People have used the United States Postal Service (USPS) and other courier services, e.g., Federal Express®, Airborne®, United Parcel Service,® DHL®, etc., hereinafter called “carriers”, to deliver materials to recipients to whom the sender does not want to deliver personally. Unfortunately, sometimes the delivered materials may be illegal and/or hazardous to the health of the recipient and to the party who is delivering the goods, e.g. life harming. Examples of life-harming materials are explosives; gun powder; blasting material; bombs; detonators; smokeless powder; radioactive materials; ammunition; atomic weapons; chemical compounds or any mechanical mixture containing any oxidizing and combustible units, or other ingredients in such proportions, quantities, or packing that ignite by fire, friction, concussion, percussion or detonation of any part thereof which may and is intended to cause an explosion; poisons; carcinogenic materials; caustic chemicals; hallucinogenic substances; illegal materials; drugs that are illegal to sell and/or dispense; and substances which, because of their toxicity, magnification or concentration within biological chains, present a threat to biological life when exposed to the environment, etc.
Soon after the Sep. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States, someone and/or a group of people has been adding harmful biological agents to the mail. The addition of harmful biological agents to the mail submitted to the USPS has caused the death of some people and necessitated the closure of some post offices and other government office buildings. Thus, there is an urgent need to exclude life-harming materials that are included in the mail.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds