Here are some corporate guidlines set by the USPS regarding mail center policies for large companies.
Slide 2:
It has a heading:
'Protecting your Employees and Securing your Mail Center'.
USPO Logo in the far left.
It has the words:
............
'What constitutes a suspicious letter or package?
PCC (Us Postal Service Postal Customer Council) Logo.
End of Image information.
Notes:
Typical characteristics of a suspicious letter or parcel include:
(bullet)Excessive Postage, no postage, or non-cancelled postage.
(bullet)No return address or obvious fictitious return address.
(bullet)Packages that are unexpected or from someone unfamiliar to you.
(bullet)Excessive tape.
(bullet)Improper spelling of addressee names, titles or locations.
(bullet)Packages that are addressed to someone no longer with your organization or otherwise out-dated.
(bullet)Rigid or bulky, lopsided or uneven.
(bullet)Unexpected envelopes from foreign countries.
(bullet)Restrictive markings.
End of Slide 2.
There would be no reason to suspect that the USPS' own policies wouldn't mirror these, more or less.
We do know that in the United States, the postal service have purchased and installed as many as 8 (around 2002) irradiaters in mail centers such as in Ohio, New Jersey and, assumably, DC. Supposedly, they intended to purchase many more. Unfortunately (or, depending on who you are, fortunately) the USPS is as broke as any establishment can be in the US. In fact, there have been many rumors lately of the USPS shutting down entirely. This would bolster that the USPS has suggested that many of these companies take over xray practices for them selves as a means to protect their employees. This would highly suggest that the USPS does not have the means to do it (why do it twice?) nor the will.
Slide 8:
It has a heading:
'Protecting your Employees and Securing your Mail Center'.
USPO Logo in the far left.
It has the words:
'Sample procedure.
(Private Sector)
.......
(red arrow image for a bullet)X-ray
(red arrow image for a bullet)Quality Control
PCC (Us Postal Service Postal Customer Council) Logo.
End of Image information.
Notes:
..........
3. All packages and letters will then be brought to the X-ray Operation for scanning.
4. The X-ray operation staff will follow established procedures for scanning and stamping all packages and mail. Upon completion, the packages and mail will be returned to the Mail Center for sorting.
On a regular basis, the on-duty supervisor will quality control the process by visually inspecting and initialing mail before it leaves the mail center.
End of Slide 8.
I had some difficulty tracking down any official info regarding the USPS' use of xray. Seems if they had it, they would want people to know. I think bombs and anthrax pose a larger concern than clones. However, I do have some thoughts regarding this I will address momentarily. That being as it may, I did find this..
S010 Indemnity Claims
2.14 Nonpayable Claims
Indemnity is not paid for collect on delivery (COD), insured, or registered service or for Express Mail in these situations:
a. Evidence of insurance coverage not provided.
b. Loss, rifling, or damage occurred after delivery by the USPS.
c. Claim based solely on sentimental rather than actual value.
d. Requested replacement value exceeded actual value at the time and place of mailing.
e. The contents of film (e.g., positives, negatives, slides, transparencies, videotapes, laser disks, x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) prints, computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan prints), the cost of creating or re-creating these items, or the photographer's time and expense in taking the photographs.
f. Loss resulted from delay of the mail, except under 2.12a(2).
g. Consequential loss claimed rather than the actual value of the article.
h. Perishable contents froze, melted, spoiled, or deteriorated.
i. Damage by abrasion, scarring, or scraping to articles not properly wrapped for protection.
j. Death of baby poultry caused by shipment to points where delivery could not be made within 72 hours from the time of hatching, unless it is determined that transportation was in place to achieve the 72-hour target.
k. Death of honeybees, crickets, and harmless live animals not the fault of the USPS (mailability of these insects and animals is subject to C022.
l. The sender or addressee failed to cooperate in the completion of required claim forms.
m. Fragile nature of article prevented its safe carriage in the mail, regardless of packaging.
n. Personal time required to replace documents.
o. Claim filed after the article transported outside the USPS.
p. Damage caused by shock, transportation environment, or x-ray, without evidence of damage to the mailing container.
q. Mail article or part or all of its contents officially seized while in the military postal system overseas.
r. Negotiable items (defined as instruments that can be converted to cash without resort to forgery), currency, or bullion valued in total at more than $15 per shipment sent by Express Mail, except under 2.12c.
s. Consequential loss of Express Mail claimed, except under 2.12a(3).
t. Nonmailable items, prohibited items, or restricted items not prepared and mailed according to postal standards, or any item packaged in such a manner that it could not have reached its destination undamaged in the normal course of the mail.
u. Loss or damage caused by employees or agents of the sender or addressee.
v. Radioactive injury, electrical or magnetic injury, or erasure of electrical recordings.
w. War, insurrection, or civil disturbance, or seizure by any agency of government.
x. Loss after items signed for by the addressee, the addressee's agent, or delivery employee if authorized under the applicable standards.
y. Items sent COD without the addressee's consent.
z. Adult birds in Express Mail with no physical damage to the container.
aa. Cost incurred for estimates and appraisals.
ab. Lottery tickets, sweepstakes tickets, contest entries, and similar items.
(End DMM Reference)
Special attention should be paid to 2.14 A, B, C, D, P, T, U , and X above. Especially 2.14.P and 2.14.T. Under 2.14.P, if the item arrives damaged and there is no visible evidence of damage to the outer mailing packaging, the claim is considered to be non-payable. Under 2.14.T, the claim for an improperly packaged item is also non-payable.
Items above referring to 2.12 are referencing Payable Express Mail claims. For the purposes of this tutorial, Express Mail claims are not being addressed. If you have questions regards Express Mail Claims, please refer to S010.2.12 of the Domestic Mail Manual, using the link provided at the end of this tutorial.
Depreciation of Claims:
In all, I spent about an hour and a half tripping along the internet in an attempt to find solid proof of the use of xray by the USPS. If anyone here has a link that confirms or denies this, please speak up. Here are my final thoughts...
I found many references to the use of xrays by the military to monitor packages coming and going. Also that these xrays have thawrted upwards of 85% of the illegal export of alledged "war trophies", etc. It wouldn't be hard to except that the military is watching in the same respect that airports look through luggage.
Also, regarding our public mail system, I found many, many references to xrays and irridiation devices loosely intermingled. This, in my book, is profound. Instead of "peeking" into mail, irradiation is used to wipe mail clean, and is now used to decontaminate all mail destined for federal goverment facilities, etc. In my opinion, at this point, it has caused a lot of confusion in most folks opinions as to what xraying really means. If the USPS uses xray to view mail, it is only at what would be considered high priority targets, and would fit nicely in their policy to sluff off the expense and responsibility to individual private/corporate mail facilities.
I also found that the upkeep of irradiation pratices (or xray pratices) on a national scale would more than triple financially what the USPS is already loosing every single year. Something in the billions of dollars. Again, they just can't afford it.
An interesting side note.. It is intriguing to consider the many complaints we hear of germination rates that completely crash when attempted to grow beans sent through the mail. Also, there are times when clone mortality seems a bit unexplainable when sent through the USPS. Although it might seem easily explained by irradiation pratices, there is no proof. What we do have proof of are the letters we have been sent or seen when beans get confiscated. That's solid, and again eludes to the absence of radiating devices/pratices available. If they had the ability to radiate mail, why hire pee ons to sort and open contraband, and then send the stupid letters out?
It's my view that any xray device in the general mail system is nothing more then rumor. It's the dogs you gotta watch out for....