Do you want to hear something funny?

PerryHall

I bought some silver bars from Provident Metals. The package arrived this afternoon. I noticed that the return address on the small box said "Provident Machine Bearings" which I thought was rather funny. Obviously they were trying to discourage possible theft by some postal worker. I've bought from Provident before but I never noticed this before now.

VanHalen

PMB? Provident Metals Bullion = Provident Machine Bearings. Great idea.

PerryHall

Most bullion dealers just use their company initials to hide the fact that the package contains precious metals. Provident Machine Bearings company included a couple of suckers and one of their ball point pens in my package.

DrBuster

And thanks for advertising the fact to the world, sigh.

mariner67

That has been their return address on the shipments I have received from them for a few years now.

piecesofme

Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

ricko

Nice... I like that.... shows consideration... for their business and their customers. Cheers, RickO

SurfinxHI

@DrBuster said:
And thanks for advertising the fact to the world, sigh.

My guess is that PH is not giving this incredibly small factoid away to the entire world, as the entire world does not read these boards.....let alone the few small postal workers in the country. He mentioned it as an interesting observation. Sigh.

PerryHall

@SurfinxHI said:

@DrBuster said:
And thanks for advertising the fact to the world, sigh.

My guess is that PH is not giving this incredibly small factoid away to the entire world, as the entire world does not read these boards.....let alone the few small postal workers in the country. He mentioned it as an interesting observation. Sigh.

I doubt any postal thieves are reading this forum. They would target any package with anything of value and not just look for bullion. That said I doubt that there is more than a very few postal thieves as they get caught and fired pretty quickly. Most bullion is shipped using registered mail where there is a signature chain of custody so it's easy to figure out who stole a package---the last person that signed for it is on the hook for its disappearance.

DrBuster

Last time I had to go pick up/sign for a plumbing supplies package the clerk flat out asked me if I was a collector and what kind of coins or bullion were in it. Said none of your business but it's a pipefitting I couldn't find local.

Smart thieves do in fact research things, hence my statement. Don't want to help those types out as much as possible is all.

VanHalen

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

pruebas

I used to bid on auctions from Ponterio & Associates before they merged with Stacks Bowers. They always stamped "machine parts" on auction shipments to me.

pruebas

I used to bid on auctions from Ponterio & Associates before they merged with Stacks Bowers. They always stamped "machine parts" on auction shipments to me.

johnny9434

thats a very good idea to do. good marketing

Downtown1974

I use that tactic at home to hide bullion purchases from my wife. I labeled one of the closets in our home "Ironing board and cleaning supplies". She never goes in there, so that is where I store my stack.

Baley

I'll bet the thieves who steal machine bearings from the mail are really disappointed when they find silver bars in the box

hchcoin

@Downtown1974 said:
I use that tactic at home to hide bullion purchases from my wife. I labeled one of the closets in our home "Ironing board and cleaning supplies". She never goes in there, so that is where I store my stack.

Awesome! LOL, Post of the Day.

PerryHall

I wonder if there any companies that sell machine bearings that mark their packages "SILVER BULLION" to make it less likely to be stolen.

Baley

Then there are those who ship boxes of common rocks with insurance, and mark the return address, "THE CASH, GUNS, and DRUGS DEPOT" to collect on the claim when the package shows up empty or goes missing entirely.

Edited to add some emoticons:

BAJJERFAN

@DrBuster said:
And thanks for advertising the fact to the world, sigh.

Good grief, paranoid much?

BAJJERFAN

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

PerryHall

@BAJJERFAN said:

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

Why not? Since when are machine bearings not insurable?

BAJJERFAN

@PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

Why not? Since when are machine bearings not insurable?

The bullion houses are shipping bullion and not machine bearings. When you file a claim you have to list shipment contents. Bullion is not insurable by the USPS unless you use registered mail.

PerryHall

@BAJJERFAN said:

@PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

Why not? Since when are machine bearings not insurable?

The bullion houses are shipping bullion and not machine bearings. When you file a claim you have to list shipment contents. Bullion is not insurable by the USPS unless you use registered mail.

I know all this. Didn't you notice the winky emoji? I was making a joke.

BAJJERFAN

@PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

Why not? Since when are machine bearings not insurable?

The bullion houses are shipping bullion and not machine bearings. When you file a claim you have to list shipment contents. Bullion is not insurable by the USPS unless you use registered mail.

I know all this. Didn't you notice the winky emoji? I was making a joke.

There are smoe dumbass emoticons with this new software then. Frankly, I wasn't paying attention.

PerryHall

@BAJJERFAN said:
There are smoe dumbass emoticon> @PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@PerryHall said:

@BAJJERFAN said:

@VanHalen said:

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Large bullion houses likely never file a postal insurance claim. They self insure.

Unless they use registered mail, it's likely not insurable thru the USPS anyway.

Why not? Since when are machine bearings not insurable?

The bullion houses are shipping bullion and not machine bearings. When you file a claim you have to list shipment contents. Bullion is not insurable by the USPS unless you use registered mail.

I know all this. Didn't you notice the winky emoji? I was making a joke.

There are smoe dumbass emoticons with this new software then. Frankly, I wasn't paying attention.

Agree. The new emoticons are poor and very limited. I liked to old ones much better.

BAJJERFAN

@PerryHall said:

@SurfinxHI said:

@DrBuster said:
And thanks for advertising the fact to the world, sigh.

My guess is that PH is not giving this incredibly small factoid away to the entire world, as the entire world does not read these boards.....let alone the few small postal workers in the country. He mentioned it as an interesting observation. Sigh.

I doubt any postal thieves are reading this forum. They would target any package with anything of value and not just look for bullion. That said I doubt that there is more than a very few postal thieves as they get caught and fired pretty quickly. Most bullion is shipped using registered mail where there is a signature chain of custody so it's easy to figure out who stole a package---the last person that signed for it is on the hook for its disappearance.

I can't ever recall getting a shipment by registered mail from a legitimate bullion house.

BAJJERFAN

@piecesofme said:
Prime example of why I stay away from ordering from "known" bullion suppliers. If they have to file a postal insurance claim how do they do it when the name of the business isn't even right on package being sent?

Assuming that they actually use the USPS for shipping, it's a simple matter to make sure that whichever return addy is used it's also registered with the USPS to send and receive mail at that address.