I needed to order some TapSigners for an organization I consult for. The problem? Well, it's the perennial problem of putting any personal information into any bitcoin website of course. There have been customer data leaks from many sources over the years and it's just too risky even if they purge on a rolling basis.
The solution: See previous discussions: #435261, #199147 I went to a local shipping shop. I didn't choose the brand name stores, rather one that is locally owned and operated. I walked in the door and asked if they could receive a package. They said "yes" and it would cost me $5. Awesome. I told them it would be labeled for "General Delivery 7382". They took down a note and I went home and ordered the product.
The address template I used for shipping was simply: General Delivery 7382 1000 Main Street Anywhere, NY 90210
I figured the four digit "PIN code" was a good measure of identity that they would trust. So it took a week or so for the package to arrive, but when it did I walked in and asked for the package, showed the shipping page with the shipping number on my phone, paid the $5 and walked out with the bitcoin tapsigners!
I was able to reduce my privacy attack vector significantly, though it's never zero. It should be mentioned, of course, that I used a burner email and paid with lightning for the rest of the transaction.
Let me know here if you try this and it works in your area!
45 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 11 Apr
Did the shipping company take any details besides "general delivery 7382"?
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111 sats \ 0 replies \ @go OP 11 Apr
Nope. I told them it was for privacy reasons and they didn’t care
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Smart. Thanks for telling us about this idea.
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Good job.
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Which jurisdiction was this?
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USA The ticket is that it was a small “mom and pop” business that doesn’t have a lot of policies and procedures
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What? No way, wow! Nice work!!!
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5 sats \ 1 reply \ @go OP 11 Apr
Yeah, people use General Delivery at post offices when you have to ship something ahead of you on a road trip or hiking trip.
I doubt, however that a Gov office would let you use a “pin” instead of your real name.
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Yeah I cycled in Europe on a trip from the US and we mailed our bike cases. Luckily they made it from the Slovakia post office to our Hotel in Rome!
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Oh hey that was one of my posts. Nice! This is a good idea. I’ll try next time
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @go OP 11 Apr
I know there’s another post I’m missing, but I just couldn’t find it after lots of searching and scrolling
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Hopefully its in here #501150/related
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Cool! It's a damn solution to save from the pirates of privacy.
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Cool! Just for clarity: the last two lines of the address where not the ones from your post, right?
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Ha. Nothing you see is real, but the event did happen
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Thanks for sharing!
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55 sats \ 0 replies \ @go OP 10 Apr
🤝
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I have considered using this exact scenario, including an identifying "pin" of sorts, to open a business for private mailing.
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