Is a Phone Number NOW required???

When I have mailed stuff to the US, some couriers have requested the receivers phone number. I think they only use it to phone you if something goes wrong. I have shipped packages without filling the phone number space, and never had a problem. I do not think there is anything to be afraid off. Like it was said before if they have your name and address getting your phone number is a snap.

 

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Not paranoid at all. I just choose not to give my home number out to strangers.

Sure you have a phone book but you need a name to find the number. Reverse phone searching is the other way around. You not only find the name of person who has the phone but their home address. You also get all of the persons previous addresses for the past 15 years as well as some employment information in some cases.

I first learned about reverse phone searches 3 years ago when a female friend of mine was beat up by her estranged husband. Somehow he had got her new phone number from a friend of hers and paid a website $15.00 to reverse search her number. He easily got her new address and traveled 3 states to track her down and confront her. After the cops arrested him, they learned about how he found her and how easy it was.

Personally, I prefer to keep as much information as private as I can, you just never know. I'd rather not take any chances but if you guys don't see a problem with it, please ignore my posts.

 

The thing is, he already has your name and address (how else is he going to ship it to you?) so giving your phone number won't result in him getting access to any information that he doesn't already have access to anyway. And I can show websites that all you need is a name to get any publicly published information about you (such as addresses already published in phone books).

If you're really that worried about someone you're buying something from having access to personal information, you're only real remedy is not to give out your real name and have your item shipped to a post office box or something. I'm not even sure if eBay will let you open up an account without at the very least giving out your name though.

You've already decided to trust this person enough to give them money and hope they send you the item you paid for, you've given out your name, and your address, so this person really isn't a stranger anymore is he? Any information he can get from having your phone number, he can already get without your phone number if he so desires, so you have nothing further to worry about by giving your phone number and making the transaction that much easier.

The vast majority of the time your privacy is protected by the simple fact that very few people care enough about you to want to violate your privacy in the first place. If you have an enstranged spouse who you're worried might harm you, get a restraining order (these usually make it illegal for the person to even contact you in any way, even by phone or e-mail), in extreme cases think about legally changing your name. But that's the extreme exception. The fact is, most people just don't care, and those that do can easily find out anything about you that's publicly available already anyway.

Thank you, precisely my point.

 

Thank you for your informative post.

Let me clarify. No, the shipper does not already have my home address. I use a POBox. I work during the day and I am never home when the mail is delivered. Rather than have my deliveries sitting on my door step or in the mailbox on the front porch, I opted for a more secure place for the delivery.

I am very well aware that a determined person can get/do just about anything he or she wants and there is little that any of us can do to stop him or her. It seems that this fact is being played out weekly these days on the 11 o'clock news.

Like I said before, personally, I just prefer not to provide this information.

As an aside, the estranged spouse had a restraining order. It's just hard to enforce when your ex beats down your door before you can call 911. Its also hard to know if you have an extreme case when the attack comes from out of nowhere from a guy who was previously non-violent.

 

You could try to use the old Hee Haw used car salesmans # BR IZ IZ....

John