Plan B Forum

Yesterday I received a book from Amazon. All six external sides of the box were printed (in color!) with ads for Chevy pick-up trucks. Everyone in the logistics chain from the Amazon warehouse to my hands would have seen the ads.

And a special note to Econoline. The box contained volume 5 of the complete newspaper strips of Walt Kelly

snailgate.

It's what is on the insides that counts.

yrs,
rubato

Never judge a book by its cover!

Burning Petard wrote:Yesterday I received a book from Amazon. All six external sides of the box were printed (in color!) with ads for Chevy pick-up trucks. Everyone in the logistics chain from the Amazon warehouse to my hands would have seen the ads.

And a special note to Econoline. The box contained volume 5 of the complete newspaper strips of Walt Kelly

snailgate.

I'm curious SG: have you been looking at Chevy trucks on line? In other words is that a targeted ad which means they have to know you are thinking about a new truck and they then print the box on demand? If it costs them 15 cents to print the box and GM gives them 20, Bezos will not have to think twice.

If next time I order something from Amazon and the box comes covered in ads for a new Alfa, I'll let you know. If it has ads for a new Maserati (specifically that black AWD Ghibli with the tan seats they've got in the corner of the lot there), I'll know that one of you is ratting to Amazon on me.

rubato wrote:It's what is on the insides that counts.

yrs,
rubato

Like the rocks inside your head.

I have been looking at autos on line. NEVER for a GM product. Almost never for a pick-up truck--only exception when I was looking for info on WESW's new project. I have looked at Audi A6 and A8, small Hondas, Subaru Forester, various small Fords, various Toyotas. That is all, over that last five years.

I have no Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, You Tube, Google account.

snailgate.

I have no Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, You Tube, Google account.

snailgate.

If you use a smart phone, your every move can be tracked.


I use a "burner phone" and my only online presence is here.

Burner phones can be tracked just as easy as smartphones.

datsunaholic wrote:Burner phones can be tracked just as easy as smartphones.

Not if they don't know who has it.

I'm curious SG: have you been looking at Chevy trucks on line? In other words is that a targeted ad which means they have to know you are thinking about a new truck and they then print the box on demand? If it costs them 15 cents to print the box and GM gives them 20, Bezos will not have to think twice.

I would think it unlikely that the technology exists to economically print targeted ads on packing materials, especially when faced with the shipping deadlines Amazon faces. Much more likely that they just print all boxes, or all boxes from a certain warehouse, with the same ad.

dales wrote:

datsunaholic wrote:Burner phones can be tracked just as easy as smartphones.

Not if they don't know who has it.

What, you buy a new one for every call? The phone itself is easy to track.

My phone isn't even in my name, and is the wrong area code.

I buy a phone with cash money (TracPhone) and purchase the minutes with cash money.

No one knows who I am even though it can be tracked.


btw: any luck with the ladies yet?

This seems to explain Amazon's corrugated commercialism. It all started with "Minions."

https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/amazo ... ons-movie/

I do not have a smart phone. I prefer specialization: I use my phone as a phone (wireless flip. abandoned my land line about 10 years ago) my iPod Touch (latest software tries very hard to turn it into a phone) for a portable music box, and several Panasonic digital cameras when I want a camera. I have an Apple computer that is six years old and does what I want.

My wife has a new iPad that she barely uses for web surfing and email.

I still have two models of PalmPilot that work just fine. I have some personal files still there and nowhere else. But of course they will not synch with any computers. They are my fall back address books and alarm clock.

snailgate.

Burning Petard wrote:I do not have a smart phone. I prefer specialization: I use my phone as a phone (wireless flip. abandoned my land line about 10 years ago) my iPod Touch (latest software tries very hard to turn it into a phone) for a portable music box, and several Panasonic digital cameras when I want a camera. I have an Apple computer that is six years old and does what I want.

My wife has a new iPad that she barely uses for web surfing and email.

I still have two models of PalmPilot that work just fine. I have some personal files still there and nowhere else. But of course they will not synch with any computers. They are my fall back address books and alarm clock.

snailgate.

What ... you've advanced to electronic gizmos instead of still using 35-mm film, a spiral notepad, and an actual mechanical wind-up alarm clock?
That's it.  Turn in your membership card; you're kicked out of the Luddite Society.

-"BB"-

dales wrote:I buy a phone with cash money (TracPhone) and purchase the minutes with cash money.

No one knows who I am even though it can be tracked.


btw: any luck with the ladies yet?

But once you've made a call, then they know who to track.

While it was a completely idiotic "reality" show, Hunted showed how they tracked a burner phone. I did a little research to see how realistic this was, and it was standard practice. The phones have a unique identifier, which is traced at a minimum to the store it was sent to. They aren't always tracked at time of purchase, but usually are in order to activate the SIM card. So, when the phone was sold, if the retailer had video surveillance, it shows it being bought.

But more importantly, any call made to a known associate could be traced (I'm talking in the sense of a criminal investigation). Once they have the number, they have the phone's ID. It then can be tracked any time it is powered on. This is no better, nor worse, than tracking of any smartphone - which are tracked in exactly the same way.

And no, I've had no luck with the ladies. All I've managed to do was get the attention of a couple scammers looking for money, who got fairly nasty when I saw through their ruse. One couldn't even keep "her" name straight (which was kind of a clue). I can't believe the amount of guys that fall for it, though.

To be untraceable 'burner phones' must be burned--that is, used ONCE and then destroyed.

snailgate.

Datsun: Keep at it, you'll find some one.

Both Snail and Datsun: Thanks for the info. Since I am not engaged in any nefarious activity, I have no worries.