• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

Opened mail packages

I've noticed over the last year that every single package sent to me in the last year with chili powders or dried chilies has been opened. Every single parcel with dried peppers has been cut open along one of the outer seams, and then sealed shut with transparent 2" carton sealing tape. The contents generally appear to be intact, but the outside packaging is consistently tampered with. Has anybody else noticed this?

The packages have all been domestic, so U.S. Customs would not be involved. It's just strange.
 
 
every single one? thats strange.
 
ive heard stories about the Post office scrutinizing packages from certain zip codes(weed growing areas of california), or packages with invalid return adresses, and return adresses not adjacent to where they are mailed... 
 
by scrutinize i mean they xray them. its my understanding that they xray like maby 1% of all packages. dogs are sometimes brought into mail processing hubs as well, but they see even less mail.
 
its understandable that upon seeing a number of small baggies they would take notice, but idk.
 
perhaps you, or the mailer of said goods are under investigation for drug offenses lol.
 
Packages are not opened at your local mail processing facility, unless it's accidentally done by automation.  The postal inspectors do the package opening, and are usually at some other office/location.  Are you noticing your mail also being delayed?  This might be a clue that your packages are being pulled out by your carrier, and possibly being sent to the inspectors.  Why not ask your carrier, point blank why all of this mail is being opened, and, by whom?
 
Odd, that your packages are being opened and then resealed,  being that Homeland security and Nasa CIA and god knows who else may be inspecting your packages and listening in to phone conversations and putting people on no fly list,  just because your name might be the same as someone of political interest. I would be very curious as to why someone is opening your packages are they marked that they seeds and packets of chili powder in them? as stated above, I would ask your postal carrier why your packages and or mail is being opened and by whom. Just remember curiosity killed the cat.
 
Thank the NSA.
 
"Peeping while you are Sleeping"
 
Everyone is a terrorist, until proven otherwise post numerous waterboardings. :shh:
 
Pepper powders could be coustrued as "hazardous substances" under the P.O. guidelines.
 
I just want the video of the inspector "testing" a sample for cocaine. :fireball:
 
mx5inpa said:
Are these all USPS or FedEx, UPS? Or any kind?
All of them have been USPS. The one common thread has been packages with chili powders and dried peppers -- the ones with only seeds are left alone. It's quite peculiar.
 
They may think the powders are some type of drug, I'm assuming under x-ray powder looks the same no matter the type, and the dried pods may look like pot buds.
 
j.t.delaney said:
All of them have been USPS. The one common thread has been packages with chili powders and dried peppers -- the ones with only seeds are left alone. It's quite peculiar.
 
LawrenceJ2007 said:
They may think the powders are some type of drug, I'm assuming under x-ray powder looks the same no matter the type, and the dried pods may look like pot buds.
 
This.
 
 
filmost said:
Oh man I'd love to see an inspector get all excited and slice open a package only to get super hot powder in their face. :-)
 
haha yes
 
Scoville DeVille said:
OMG. Are you serious? I think i have seen it all. I must have reached the end of the internet.


And the Aliens, Bigfoot and Chupacabra's.
 
Are you unaware of the civil liberties that have been taken away by Obama? The comment seems reasonable to me.

mx5inpa said:
 
Might as well thank the Bushes and Clinton too.
 
Aye, Reagan too.
 
 
 
They shouldn't be searching you mail like that. I'd report it. However, perhaps it's legal and they are "just doing their job."
 
I'm given to understand that often people attempting to ship drugs through the mail will try to throw off drug-sniffing dogs by putting hot pepper powder in the package with them. It's probably a red flag for the postal inspectors.
 
IMHO the situation in Washington has nothing to do with the flavor of our politicians, just that the power of their positions goes to their heads over time and makes them think they know what's best for us without consulting us in their decisions... Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said "Power corrupts... absolute power corrupts absolutely."
 
stickman said:
I'm given to understand that often people attempting to ship drugs through the mail will try to throw off drug-sniffing dogs by putting hot pepper powder in the package with them. It's probably a red flag for the postal inspectors.
This is what I assumed. Chili powder is an old-timey odor masking agent in smuggling, but I thought they would have to place a note in the envelope. I travel a lot, and I've gotten a few "love letters" left in my luggage letting me know that my bags had been opened and inspected by US Customs, so I would have thought that postal inspectors would give the same courtesy. I'll stop by the post office today to ask.

stickman said:
IMHO the situation in Washington has nothing to do with the flavor of our politicians, just that the power of their positions goes to their heads over time and makes them think they know what's best for us without consulting us in their decisions... Benjamin Franklin said it best when he said "Power corrupts... absolute power corrupts absolutely."
(Actually, that was Orwell, not Franklin.)
 
Back
Top