Bullion Collector Robbed

[reddirtcoins]

Sorry but, there is no way I would ever store that in a little dinky safe like that.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensl ... 3071f.html

[RichardPenny43]

I'm gonna guess "wheelie bin" is Aussie for wheelbarrow.

[theo]

The fact that the thieves were tipped off by his online activities is troubling. I stopped making large purchases online a couple years ago as a precaution. Now I'm wondering if I cut off the one or two small (>$80) purchases a month I'm making now.

[Neckro]

Probably bought from someone online, they shipped him the product getting his address, and knew where he lived from that.

[Thogey]

This a huge risk and I hate it!
But, online dealing is irreversible
Please don't rob me.

I really don't want to kill you.

[justoneguy]

This a huge risk and I hate it!
But, online dealing is irreversible
Please don't rob me.

I really don't want to kill you.

+1

[Numis Pam]

I usually just get flowers, but my hubby bought me a 38 special for Valentines Day last year! Been learning how to use it too....

[fansubs_ca]

I'm gonna guess "wheelie bin" is Aussie for wheelbarrow.

I figured it was a garbage cart with wheels like everyone in my city got last year.
They are pretty hefty and can handle a lot of weight. Depending on where you live
almost everyone has one.

I could be guessing totally wrong though.

The fact that the thieves were tipped off by his online activities is troubling. I stopped making large purchases online a couple years ago as a precaution. Now I'm wondering if I cut off the one or two small (>$80) purchases a month I'm making now.

Just get a P.O. Box at the Post Office or a Private Mail Box at UPS Store/Postnet/etc.

Then you can buy stuff online without ever revealing where you and your stuff is.

Better yet, rent the mailbox shortly before moving so even if someone gets into their
records they _still_ don't get your address. ^_- Keep renewing the box forever!

Don't want to move? If you have a friend in an apartment about to move change
the address on your ID to a their place before they move, rent mail box with new ID,
change ID address again after renting the box, once your friend moves you break
the chain of info back to your house but still have a place you can get mail anonymously.

In the U.S. P.O. Boxes are dirt cheap, in Canada not so cheap but still worth it.

[IdahoCopper]

I'm gonna guess "wheelie bin" is Aussie for wheelbarrow.

Its the 100 gallon plastic trash barrel with 2 wheels.

[RichardPenny43]

I'm gonna guess "wheelie bin" is Aussie for wheelbarrow.

Its the 100 gallon plastic trash barrel with 2 wheels.

Got it.
I really couldn't picture a thief pushing a wheelbarrow, that's too much like work.

[theo]

The fact that the thieves were tipped off by his online activities is troubling. I stopped making large purchases online a couple years ago as a precaution. Now I'm wondering if I cut off the one or two small (>$80) purchases a month I'm making now.

Just get a P.O. Box at the Post Office or a Private Mail Box at UPS Store/Postnet/etc.

Then you can buy stuff online without ever revealing where you and your stuff is.

Better yet, rent the mailbox shortly before moving so even if someone gets into their
records they _still_ don't get your address. ^_- Keep renewing the box forever!

Don't want to move? If you have a friend in an apartment about to move change
the address on your ID to a their place before they move, rent mail box with new ID,
change ID address again after renting the box, once your friend moves you break
the chain of info back to your house but still have a place you can get mail anonymously.

In the U.S. P.O. Boxes are dirt cheap, in Canada not so cheap but still worth it.

I used a P.O. box up until 2011, but the USPS staff at the time became well aware of what I was doing and it made me uncomfortable. I discontinued the PO box and cut down my online buying. I now only buy small amounts only from professional outfits like Silvertowne and MCM from Ebay. I haven't been buying from unknown private individuals recently and after reading this article, I never will. If I decide to start buying in quantity again I will be sure to set up a private box.

Thanks.

[NDFarmer]

Doesn't seem very smart to keep that amount of PM's in a safe that you can pick up and carry away. Seems like you would want to have them in a safe that weighs about 800 lbs and is mounted to the floor.

[mishra142]

Thanks for sharing this aricle. I opened a PO today because of it.

[LooseChange]

Tips learned from that news story:
1. Get a Post Office Box
2. Get a REAL safe!!!

What I like about using a box, is that your mail is locked up until you get there. Yes it's open to the Post office employees in the back, but I'm talking about the front.

At my old neighborhood/mobile home community, all the mailboxes were in a bank of about 20 at the top of the street. There was nothing stopping any stranger walking up there before I got home from pulling out my mail and keeping it. Anything missing is not on the carrier, it got delivered, but anyone could go through the mail.

Also, using a PO Box, you can get your mail whenever you want, the lobby is open 24 hours, and mail is locked up the whole time. Well worth the $75/year.

[Numis Pam]

How do you all that use PO boxes get around the fact that many places state they will NOT send to a PO box?

[Thogey]

Doesn't seem very smart to keep that amount of PM's in a safe that you can pick up and carry away. Seems like you would want to have them in a safe that weighs about 800 lbs and is mounted to the floor.

All they have to do is google your address and figure in and egress routes. Wait till you kid goes outside to play.
Grab said kid put a gun to his/her head. At this point your 800 pound safe has an easy open feature.

We are all at risk for this/

[Engineer]

We are all at risk for this/

I still haven't found my wife's killer.
No one will take the contract.

[NDFarmer]

Doesn't seem very smart to keep that amount of PM's in a safe that you can pick up and carry away. Seems like you would want to have them in a safe that weighs about 800 lbs and is mounted to the floor.

All they have to do is google your address and figure in and egress routes. Wait till you kid goes outside to play.
Grab said kid put a gun to his/her head. At this point your 800 pound safe has an easy open feature.

We are all at risk for this/

But then you are talking armed robbery. And taking a hostage. That is quite a bit different than picking up a small safe and carrying it out the door. I still would rather have an 800 lb safe mounted on the floor.

Because of the scenario you mentioned I think another good idea is to not have your safe at your house.

[IdahoCopper]

How do you all that use PO boxes get around the fact that many places state they will NOT send to a PO box?

I have a box at the UPS store. They accept all mail and delivery services.

[MrIncredible]

Doesn't seem very smart to keep that amount of PM's in a safe that you can pick up and carry away. Seems like you would want to have them in a safe that weighs about 800 lbs and is mounted to the floor.

All they have to do is google your address and figure in and egress routes. Wait till you kid goes outside to play.
Grab said kid put a gun to his/her head. At this point your 800 pound safe has an easy open feature.

We are all at risk for this/

But then you are talking armed robbery. And taking a hostage. That is quite a bit different than picking up a small safe and carrying it out the door. I still would rather have an 800 lb safe mounted on the floor.

Because of the scenario you mentioned I think another good idea is to not have your safe at your house.

Would it make sense to have a decoy safe filled with various Chinese counterfeits specifically for this situation?

[fansubs_ca]

How do you all that use PO boxes get around the fact that many places state they will NOT send to a PO box?

I have a box at the UPS store. They accept all mail and delivery services.

Bingo! To add a bit of info if it's with a UPS store or equivalent it even looks like
a street address. With one differentiation between Canada and the U.S., assuming
the UPS store is at 123 Main Street:

In Canada it looks something like this:

123 Main Street
Suite 404

or

404-123 Main Street

The second way is actually Canada Post's official way of addresing suite/apartment
addresses but both are considered acceptable and get delivered. (So many people
are used to the U.S. style of addressing that both will quite often be seen.)

In the U.S. it looks something like this:

123 Main Street
PMB 404

Somewhere around the year 2000 the U.S. Post Office brought in a regulation
that boxes at private mail recievers had to have the designation PMB on them
or they wouldn't deliver the mail to it. Prior to that people were addressing them
with a hodge podge of designators like PO Box, Box, Apt. Suite, etc. I'm assuming
that it was to prevent fraud so the sender knew they were sending to a private
mail drop by the designator used.

However in Canada that never happened so it looks like an apartment or office
the way it's written. So although you can send someone mail or courier shipments
there if you try to visit them you'll get a "404 apartment not found error". ^_-

Idealy if you do go with a Private Mail Box provider like the UPS Store (previously
known as Mail Boxes Etc. before UPS bought them out and made all the franchises
rename) it would be good to try to find one that has a street address of it's own.
The reason for this is even though the PMB designator identifies it to senders
who are familiar with it the type of adress they are sending it to, an address like:

123 Main Street
PMB 404

Looks a lot tidier and shorter than:

123 Main Street
Unit 1
PMB 404

or the worse case that may occur in a mall where the mailboxes (for the post
office) and unit numbers (for couriers) don't match so the catch all has to include
all of that. One local UPS store in my city would issue a mail box address that
looks like:

Suite 404
30-360 Main St.
Unit 13B

30 was their mall mail box number, 13B was their mall unit number

Yeah...a little too much chance of a transition error or it simply not fitting some
forms because it requires 3 address lines. They are a great location for picking
stuff up but a horrible place to have to deliver to.

Also they have no 24 hour access to the boxes like most other locations even
though you can actually get into the mall they are in 24/7.

So I won't be dealing with that location... -_-

I used to work in that mall and pretty much every business was getting courier
packages intended for other mall businesses all the time (and sometimes
lettermail if a sender put the unit number rather than the mailbox number),
fortunately we were all pretty good about bringing each other the misdirected
packages. The regular Purolator and UPS guys were OK because they knew what
was where but if they were off and someone had to fill in everything got messed up.

I have heard stories of some rural Post Offices in the U.S. accepting courier
shipments for their box holders even though they aren't supposed to but I
wouldn't count on that for anything of high value and that was a long time
ago I heard about that. This was back in the 90s, the people would write
the address of the Post Office, then put their box number in the spot of the
apartment number. I wouldn't do this without checking with your Post Office
in advance, it might depend on how well they know you.

Some RPOs in Canada have been known to do this as well again even though
they aren't supposed to under official Canada Post rules.

Now the fact that only the Post Office can deliver to P.O. Boxes can actually
(here in Canada at least) be an advantage. The advantage is that it is enough
to prevent some of the less organized mail order companies from "accidentally"
using UPS when you tell them to use the Post Office. (If something comes
from outside Canada UPS charges very large "brokerage charges" compared
to the $8 Canada Post charges so it can make a huge difference in your final
delivered cost of getting your items.)

That said I have a few things that won't take a P.O. Box that do come from
within Canada so for them I also have a box at a UPS store as well as my
P.O. Box. When I opened the Box at the UPS store I instructed them to
refuse any CODs incase the address got out to the wrong people and they
decided to send me a COD package I don't want or if some company in Canada
that I gave the address to decided to have someone outside Canada drop ship
my order without checking with me first. (For people that do want to accept
CODs they keep a credit card on file.)

In my city the UPS store has a few competitors, PostNet has one location
and there is an idependant store called "Pack and Post", I've also recently
learned that some Money Mart locations (they are primarily a check cashing/
payday loan store) also rent out mailboxes though they don't seem to advertize
it heavily. So look around in your city, you may find you have more options
than you might initially think. Also even within UPS Stores they are each
independantly owned franchises so pricing/policies may vary from one location
to annother.

I should also say that when they let me pick my box at the UPS store I picked
#404 just so I could use the "404 apartment not found" pun. ^_-

[IdahoCopper]

I write the UPS Store box number directly after the street address. None of my mail has PMB in the address; the mail gets delivered without it.

123 Main Street W. 555 or 123 Main Street W. #555
The "555" is the box number.

Works every time.

[NiBullionCu]

Many Post Offices now allow use of a 'Street address' for the PO box.

https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=mtcsa

In Move to Competitive Locations with Street Addressing, a customer's mailing address may be either the street address for the Post Office where their PO Box is located, followed by # and the box number, or PO Box followed by the box number.

Some merchants do not allow shipping to a PO Box address. The Street Addressing option enables customers to receive packages and deliveries from private carriers who require a street address for delivery, such as UPS and FedEx.

I haven't used it yet, but my Post Office has this feature.

[fansubs_ca]

I write the UPS Store box number directly after the street address. None of my mail has PMB in the address; the mail gets delivered without it.

I guess either the regulation has been repealed or just simply wasn't enforced.
Handy info to know.

Many Post Offices now allow use of a 'Street address' for the PO box.

https://ribbs.usps.gov/index.cfm?page=mtcsa

I guess they made it official. ^_^ Here in Canada they typically let it through, just they
say officially you aren't supposed to do the street address. An RPO might even sign for
courier packages for some customers but a Canada Post operated location won't do that.

I guess the U.S. Post Office finally realized they were losing enough business to the
private mailbox stores.

[Treetop]

How do you all that use PO boxes get around the fact that many places state they will NOT send to a PO box?

I just call in the order and tell them I only have a po box. The vast bulk will just send it to the po box in my experience. I order alot of things online lol.