Oh boy. Shades of Middle East bombers.
My office, like many others receive a constant stream of amazon and other deliveries. Time to get our IED radar up.
Are you in Austin? If so,...
It’s best to avoid touching any mysterious packages that you shouldn’t be receiving. If you see a package that’s mysterious in any way, call the police and let them deal with it.
On packages with known and trusted sources, are you sure? Remove any metal objects from wrists or hands (watches, rings, etc.). Lift each package very slowly while looking under it. Keep each package level.
Keep each package on a hard, stable, level surface (on the ground or floor, if that’s where it already is) and avoid tipping it while opening the top slowly and looking under the flap with good light.
Cutting a small test hole and carefully peeking around in the package first with a bore light would be even better (light used to look through a firearm bore). If the contents don’t look right, don’t touch them. That’s about all that I can offer except to call police, if you see anything suspicious. Don’t touch anything of suspicious or unknown origin.
That said, touching any arriving packages in any way could still be too dangerous, if the terrorist is spoofing shipping origins known to you.
I was a combat engineer—not a real engineer. I don’t live anywhere near Austin and haven’t seen it since I was a kid (long ago). Hope they catch the crazy, evil murderer, before more people are hurt.
It’s best not to lift any package at all before opening it, really (tip switches of various kinds, mousetraps possibly under it). And remember to lift the opening flap slowly while looking for anything connected to it (strings, wires, anything).
And don’t open it at all, if the origin doesn’t look right.