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Cou
National Hazard
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Registered: 16-5-2013
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Worried that police are intercepting my packages, worried about knock on door. Or just COVID-19 shipping delays?
on April 1 ordered 50 grams of sodium metal from overseas on Ebay. The tracking history has not updated since April 5, when it left the russian
customs house. Ebay recently took down the listing, along with a couple other sodium metal listings.
on april 18 i ordered 6 grams of iodine crystals from ebay, element sample, for grignard reactions. note that ebay allows all sales of iodine below
250 grams. Delivery was estimated for april 22. On april 22 the tracking history showed it was in my metroplex, out for delivery, but then it didn't
arrive and said "arriving late" in tracking, then a couple days later the entire tracking history after "Departed post office" was replaced with "In
Transit To Next Facility" with no updates in 2 days. this is first class mail.
is this normal shipping delay for COVID-19 pandemic? or do i need to start mentally preparing for the fact that pigs might come knock on my door and
ruin my life on Earth, meaning I would have to commit suicide and reincarnate as an alien to start over? I'm already dreading hearing the dreaded 3
hard knocks.
[Edited on 24-4-2020 by Cou]
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Texium
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It’s most likely just covid related shipping delays.
However, in the unlikely event that the police DO come to pay you a visit, please, PLEASE be polite and respectful towards them. Ultimately the
officers would just be following protocol and doing their job, and aren’t “out to get you.” If you’re rude, or freak out on them, it won’t
help your case at all and it would give them a very bad impression of amateur chemists...
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Σldritch
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I am having the same issue with a package. I would not worry too much, i think Texium is right.
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mayko
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My rent check never got delivered and I had to go on an elaborate side quest (involving multiple bicycle rides through the bank drive-through) to get
it canceled and reissued. I've also got a package still in transit from mid-march. I think the post office is just getting squeezed from all
directions and getting overwhelmed.
al-khemie is not a terrorist organization
"Chemicals, chemicals... I need chemicals!" - George Hayduke
"Wubbalubba dub-dub!" - Rick Sanchez
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B(a)P
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I am waiting on a package from Russia and experiencing similar delays, to AUS not USA. I think it is just Covid.
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j_sum1
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Here on oz things seem to be slow. 2 out of 16 packages sent to students have taken >2weeks to arrive.
I think slow delivery is widespread. I would not get worried.
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SWIM
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Mail is totally screwed up in the US.
I'm about to go to my Ebay account and refund two orders which were shipped on time but weeks later are still in the mail.
Most of my orders got there on time, but 5% or so don't even come close.
Note: Ebay used glassware sales are also WAY off right now.
It would probably be a good time to make an offer on that best offers accepted item you've been wishing you could afford.
They'll probably be feeling pretty flexible right about now.
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arkoma
Redneck Overlord
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A) Not against the law to buy or possess Iodine or Sodium metal.
B) The quality of your posts has improved dramatically over the last year; your keeping a notebook I assume so therefore there is a record of your
"intent".
C) Even in normal times I get weird tracking on some packages. I Live in a tiny town in Arkansas with the same name as one of the cities in DFW
metroplex. Had stuff get to Shreveport from DFW area, and then get sent BACK to DFW, then back to Shreveport then to me.
D) If you have a meth lab now would be the time to move it
"We believe the knowledge and cultural heritage of mankind should be accessible to all people around the world, regardless of their wealth, social
status, nationality, citizenship, etc" z-lib
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MadHatter
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Shipping problems
I've encountered shipping mistakes before COVID-19
came onto the scene. A clock-radio I ordered ended
up in Virginia according to the tracking. I live in Maine !
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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morganbw
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Quote: Originally posted by arkoma  | A) Not against the law to buy or possess Iodine or Sodium metal.
D) If you have a meth lab now would be the time to move it
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Hey guy, I am just a country boy as well.
Are you sure I may order Iodine, I think I have read the restrictions different than you.
Trust me I do know how to get Iodine from what is available, just wondering about the legal part of ordering Iodine crystals.
As far as Sodium and a few other items, yea still can get.
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Herr Haber
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I've had orders opened a couple of times by customs. They just marked it and let it through.
Every time that happened I had some inucous white powder such as lithium carbonate, carbomer, and other more or less authorised for shipping items
such as Al powder or nitric acid.
Every time they seemed more interested by the white powders 
I am currently waiting on nitric acid (yeah, lots of silverware to dissolve), benzocaine, sodium and potassium.
I saw on the tracking it went through customs, stopped and is now on the way again.
You shouldnt worry too much, first your order is innocuous. Second, there's the Covid crisis that is slowing everything down.
Just think for the future how an order of chemicals can look through x-rays. It's probably quite normal they attract customs attention 
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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arkoma
Redneck Overlord
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| Quote: Originally posted by morganbw |
Hey guy, I am just a country boy as well.
Are you sure I may order Iodine, I think I have read the restrictions different than you.
Trust me I do know how to get Iodine from what is available, just wondering about the legal part of ordering Iodine crystals.
As far as Sodium and a few other items, yea still can get. |
I ain't ordering I2 crystals, because it is a huge red flag. And it does seem that "importing" them requires notice. KI ain't that
expensive.
"We believe the knowledge and cultural heritage of mankind should be accessible to all people around the world, regardless of their wealth, social
status, nationality, citizenship, etc" z-lib
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G-Coupled
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Most likely shipping delays due to The Event, no doubt - but I'd make sure to keep a clean house at least until the package(s) arrive. 
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DavidJR
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| Quote: Originally posted by Cou | | ... or do i need to start mentally preparing for the fact that pigs might come knock on my door and ruin my life ... |
Maybe hold off on calling them "pigs".
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Cou
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The tracking history for the sodium has updated (slow customs)
Iodine is a domestic package. But has been at "in transit to next facility" for 5 days now.
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karlos³
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| Quote: Originally posted by Herr Haber | I've had orders opened a couple of times by customs. They just marked it and let it through.
Every time that happened I had some inucous white powder such as lithium carbonate, carbomer, and other more or less authorised for shipping items
such as Al powder or nitric acid.
Every time they seemed more interested by the white powders
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Yeah screw the german customs, white powders are everything for them.
Keep import embargos from russia in mind though, I had hydroxylamine HCl hold up until I provided certain paperwork to them, only for that single
reason.
On the other hand, a parcel with thousand teabags coming straight from peru just required them to demand import taxes.
They did not barely understand why any type of tea needs to imported from south america, or why its value amounted enough to require me paying taxes
on it.
They were like, "its called mate de what..?!?" 
Bureaucrats and nothing else, they can and will let anything slip through if properly labelled 
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Cou
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ugh this is so stressful. if police come, the best outcome is all of your glassware seized. this issue is making my depression come back,
sometimes i wonder if i should've just been a regular kid who watches tv, plays video games, and eats fast food. i tried getting into saxophone as a
hobby, but unlike chemistry i got tired of it fast. can't hang out with friends because i'm autistic with severe psychological issues, but that's just
fate if i turn to risky hobbies because of social issues.
[Edited on 28-4-2020 by Cou]
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Texium
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You’re backsliding, Cou. You were really doing so well there for a while.
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Cou
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should I make a free consultation with a lawyer?
it's f*cked up that i might spend hundreds of dollars on legal advice because i was stupid enough to order 10 grams of iodine
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Texium
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Still backsliding.
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karlos³
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Cou, come on.
Thats 10g of iodine.
Do you really think anything would happen for that quantity, even if they would knew you bought some?
How can they even get you for a serious offense if you did not even received your order?
And lastly, if you are really worried they might think you have like, a meth lab or what, then just do the math, how many meth could be made from it?
And then try to convince yourself based on logic that this is a quantity that really causes any reaction, and that in texas, where the mexican stuff
goes through... I doubt any cop would even raise a brow.
You just lost your nerves.
Do you know why drug cooks are successful and just buy such things in your country?
They don't loose their nerves, even when they do order like a pound of iodine, yet they can still sleep at night.
And when the cops finally show up, if they ever do(if they do, never because of stuff that was ordered, usually because the cook was screaming at
squirrels at 3am or something), then those guys are completely suprised because they rightfully did not expect this.
Keep calm, you fucked up nothing, the only one who fucked something up is the parcel delivery services.
No donut-eater would even lift his ass for someone who ordered 10g iodine, especially at a time when dozens of kilos of masked phenylacetone
derivatives enter the country all the time(and they don't lift their asses for that either).
You have nothing to worry.
I give it at most 2 weeks and its there.
But don't loose your nerves again if it should take 3
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clearly_not_atara
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| Quote: Originally posted by Cou |
do i need to start mentally preparing for the fact that pigs might come knock on my door and ruin my life on Earth, meaning I would have to commit
suicide and reincarnate as an alien to start over? |
No. Unless an investigation of you has already been initiated due to other serious evidence (like someone said they bought drugs from
you), the first outcome of a customs seizure is usually what we call a "love letter". A love letter is a notice that a package being delivered to your
address was seized and if it keeps happening the police will investigate. A typical love letter looks a bit like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/darknet/comments/dbutst/final_updat...
If you have not received a love letter and you are not involved in a large criminal conspiracy it is extraordinarily unlikely that legal action will
be taken against you even if your shipment was seized.
[Edited on 04-20-1969 by clearly_not_atara]
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Cou
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| Quote: Originally posted by clearly_not_atara | | Quote: Originally posted by Cou |
do i need to start mentally preparing for the fact that pigs might come knock on my door and ruin my life on Earth, meaning I would have to commit
suicide and reincarnate as an alien to start over? |
No. Unless an investigation of you has already been initiated due to other serious evidence (like someone said they bought drugs from
you), the first outcome of a customs seizure is usually what we call a "love letter". A love letter is a notice that a package being delivered to your
address was seized and if it keeps happening the police will investigate. A typical love letter looks a bit like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/darknet/comments/dbutst/final_updat...
If you have not received a love letter and you are not involved in a large criminal conspiracy it is extraordinarily unlikely that legal action will
be taken against you even if your shipment was seized. |
Tracking was just updated. it had been stuck on "in transit to next facility" since april 22, and finally updated on april 29.
lesson learned for anyone else who sees this post: expect packages to be severely delayed during COVID-19, with vague tracking that makes it appear
the package was lost.
at least this motivated me to finally clean all of my glassware thoroughly and organize the lab in preparation for a police visit.
[Edited on 29-4-2020 by Cou]
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MadHatter
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Shipper
I'm sure this is nothing more than a shipping
delay. I live in Maine and today I received a
replacement screen for a laptop from Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada. It was ordered 4
days ago. Some of my relatives have a problem
with winging a laptop like a frisbee when they're
angry. Laptops shouldn't be treated this way.
Cou, did you ever try to extract iodine from iodide ?
This is what I used:
NaI + HCl --> HI + NaCl
2HI + H2O2 --> I2 + 2H2O
I bought the NaI from Chemsavers.
From opening of NCIS New Orleans - It goes a BOOM ! BOOM ! BOOM ! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !
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Cou
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Amazon has sodium iodide
I would do that extraction If I ever do reactions with large amounts of iodine. But I only need tiny Crystals for grignard reactions.
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