Iirc, the USPS can’t unilaterally search your letters or packages because, as a government institution, it would be a major violation of the 4th amendment- even postal inspectors need to get a warrant to open a letter or package that’s not expressly addressed to them if it was in the care of the USPS. I think the only exception is when it’s an ‘Operation Santa’ letter, and there are regulations in place for how those get handled to protect the privacy of the sender.
The private parcel and package companies probably don’t have to abide by the same restrictions because they’re not government owned and operated.
There’s also an exception if they can’t read the delivery address; they have the authority to open the package to try to determine delivery address. So make sure your label can get a little wet and still be readable.
You’re acting like it’s difficult to get a warrant.
It’s not.
Warrants take 10-15 minutes for routine things. All they have to do is explain why they think there’s drugs in there, and convince the judge it meets the threshold- usually that’s pretty easy.
It’s not hard, but it’s still a hurdle. Warrants also can’t be requested from a judge by just anyone in the USPS iirc, so the start of the process often relies on an employee taking time out of their day to report something they deem suspicious in the first place, likely in an understaffed and overworked office that’s not built to handle the package volume of the area they serve.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Why would there be grounds for a lawsuit?
Using their services subjects you to their terms of services subjects you to their policies on searches.
Of which there’s plenty of things shielding them from exactly this kind of accident.
TotesIllegit@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Iirc, the USPS can’t unilaterally search your letters or packages because, as a government institution, it would be a major violation of the 4th amendment- even postal inspectors need to get a warrant to open a letter or package that’s not expressly addressed to them if it was in the care of the USPS. I think the only exception is when it’s an ‘Operation Santa’ letter, and there are regulations in place for how those get handled to protect the privacy of the sender.
The private parcel and package companies probably don’t have to abide by the same restrictions because they’re not government owned and operated.
Countess425@lemmy.world 8 months ago
There’s also an exception if they can’t read the delivery address; they have the authority to open the package to try to determine delivery address. So make sure your label can get a little wet and still be readable.
FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You’re acting like it’s difficult to get a warrant.
It’s not.
Warrants take 10-15 minutes for routine things. All they have to do is explain why they think there’s drugs in there, and convince the judge it meets the threshold- usually that’s pretty easy.
TotesIllegit@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s not hard, but it’s still a hurdle. Warrants also can’t be requested from a judge by just anyone in the USPS iirc, so the start of the process often relies on an employee taking time out of their day to report something they deem suspicious in the first place, likely in an understaffed and overworked office that’s not built to handle the package volume of the area they serve.