I set the metal detector off today...

FunYet · Dec 20, 2008

...at the post office when I went in to use the self-serve machine. When I walked through the metal detector, it went off. My first reaction was "oh no, I didn't lock my CCW up in the car". But I quickly remembered I didn't even have it with me today. A nearby postal worker, who wasn't phased in the least casually asked if I had any metal on me. I fished through my pockets and pulled out all of the metal I could find in my pockets; keys, coins, a memory card. Went back through. It beeped again. Other customers nearby were watching without a whole lot of concern as I fished through my pockets again. Turned out the offending object was a Christmas fruitcake I'd picked up when I stopped by my office this afternoon. It was wrapped in two layers of tinfoil. It got a good laugh. I didn't realize those machines were so sensitive.

For the record. I have a license to carry concealed fruitcake, it's registered, and I have all appropriate documentation.

The Lone Haranguer · Dec 20, 2008

Metal detectors in post offices? This is the first I've heard of this. :uhoh:

FunYet · Dec 20, 2008

Those metal tube thingies you walk through at the door.

basicblur · Dec 20, 2008

I've been told what I once thought were metal detectors are for theft control (items sold at the post office store and ?).
No verification on that, but if they're metal detectors, they're not doing a very good job, as I've been through 'em with tons of metal stuff in my pockets!

FunYet · Dec 20, 2008

Interesting. The person working there told me the tinfoil set it off. Guess they were wrong. Sort of disappointed now.

withdrawn34 · Dec 20, 2008

All these fruit-cake wielding people need to be stopped. I mean, think of the kids!

I hope it gets banned, especially the cakes with the tinfoil shroud!

stevemis · Dec 21, 2008

RFID fruitcake.

Kind of Blued · Dec 21, 2008

That's a fruitcake free zone.

Of course, when you outlaw fruitcake, only the outlaws will have fruitcake.

Black Knight · Dec 21, 2008

I did security at a federal courthouse and from experience many things can set them off. One of the strangest is static electricity. If the detector is set up on carpet and you wear a wool or wool blend coat or other wool clothing the static can build up and set it off.

wyocarp · Dec 21, 2008

The whole problem would have been avoided if the fruitcake would have been wrapped properly. Everyone knows that fruitcake should be wrapped in brown paper, not foil.

BigBlock · Dec 21, 2008

Since when is it illegal to take metal into or out of the post office?

My local post office barely has computers, they still have an old balance scale in the lobby that says 1972 on the back. And self serve??! Around here that means delivering the package yourself!

armoredman · Dec 21, 2008

Never been in a post office with a metal detector, that's odd. Court house, yes, but post office? Hmm.

ultradoc · Dec 21, 2008

those darned fruitcakes.

RacingJake · Dec 21, 2008

The big question is where were you hiding this fruitcake :what:

ashtxsniper · Dec 21, 2008

The foil set off the theft detector. They can be tricked with foil sometimes. I have also been told that some of them detect foil as people will try to cover stolen items in foil to shield the theft prevention devices from tripping the theft detectors. I have never seen a metal detector in a post office before. If they had them around here every person that walked in would set them off.

The Lone Haranguer · Dec 21, 2008

I've never seen any metal detectors in CA, NV, AZ or TN POs.

grimjaw · Dec 21, 2008

Seems like it depends on the post office. There was a drugstore/giftshop/post office in rural SE WA state that didn't have a metal detector. Neither did the main post office downtown. But here in Little Rock, AR, a post office on one of the heavily traveled streets has the posts. Other stations don't (near the Heights, for instance).

I've never set the one off I've been through, no matter what offending metal I may (or may not) have been carrying.

jm

Grizfire · Dec 21, 2008

someday I would like to get a CCF (concealed carry fruitcake) and stick it right inside the waist band.

zoom6zoom · Dec 21, 2008

and stick it right inside the waist band.

Sadly, that's where many of them end up. Right next to the eggnog.

hksw · Dec 21, 2008

I bet if you took the foil off, the fruitcake would still sound off the detector. As dense as those things are, they should be close to the specific gravity of a metal.

withdrawn34 · Dec 21, 2008

Well, to be fair... with the way some people make fruitcake, I'd say it certainly qualifies as a deadly weapon

Travis Bickle · Dec 21, 2008

Metal detectors in post offices? This is the first I've heard of this.

They have them in some Social Security offices now, complete with security goons to harass us. Welcome to Amerika.

nj.piney · Dec 21, 2008

they have them set up in the post office in maryville , tn. they are not metal detecters , but anti shoplifting devices . if it goes off when you come in they wave you in . never seen one go off when someone exited .

Orange_Magnum · Dec 21, 2008

"Inflate your tires and pull that fruit cake out of your pocket," said Obama. "There is a new sheriff in town."

armoredman · Dec 21, 2008

I thought fruitcake was classified as a WMD?

I set the metal detector off today...

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