Does the USPS routinely x-ray packages?

fotophox

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• Nov 10, 2008

• #1

Less than an hour ago I sent off a couple rolls of film to Dwaynes' from the nearest post office,
but I forgot to write "EXPOSED FILM -- DO NOT X-RAY" on the envelope, even though I'm not even sure they actually do that. Do I have anything to worry about? They were both 200 ISO, 35mm color print film, if that makes any difference.

 

JBrunner

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• Nov 10, 2008

• #2

No, they do not routinely xray anything. The may randomly xray stuff that is flying, or anything they feel is suspicious, but that is infrequent. You will most likely be ok.

 

nickrapak

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• Nov 10, 2008

• #3

Yeah, unless you are sending to the DC area, X-rays and irradiation should not be an issue.
FYI, the only time I had to write "DO NOT X-RAY" warnings on film was when I sent Kodak mailers to Beltsville, MD. They shouldn't have been irradiated, but you never knew when they could end up in the wrong mailstream.

 

OP

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fotophox

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• Nov 12, 2008

• #4

Thanks for the reassurance! Was that before or after the deadly anthrax mailings, Nickrapak?

 

nickrapak

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• Nov 15, 2008

• #5

fotophox said:

Thanks for the reassurance! Was that before or after the deadly anthrax mailings, Nickrapak?

Click to expand...

Well, I only had to send film to Rockville after Kodak Fair Lawn closed, and I always wrote "DO NOT X-RAY" on any Rockville package.

I remember it was shortly after the anthrax attacks that the USPS began using the mail irradiators that turned paper brittle. I figured if it could do that to paper, what could it do to film?

 

Alexander Ghaffari

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• Nov 15, 2008

• #6

It is going to Kansas, for Pete's sake! They can barely inspect mail incoming to the District of Columbia. As long as you are not mailing parcels to prisons or insane asylums, you are fine (they X-ray mail). You are fine, have faith in America.

How ironic would it be for the USPS to X-ray packages? As Benjamin franklin, who helped establish the forerunner of the modern USPS, said, "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." I smiled a little, thinking of this. : )

EDIT: Typo.