When you have no plan

Kleanbore said:

I've been able too find two things:

• A couple of UPS drivers were robbed recently. Their uniforms were taken, and police are concerned that they may be used in crime.
• Last December, a man in a UPS uniform who had a gun gained entrance intoto a home and left the resident with fractured skull.

The stories illustrate the lengths to which some persons will go to perpetrate crime.

One would think that it would be okay to go to the door to greet a man in a UPS uniform. But if he man is criminal and if he is armed, one could end up in a very bad situation.

We do not go to the door, They knock, leave the package, and depart. If there is something reading a signature, they notify us by email first.

And then there are water company uniforms, salespersons....

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Around here the UPS guy (they do NOT travel in pairs) just bangs on the door and runs back to his truck. I can't even remember the last time one was still there by the time I reached the door.

old lady new shooter said:

Around here the UPS guy (they do NOT travel in pairs) just bangs on the door and runs back to his truck. I can't even remember the last time one was still there by the time I reached the door.

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UPS brought 1000 rounds of .22 the other day. I had to sign for it.

old lady new shooter said:

Do you do something to keep moisture (from the steam) from affecting it? If so what? Or have you found that is not necessary?

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I crack the bathroom door and turn on the exhaust fan

^^ This. If I have a firearm in the bathroom, it's a stainless one, and my AC is on. If the AC isn't on, I at least turn on its blower. The vent fan in my bathroom doesn't work that well. Running the AC blower, especially with the compressor actually on, prevents any "steaming" of the mirror or of anything else.

I do this more for me than for the gun, as I'll sweat (or feel like it) if the bathroom is steamy when I exit the shower.

Kleanbore said:

We do see two men in each truck fairly often as we get into the holiday season and the delivery loads get larger.

They do not expect anyone to come to the floor unless a signature is required. Keep an eye on your email notifications for that.

I would not put men in UPS uniforms high on the list of potential falsely dressed threats.

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One more thing... Was there a UPS truck parked in the street. Hard to miss the big brown bus! Amazon is getting creepy with the unmarked cars/people. Couple times I've thought "now who the heck is this?"

Some busy places will have two UPS guys working the truck. When I was working the Northeast (Philly area) it was common.

I now live in FL. in an area that's suburban where people on foot go door to door soliciting all kinds of things.Some of these are scams where the you are drawn to the front of you home for a long conversation and sales pitch where others unseen try to make entry thru your back doors and screened porches where down here are called lanais and most people leave open during the day and rip you off of easy grab stuff like cell phones, cash , jewelry or a check or two out of the middle of you checkbook where it won't be missed for a week or so before it's cashed . Myself ,my doors are locked when I'm inside and if I'm outside only the doors that I can see are open......call me crazy!

You're crazy!! And perhaps I am too. My wife is always leaving doors unlocked. Drives me nuts. Its just habit for me to lock doors.. car, house, whatever. Sometimes I lock the car subconsciously when I get out, then try to open the back door to find it locked.
The in-laws live a couple hours south and the front door is unlocked most of the day (and garage wide open as well).

I think my wife likes to razz me more than really giving me grief over carrying, locking doors, etc etc.

Kleanbore said:

We only locked them before going to bed.

And then I read an account, here or on TFL , about someone who had earphones on at his computer and who felt a breeze on the back of his neck.

He thought his girl friend had opened the door and gone out to the car to put some graded papers into it. But then he saw her doing something else.

Uh oh!

A teen couple walked in from the kitchen--where the knives were kept. They had entered the wrong residence, innocently. The were very much impaired by chemicals.

The poster said that he had started locking his door. We started locking our doors.

It was some time after that that I started carrying at home.

But it was a long time before I finally put in remote cameras.

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I remember that discussion. It was here.

milemaker13 said:

One more thing... Was there a UPS truck parked in the street. Hard to miss the big brown bus! Amazon is getting creepy with the unmarked cars/people. Couple times I've thought "now who the heck is this?"

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UPS truck with 2 drivers showed up at my apartment yesterday BUT they were parked on the side of the building where you couldn't see the truck.

Kleanbore said:

Thanks!

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https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...eapon-for-the-first-time.410165/#post-5120805

FWIW we just had some salesman(?) thug(?) Jehova's Witness(?) or Scamway distributor(?) at our door. He knocked, I asked who it was, he said something that sounded like "Community project. I'm out meeting people." I said "Not interested thanks. Have a nice day." He left.

See how easy that was.

milemaker13 said:

Amazon is getting creepy with the unmarked cars/people. Couple times I've thought "now who the heck is this?"

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About a year ago I had brief scare and learning incident. I left the house as always. Opened the front door just as a guy in regular street clothes with a yellow safety vest was reaching out to knock on the door and leave the package. It was an eye opening experience for sure. I learned I am not all that unprepared and reacted appropriately- for me anyway. I don't know if that same amazon guy delivered anymore packages to my home, but I do know that if he did he remembers that specific delivery.
I do not like Amazons delivery technique. They drive private unmarked cars and random people, from well dressed to people you don't want knocking on your door parking in random areas. Sometimes blocking driveways, parking in the street blocking traffic or even when I lived in a town home, parking several streets away walking through yards looking for addresses.

Big7 said:

I will start by saying I'm in a "safe" area. As safe as one can be which is to say
you are never really safe.
I am armed 99% of the time. Even inside my home.
Make no mistake: I WILL SHOOT AN INTRUDER, WITHOUT HESITATION.

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Great post. I am also armed 95% to 99% of the time. I was taught sometime ago, if you do not have a gun on you, you need to have one within 3 seconds of you. This is a rule in my house that we live by. Yes, I know it is not perfect but we all have to try to do what is best for our own situations and this works for us.

I had a "scare" about 6 years ago about 2 weeks after I bought my house that showed me how easy it is to be unprepared.

My garage is under my house and connects to my basement, and I had left my garage door open that day because it was one of those perfect spring days and I was in-and out of the house a lot that day getting some work done after moving in. I live in the country on 3 acres, and really didn't expect anyone would drive down my 150ft driveway anyway. I was working upstairs at the time, and opened the door to my basement to go down and get another tool. Standing on my middle of my steps was a 40-something year old man looking up at me! I think I scared him more than he scared me; I was shirtless and happened to be holding a large 18v Dewalt drill with an 8" spade bit. He kind of stumbled over his words and then got out: "Is this the house that's for rent? I'm here to look at it."

I let him know this house certainly was not for rent and he shouldn't have entered it, and followed him out to his truck and made sure to take a picture of his license plate as he was driving away.

Turns out there was a house for rent about 1/4 mile away, which around is was just 3 houses down the road so I did believe his story.
But now, I vary rarely leave my garage door open like that. I pretty much always have at least my little NAA .22 in my pocket when I'm home. And more importantly, I now have 2 large dogs outside that always let me know when someone pulls in my driveway. They're pretty good about letting people approach the door but sticking around to see how I react, and I know from experience they get very protective around my wife and kids.