Does Amazon Want Everyone To Know My Neighbor Bought A Fire Phone?

“Amazon would like you to know that there is a $300 phone on your neighbor’s porch,” reader Will wrote to us, attaching a photo that he took in the common area of his condo complex. Could that be? Is Amazon really labeling boxes that contain the Fire Phone with what’s inside and not requiring carriers to ask customers for a signature? Nope.

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“I couldn’t believe that they would label the contents of a box,” he wrote, noting that all packages for his building get left in that common area. There are about 80 units in the building, which means that anyone could wander off with this phone.

The catch? There probably isn’t a phone inside. It’s possible, especially if an apartment staffer signed for the package, but unlikely. We checked with Amazon, and a spokesperson told us that the “Fire phone” tape is simply being used in place of the normal Amazon Prime-branded tape used for shipments via Prime. “The wrapping on the box will be used on all US shipments where tape is used to seal packages – it is not limited to Fire phone deliveries,” she told us.

Seeing this tape on a package doesn’t mean there’s a Fire phone inside the box: Amazon is just taking another opportunity to advertise its new gadget to its frequent customers.

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