A CONSPIRACY THEORIST SAID:
Seems A. Hidell could not receive mail at Lee [Oswald's] post box according to [the] FBI.
Wonder how he received [the] rifle at that P.O. box?
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
The "entitled to receive mail" issue is always over-emphasized and mushroomed out of all realistic proportion by conspiracy theorists.
In point of fact, it doesn't really make a bit of difference if the name "A. Hidell" was on Oswald's P.O. Box application or not. And that's because the post office delivers mail to ADDRESSES, not PEOPLE.
Since Oswald had the key to P.O. Box 2915, he could take the paper slip for the oversized item (the Carcano rifle) to the desk inside the post office. The clerk would then assume that the person who has the slip of paper in his hands (in this case, Oswald) got it from the P.O. Box it was placed in (naturally), and therefore the clerk assumes that the person who handed him the slip is entitled to the package.
Postal Inspector Harry Holmes said that exact thing, in fact, at 7 H 528:
MR. HOLMES -- "Actually, the window where you get the box is all the way around the corner and a different place from the box, and the people that box the mail, and in theory---I am surmising now, because nobody knows. I have questioned everybody, and they have no recollection. The man would take this card out. There is nothing on this card. There is no name on it, not even a box number on it. He comes around and says, "I got this out of my box." And he says, "What box?" "Box number so and so." They look in a bin where they have this by box numbers, and whatever the name on it, whatever they gave him, he just hands him the package, and that is all there is to it."
MR. LIEBELER -- "Ordinarily, they won't even request any identification because they would assume if he got the notice out of the box, he was entitled to it?"
MR. HOLMES -- "Yes, sir."
MR. LIEBELER -- "It is very possible that that in fact is what happened in this case?"
MR. HOLMES -- "That is in theory. I would assume that is what happened."
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I know from my own personal experience with oversized packages that nobody at the post office is going to ask for any I.D. in such a situation. I've picked up many packages from my post office with those yellow "We Have A Package For You" slips, and never once have I been questioned about my identification.
Do conspiracy theorists really believe that every single package or letter that is delivered to every Post Office Box in America has the NAME OF THE BOX HOLDER on it? That's silly. Lots of mail with other names besides the box holder gets delivered--every day of the week, and that's because, as mentioned, mail is delivered to ADDRESSES, not PEOPLE.
It's quite likely that the mailmen who place letters into P.O. boxes don't have the slightest idea who has been "entitled" to receive mail in those boxes. They couldn't possibly have the time to double-check all the names on the box applications to make sure they match.
For example, if a letter had your home address on it (or your P.O. Box number), but the name right above the address was "Quincy P. Scumbag" (a non-existent person), it's still going to be put in your mailbox by the mailman. The letter carrier doesn't give a damn who the addressee is, because he delivers to ADDRESSES.
I think this whole "entitled to receive" topic has been skewed in another way too -- because it's quite likely that the people who are listed as "entitled to receive mail" from P.O. boxes are simply the people who are entitled to physically take the mail out of the boxes (i.e., the people who have the keys to the box, like Oswald).
I do realize that the delivery of firearms is supposed to include an additional piece of paperwork that apparently was not included with Oswald's gun package in March of 1963. But that's certainly not Oswald's fault. Nor is it the fault of the Dallas post office. If such a form was not included on Oswald's rifle package, it's the fault of Klein's Sporting Goods in Chicago.
And even if that extra paper was included with LHO's rifle, so what? Oswald would have simply signed the form with his phony "A. Hidell" signature, and he then would have been handed the rifle and Oswald would have been on his way.
Why do conspiracy theorists continue to make huge mountains out of the tiniest of anthills?
THE CONSPIRACIST SAID:
Wow, that's amazing to me in America that you can pick up packages without I.D. from the post office.
[...]
I always value your opinion, David. Thanks for the American postal info. Knowing you guys and dolls (Americans) are usually so careful with security, I had just assumed the postal system was the same.
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
What's so amazing about it? The only thing different is the SIZE of the package. Since many packages are too big to fit INSIDE a person's P.O. Box or regular mailbox at their home, the addressee has to go pick it up.
But if the package HAD been small enough to fit in the mailbox or P.O. Box, you can bet the mail carrier would have put it in the box, thereby making any such "pick-up" at the post office window altogether unnecessary (except in special circumstances when a signature is mandatory, which probably should have been the case with Oswald's rifle parcel in 1963, but apparently Klein's didn't include the proper form).
To repeat, I have never ONCE been asked for I.D. when taking one of those yellow slips to the post office.
Now it's true that I never had a gun come through the mail. But I did have a large Sherman tank delivered to me one time. And the darn thing just wouldn't fit in the mailbox. But they still didn't want my signature. :)
David Von Pein
March 10, 2010
![according to [the] FBI](http://i39.tinypic.com/2w7fleh.jpg){kind=link}