, I had to mail a stack of printed papers to someone in Canada.

I put the papers in a padded envelope, weighed it on my food scale and home, and proceeded to stick $7.80 worth of old postage I had lying around onto the envelope.

I drove it over to the Post Office, which was no closed, and just tossed it in the mailbox. I did this on Thursday night.

I open my door today and see the padded envelope lying at my front door, with a sticker on it telling me that they would not accept my package because of security concerns. The sticker said the problem was that I had used postage stamps, and that raised a red flag, and I had to take it to a postal counter to mail it.

This raises some disturbing thoughts to me.

We're all quite aware at this point that Big Brother is watching pretty much everything we do. We've seen the Snowden leaks, showing they can call up our browser history at will. We've seen the NSA Whistleblower testimony that the NSA is keeping 80% of our phone calls as fully recorded messages they can play back at will.

So, I'm wondering when the powers that be will decide that postage stamps are too anonymous. The ability to stick a stamp on an envelope and throw it in a mailbox may suddenly pose a security risk, since the mailer cannot be tracked. Going to a postal counter and having your face on some security tape is something that may required at some point, and postage stamps might just end up going away, since the convenience of stamps is just too risky a behavior for a citizen to be engaging in.

That is rather silly of the postal service to return it for that reason. I think some of this came about after the anthrax attacks back in 2001.

However, since it was at the parcel rate you are required to use a customs form. Funny the USPS didn't point that out.

I have always been able to stick stamps on something and just mail to my brother in Canada. I have had to do customs forms for boxes, never for any kind of envelope.

Any article weighing > 13 ounces must be dealt with
with a PO clerk. Dropping in slots are no longer permitted.

This sticker (or something similar) should be on all US mailboxes:



Your returned mail probably contained this sticker (or one with similar text):

To clarify and perhaps correct a little bit of what was posted above, it must've been that the package exceeded 13 oz _and_ that you paid with postage stamps.

Your choices, under the current rules, are that (1) you could pay with postage stamps and hand the item over the counter to a clerk, or else (2) pay electronically for postage and then drop it in the slot.

If you pay electronically, either online through their website or else through one of the APC scale/kiosk things, then you can just drop it in a slot. With either of those electronic options, you've paid with a traceable form of payment, and that's what permits you to just drop the parcel in a slot.

So, it's not just that the package exceeded 13 oz, it's that the postage for it was paid with something anonymous (stamps), rather than through a traceable (electronic) method.

(Not defending it, just explaining it, as it was explained to me a while back.)

When I weighed the package at home it was not over 13 oz. But it might have been close. Either way, it silly. The stuff we're willing to put up with to keep us "safe" is insane.

I'm with you on that...

HI to all

You think that is bad, if I send a parcel to the United States from Australia, I am slugged an extra $9.00, no this is not for postage, but to cover fees the US Government charges for scanning any parcels arriving from Australia. I would have thought that all parcels are scanned, they are when they arrive in Australia, so why is the Greedy US Government asking for $9.00 to check my parcels??
Regards
Horamakhet

Link to the policy? I don't doubt that you're being charged a fee, but I would like to see the exact wording of what the charge is for.

You know that convict stock is those Australian's!

Actually, the reason for the return of your package is indeed the use of stamps. No package weighing more than 13 ounces may be dropped into a mail chute. It must be brought to the counter or it is simply returned to the sender.

Informally, this mailing rule due to the antics of Ted Kaczynski. Ted, as many may know, liked sending handcrafted explosive packages through the US Mail. He earned the nickname, "The Unabomber" for his brand of domestic terrorism. Ted also liked using stamps and he was particularly choosey about the stamps he placed on his package bombs. One of his particular favorites was the $1 Eugene O'Neill stamp in the Prominent Americans series. Eugene O'Neill is the author of "The Iceman Cometh."

I'm not a bit willing. Neither are a lot of other people. It's done anyway. Not much we can do about it except gripe.

If we had that kind of attitude back in 1776, we'd still be a British colony. :-)

Seriously, though. I'm really sick of the American's roll over and take it attitude. Egypt overthrew their president. Ukraine did the same.

Americans, the people that pretty much invented the concept of revolution, just sit there and go "Oh well..." It's sad.

people's issues here are revolted about every day ever hear about the immigration protests in new Mexico, Texas California, or the gays getting all their issues resolved or the stoners getting legal dope, you can find someone's cause on any news group, tv, radio, the revolution is all around us and change is happening and history being made concerning seniors, veterans schools a to z it is out there postal restructuring and closings and letter writing campaigns voices are being heard and actions taken and the fighting never ends Americans are born and bred with the fighting spirit and if immigrants don't have it they gain it here ever hear of Cesar Chavez and the united farm workers, man this country is chaos 24/7 talk about the never ending story there are a lot of people that do not know the meaning of oh well.

Down the rabbit hole we go .....who cares !