In another post I made the claim that asked for advice for getting subscribed to mailing lists for adverts and other free stuff in order to give my mail drop the air of credibility. I made the claim that I had finally worked out a safe, unsuspected, pseudonymous mail drop that I can check discreetly on a daily basis. Several redditors asked for how I set up my drop, so I thought it might be helpful if I share it here. Hope you enjoy, and if you spot flaws in my plan and want to critique, please do so.
The whole origin story and all the factors I'm considering are a little tl;dr, so first I'll describe my setup and second get into the many considerations that are worth thinking about. My theory is that variations on this setup can be accomplished in different ways if we're mindful of variations and the risks.
The setup is not a PO box or with any Commercial Mail Receiving Agency. It's just a harmless wall-mounted vertical box in a residential area that is full of other wall-mounted vertical boxes (google that image if you're not sure what I mean).
I installed it in an apartment building that is a little old and run down, but mostly populated with respectable enough looking families. Most were renters, I'd say lower middle class. It's not a slum or an area with crime. The property value is high thanks to location, and the building is due to be renovated in the coming years. There are 8 entrances, each with 8 mailboxes at each entrance. They are all standard wall mounted apartment mailboxes, but kind of weak: the front sides are made of acrylic, and now several of them are broken. Many of the residents have resorted to replacing the broken acrylic front piece with cardboard, but several have done something else: installing their own wall-mounted vertical mailbox beside the standard ones. Each one is different, and is identified by the family's name and apartment number, but it's clear that it's a mailbox that they went out and bought and installed for themselves. Every entrance has one or two of these, and some have four.
So I went to the last entrance and found the final number. I bought a mailbox just like theirs and mounted it discretely, at a time of day when nobody was around. Made up a pseudonym that would blend in with the others, labeled it "The ______ Family", and bought some nice decorative number stickers to attach to the front, visibly announcing that box number as legit-looking as possible. The whole thing cost me about the equivalent of $30 US. Then I started posting a variety of kinds of envelopes with different kinds of (legit) contents from post boxes in other locations. So far every one has shown up. So have the flyers and adverts that are direct mailed to all the other residents of the building. In other words, it blends in just like all the other DIY mailboxes there.
If the postman has ever noticed that something was awry, he hasn't complained. To launder my mail, I've ordered some things listed /r/freebies from organisations that are willing to ship internationally. I gave a charity donation in the name of my pseudonym. It's a good cause, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to hear more from them. As my original post said, I'm looking for more opportunities to get a steady stream of legit mail coming in, just like a real family would have.
Here are some things I like about my location:
It wasn't my preference to use the very last entrance of the building, but that turned out advantageous. It gives me a wide range of view so I can know if anyone coming and going. There is also an exit nearby.
I try to blend in when checking the mail. This is a pretty low-key neighbourhood, so if I had rasta dreadlocks and tie dye I'd be out of luck.
It's important the mailbox has a working lock and key that's better than that of the original apartment boxes. Imagine my annoyance one day when I came to check it, and a young child who was playing around there with other children was slamming my lid open and shut. Later on I checked again and my latest order had arrived. The key also allows me to open and close without actually touching the box. That may be a little paranoid, but it's nice.
A bit of background for those who are still reading:
First of all, as I mentioned in the other post, I don't live in the US. I bring this up this specifically so you won't remind me about USPS laws about mail fraud. Things are different here and your mileage may vary. I'm not going to divulge where I live, but I will say it's not one of the major wealthy countries that I see vendors shipping from. It's not a third-world nation either, but something in between. I always have to order from abroad.
After the parcel of one of my more incriminating DNM orders never arrived at my home address I figured it was probably confiscated, and considered that option burned. I decided if possible never to use my real name and address again. So I spent a couple of months paying attention to the different ways that mail is delivered in my city. I just brainstormed every time I took a walk around, looking at what kinds of mailboxes people have and trying to figure out how to hack the system so as to have a parcel delivered to me at the location of my choosing, without raising any suspicion or (ideally) breaking any laws, besides the obvious one.
Here are some ideas that inspired me:
On another site where I saw this discussed, somebody mentioned going out to a rural delivery area, where one might find a long row of mailboxes in one place. Buy a standard post-mount mailbox just like the others, nail to to the end, assign it a number, and have everything shipped to there. The problem with that idea is that these mailboxes all represent homes of people who live in the area. Often these are landowners, farmers for example, who are well aware of who everyone around is. They're going to get curious to say the least and try to find out who the new neighbour is. Another problem with this is assigning the number -- that number might very well belong to someone else out on that postal route, although with enough surveying of the area one might figure that out.
I also liked this post, but the critiques were valid. Also, an unused mailbox remains that way exactly until someone moves in. If you've got clean mail or orders on the way, where are they going to go after that?
Sure, this setup isn't forever, just until the next innovation is necessary.
And it's not about this specific solution; it's about blending in. You don't need a run-down building with homemade boxes for this to work. Maybe the organisation you work for is large enough that their internal mail system wouldn't notice a parcel sent to a pseudonym in a department to which you have access. It only costs you a stamp and a few minutes to find out.
As I said, I welcome any critiques about this setup or suggestions for alternatives. I think the more we hash out these ideas, the more we'll come up with better ones. In the meantime, mine is doing its job quite nicely.
I don't know how it works in your country, but I think you're thinking way too hard on this. There are two scenarios:
You are receiving international shipments to resell domestically in your country. In this case, you will most likely have to have it signed for. A CMRA or someone you trust with your freedom is what you need.
You are a regular DNM user, in which case this is all completely unnecessary.