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General Delivery and other Shipping Options

E-HP

📚 Legend
Joined
Nov 1, 2018
Messages
10,291
Location
USA
I'm trying to figure out how to send things back and forth by US Mail or other services, that requires minimal information for secure shipping. Something where only the recipients name is necessary, but not specific personal addresses.

Background: When I purchased my TSDZ8 last year, I was pretty disappointed in its performance out of the box. I decided to look into the OSF available here on ES. I ended up purchasing the equipment needed to update the firmware, and managed to put together what I needed at a cost lower than the $200 kit on ebikestuff.eu, but still not cheap. I ended up just installing the latest factory firmware, which works great for my purposes, and in my opinion, how the motor should have been delivered in the first place.

If I would have know ahead of time, I may have not made the purchase, but at least it works now. That said, I feel sorry for folks in the same boat, since the equipment makes more sense to get if you're going to be loading OSF and tweaking it as the firmware is further developed. For a one time flash, it's like basically building in $100 more to your purchase price just to get what you should have gotten.

Inquiry: My interface equipment has just been sitting in my parts box since I flashed my motor. I may at some point tinker with OSF, but with no urgency. I was trying to figure out a way to lend out the equipment to folks who are just looking to flash their motor once, and only have the need for it that one time. I want a method where minimal personal information is exchanged. I looked at the post office and they have a General Delivery option, where things are sent to the post office and the recipient simply goes into the post office and presents their ID. I don't know if the same can be done as the "return address". That seems like a possible option, but I really haven't dug into it.

So, my question is, whether anyone know of options to send these loaner items back and forth discretely. Who knows, maybe there could be an "Items to Loan" section in the Online Marketplace forum. Sort of like a library. Anyway, I realize that trust is a big component of implementing something like this, so just seeing what's doable for now.
 
If you can figure out how to make loaning work without losing items or money then you have a 8-9 figure business on your hands.

It's quite difficult to successfully pull it off even among friends.
In order to do it in a lower trust situation has a lot more problems to solve.

They look a lot like what problems ebay/paypal solved.
 
Just get a PO Box. There are businesses like Postal Annex that will rent you a PO box and also accept packages from FedEx and UPS. Some of them will give you a street address like 123 Maple St., #304, Hometown, CA, USA.

MTA: If you want to keep your name off of it, you can use a business name on the mailbox rental or have the mailbox rental accept packages for multiple names.
 
If you can figure out how to make loaning work without losing items or money then you have a 8-9 figure business on your hands.

It's quite difficult to successfully pull it off even among friends.
In order to do it in a lower trust situation has a lot more problems to solve.

They look a lot like what problems ebay/paypal solved.
Maybe some criteria regarding the person's ES tenure. e.g. active member for 2 years or more, etc.
The way I look at it, it's just sitting in my parts box doing nothing, and might never be used again, but it would be good to have the option. I could give it away, but that would only benefit one person. Even if the lending thing only works a few times, at least that's more than 1.
 
Just get a PO Box. There are businesses like Postal Annex that will rent you a PO box and also accept packages from FedEx and UPS. Some of them will give you a street address like 123 Maple St., #304, Hometown, CA, USA.

MTA: If you want to keep your name off of it, you can use a business name on the mailbox rental or have the mailbox rental accept packages for multiple names.
Thanks. I think this would work, if I had other reasons to maintain (and pay for) a PO box. Definitely works otherwise.
 
Thanks. I think this would work, if I had other reasons to maintain (and pay for) a PO box. Definitely works otherwise.
For free options, if you have a work address or a friend that owns a local business you could use that address.
 
I was trying to figure out a way to lend out the equipment to folks who are just looking to flash their motor once, and only have the need for it that one time.
A friend of mine on another forum lends specialized tools to other forum members there. He charges a hefty fully refundable deposit, and mails them via USPS flat rate boxes. Maybe 1-2 times per year? No problems so far.
 
Yea, he-- like you-- has built up a reliable reputation of being knowledgeable and helpful on the forum so folks don't have a problem with the hefty deposit, knowing they'll get the deposit right back after returning the tools.
 
I've found the best shipping rates with USPS to be using Cubic ground shipping rates with an account. It applies to packages under 1 cubic foot and 20 lbs. Quite cheap for dense objects, at least if you aren't using retail pricing.

For the return address, I'm not 100% sure you need to put one. According to the USPS postal explorer, it seems that return addresses may only be required for bulk mailings or mailings requiring customs forms. You would need to provide your legal name to the recipient so they could ship it back to you via general delivery, presumably.

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There's also that will forward mail discreetly/anonymously, put their address on it, hold it for you, etc. I don't know of any specific ones to recommend, though
 
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