Risks of giving out mailing address?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

OK, here’s a somewhat unusual situation: I’ve done some creative work that I’ve publicly connected myself to through a personal website. Someone claiming to be a German fan of the client I did this creative work for wants me to sign samples of the work I did. He’d like to send me a SASE with postage along with the samples, and I could sign them and send 'em back through the SASE.

Now, this is extremely flattering, but I do want to be cautious (although if this is a scam, this is a way of approaching it I’ve NEVER seen before), but I would like to follow through if there’s a way to do so that doesn’t expose me to serious consequence. What are my risks if I give this person my mailing address? Should I get a PO box or something, or maybe some other option?

(Though this reminds me of the time I accidentally posted mine in a public forum. I very quickly deleted it and tried to erase any record of it, but who knows who saw it or where it still might dwell…)

2

Can you get a UPS drop box?

3

It doesn’t cost much to get a temporary mailbox at a UPS store, post office, or nearby co-working space.

4

Yeah. Get a P.O. Box.

Shouldn’t be able to connect that to your house.
That’s not an absolute, of course.

I wouldn’t mind giving my address. 1000s have it.

If someone wants to find you physically they probably can.

5

For less money than a temporary mailbox, you could just pay for the postage yourself; perhaps the fan could reimburse you via PayPal or Venmo?

Or have the fan send the envelope to you via General Delivery, which I think still exists.

6

Go to the UPS site and put in your zip code, and it will give you the addy of all that are within driving distance.

7

This strikes me as the best option. More secure for you, faster for the fan, and everyone gets what they want.

8

Ah, I should have clarified: he wants to get his copies of the samples signed.

9

Then look into General Delivery.

10

Thirding that general delivery is the way to go. It is used by hikers/backpackers and some long distance truckers.

They should address the package: Your Name, General Delivery, West Undershirt, NE 00000

Important: First verify with your local USPS branch that they accommodate GD.

mmm

11

Did you mean United Parcel Service or United States Postal Service?

12

I believe he meant UPS/big brown as (at least some of) their stores have PO Boxes mail boxes, kind of like Mailboxes, Etc.

13

Literally like Mailboxes Etc, as they were rebranded as UPS Stores a couple of decades ago.

14

I’d be more concerned about providing some unknown with your signature. I presume you did a few checks on the person.

15

I have no idea how to do so, especially on a German.

Besides, unless I’m totally missing something, this possibility strikes me like those warnings not to say yes on the phone: just faking it without regard for resemblance to the real thing works in such a vast majority of cases that going to this much trouble for verisimilitude doesn’t seem worth it.

16

Thousands? Must be a long line when you are holding court.

17

Before you worry about getting a temporary address, google yourself. If searching your name and town comes up with your address, it’s probably not worth worrying about whether this guy gets your address from the SASE.

18

One alternative to General Delivery; fan mail for some established writers goes to the offices of their agents, from which it’s forwarded to them. So perhaps give this fan the work or home address of a willing friend or family member?

Edited to add, perhaps the address of the client for which you did the work?

19

If I were you I’d ask myself what good can come of this. Not to be overly selfish, but what’s the upside for you? Versus the potential risks/downside? Is it worth even doing what this person asked of you? Worth your time? Worth whatever risk you perceive? What would happen if you just dropped the whole thing?

20

That’s exactly why I posted this: to get a sense of what the actual risks and downsides are.