Posted on 12/26/2010 3:08:24 PM PST by ottbmare
My brother sent me a carton full of beautifully wrapped and beribboned Christmas packages, most of them containing clothes but a few containing plastic model airplanes for my son. When I opened the carton I found that a number of the packages had been slit up one of the short sides and the side flaps of the box pushed in so that anyone could see what was inside. I could only imagine that this was done for security purposes. Is this standard, now--to slice open Christmas presents and check to see what's inside them? I was a bit shocked, especially since there was nothing electronic or chemical in the carton to trigger a sensor.
They can do what ever the hell they want
More information needed.
How were the packages shipped? UPS, USPS, baggage on an airplane, ...?
By the way TSA doesnt’ have anything to do with shipping — just passenger travel.
Sent by FedEx? UPS? Post Office?
Ask the delivery service.
They ain’t touchin my package.
They open up luggage!
Upon returning from a trip with my grandson I noticed there was a card in his suitcase stating that they had opened and inspected the contents: a bunch of dirty smelly clothes.
A friend son coming home from Afghanistan had a factory’s rep’s gift of a CH-47 Chinook ripped off from his baggage.He was going to present it to his dad.
No recourse as they claimed ignorance....
What do you expect from liars,sexual perverts and thieves, it starts at the very top of the DHS
There's just no good answer for stuff like this.
Plot for a romance novel?
He grasped me firmly but gently just above my elbow and guided me
into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone.
He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low,reassuring voice close to my ear. “Just relax.” Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, callousedhands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along mycalves slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew Ishould be afraid, but somehow I didn’t care. His touch was soexperienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, andpartly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowingfingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped myfirm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching,knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slidthem down my tingling spine and into my panties. Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting andexpectant. This is a man, I thought. A man used to taking charge. Aman not used to taking `no’ for an answer. A man who would tell mewhat he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say ... “Okay, ma’am,” said a voice. “That’s it. You can board your flight now.”
They made my wife unwrap a gift wrapped package of salad utensils
My daughter while flying home from Vermont to California had all her electronics from one bag stolen. Laptop, iPod, kids electronics, etc....everything. TSA or the airline would take absolutely no responsibility and their policies (fine print) even says so.
Luckily she had bought some od the electronics on my AMEX within the year. They asked that she file a police report and then sent me a check for most of it.
If she hadn’t purchased most of it with my AMEX she would have been sol.
So why fly at all if you can avoid it?
VOTE! By not flying.
Unless it’s a dire emergency or important, really important business travel why even fly?
The USPS will occasionally open a packaged to ensure that the mailer is not misusing the postal rates (using less expensive media mail rates for things other than books) nor misusing free packaging material (you are not supposed to turn Priority Mail boxes nor envelopes inside out and use them to ship items using a less expensive rate).
I have never had UPS nor FedEx open a package, but that may change since the recent parcel bomb attempts.
yes, they can do whatever they want, and what they choose to do speaks volumes.
how much do you think it would cost for them to put video recording equipment watching/recording THEM in that back room, and make that available to you when you make your claim?
as much as those fancy scanners?
i submit MUCH LESS.
how much back-room recording equipment is there vs fancy scanners?
they claim they’re there acting for your benefit. doesn’t take much to show that’s not true.
I have never had UPS nor FedEx open a package, but that may change since the recent parcel bomb attempts.
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When I was doing FEDEX Same Day deliveries, (as a private contractor) anything going by air we would have them leave open and then I would ‘inspect’, then have them seal the package.
I drove most of the stuff that I picked up, usually in the 1 day range, but when it had to go by air, my ID (company + something linking me to FEDEX) gave me fast service either at the check in line or ticket counter.
This was about 3 years ago and for this particular service, which utilized either airlines or drives, the shipper had to have been on FEDEX list, virtually no new customers.
I heard for a while someone was promoting shipping your baggage UPS or FEDEX (would probably really work best during the holidays)but I guess the down side there would be you will rouse suspicion at the airport by traveling with no luggage or carry on...
You (WE) are not going to win, they are fighting us with our own money, and, in typical Government fashion, have hundreds of ‘idea people’ sitting around thinking up new ways of ‘annoying’ us, in the name of our own protection.
That made me feel so filthy that I have to go take a lye soap shower, now...LOL
I had to ask: was the bag “personal/hand carry’ OR “luggage’?
I’ll be flying to canada on Tuesday and usually, I would instruct family members to pick me up in WA state border cities and just drive thru. I just dont want to burden them this time. It’s already enough I have to deal with canadian jackass border guards but they pale in comparison with the lazy, arrogant border morons from the US in canada.
No wonder foreigners hate us.
They claim that anything that is a wrapped is fair game for opening.
I returned home recently from a business trip to find that my newly purchased bottle of shampoo w/built-in conditioner was missing. I had purchased it because my business trip was extended and due to that I’d run out. I was really irritated because it’s not a cheap brand and although I know the 3 oz. rule applies to carrying liquids on the plane with you, it doesn’t apply to within checked baggage.
So yes, I guess it’s par for the course these days for them to do whatever it is they want.
It was all in one bag that she checked. I think she learned a lesson.
OK. I was going to say NEVER EVER check-in your electronics. I always hand-carry my laptop, MP3 player etc. Luggage should always be clothes. IF you lose your luggage, they’re just clothes and can easily be replaced. Laptops or I-Pad with private info on them cannot.
I agree. Am driving as much as possible. It’s just those drives from texas to Florida , Alabama , and Washington get a little long.
Care to return to the thread you started and at least inform us as to what shipping method was used?????
How about the shipping carton itself, you never mentioned that.........Hmmmmmmmm
Even then, how do you keep your equipment in sight? They pull you aside for a hand pat down and your hand carry goes on out of sight.
I tend to overpack so I have mailed things to myself through the USPS, to avoid "overload" fees, which are killer. I usually pack a flat cardboard box and
When you've flown a bit then take a road trip, you feel positively free! No worries about what and how you pack, what's "legal" and what's not.
It will never stop bugging me that none of the hoops we jump though make me feel any safer, though, just harrassed.
Sorry not to have returned to the thread, I’ve been out of the house for the past few hours.
I checked with my brother. He said he sent the carton UPS and it almost certainly went by air. Also—I forgot this—there was some liquid in the carton, some bottles of a type of soft drink my son loves. If packages are being routinely x-rayed now, that is what may have triggered the search. Though how an inspector would have known the stuff was really a harmless drink without tasting it, I don’t know.
The outside of the carton was sealed with clear plastic packing tape, and it was pretty thoroughly covered so I didn’t notice that the carton had been opened and sealed up again. The evidence of tampering was on the smaller packages on the inside, boxes containing sweaters and other clothes for me and my children. The ribbons weren’t untied and packages weren’t unwrapped. There was just a big slit through wrappings and boxes, with the side of the boxes pushed in to make the contents visible.
No, nobody is flying. They sent me a large carton from Chicago to the DC suburbs, using UPS.
A few years ago, we took some all-American foods like Bisquick and Hamburger Helper to some over seas relatives.
The meat loaf mix was nevr seen again; the Bisquick was slit open and we got a little note to that effect.
Of course since we are middle-aged, middle class white peeps, we must have looked suspicious :-/
Every time I fly to & from Pittsburgh, PA & Washington,DC.
My bag has been open & if I put the tsa lock on the bag. The lock is cut not unlocked like they are suppose to open. Most of the time the lock is gone they keep them.
Some times there will be a sticker inside or outside they have been open. A trip in Oct lock gone & no sticker.
Its all smoke & mirrows wanting to put up a front like they are doing something. You can see several tsa employes standing around doing nothing.
My husband a retired airline pilot flew in the good days before the nuts took over ....
Mayvbe it was for Troy Polamalu>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaJFnGGECJo
I think even before this idiotic strip search and grope search crap started, the TSA could go through gift wrapped packages and open them. When I have flown in the past, even the recent past, I do not gift wrap things. I take the gift bag and tissue with me to wrap when I get to my destination. That said, if things are missing on the other end, get the forms from the TSA and file a loss complaint. I got so ticked 3 years ago when the fools took my TSA approved locks, opened the bags and then just tossed my locks..they were something like 9 bucks each. I filed a complaint, it helps if you have receipts, and I got reimbursed from the loss.
I also know of people who have said things were stolen from them going through security as well as checked bags so the moral of the story is don’t take anything of value.
I have heard of FedExing or UPSing your luggage too, but it has never been practical for me.
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Depending what you have to ‘pay’, when you consider they pick it up at your house and deliver it to your destination address.
You have no hassle at the airport with luggage, don’t have to mess with baggage clerks or ‘worry’ your bags are in Cincinnati while you are in Cleveland, and don’t have the ‘worry’ of a pool person going through your luggage while it is in ‘the airlines’ hands.
These dimwits are required to leave that slip in the bag so that you do know your bag was searched. I leave on top of my things a notice of exactly what is in the bag and that I have the original with me! It may lessen the theft temptation.
This was not carried with a passenger on a plane. It was a cardboard carton shipped via UPS. Nothing was missing, just cut open.
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