I'd buy one.

Before rev 2 comes out (next week?)

Well, I had 6 iPhones stolen from me, over the course of two separate shipments, via Fedex -- with Fedex doing absolutely NOTHING to actually catch the thief (who, it turns out, what the Fedex residential driver).

Yeah, great story -- Fedex' means of 'investigating' was to have a meeting and announce they are investigating the thefts, telling all drivers to cooperate... The next day, all drivers except for one showed back up for work. Pretty obvious what that means, right?

Not so to Fedex -- "Oh, who knows, maybe he's sick" was the wise assumption from their 'investigator'. Later did my buddies from UPS find out that this Fedex driver was previously fired from UPS for improprieties (hmmm...?), and then hired by Fedex (nice background checks there, fedex).

Needless to say,I no longer ship via Fedex. I suggest neither should you.

wouldn't AT+T be able to find out which serial numbers belonged to the stolen iPhones? Or do they just take delivery without recording this information (that's entirely possible, would probably be a PITA to record the serno of each phone as it comes in and goes out)?

So they know the address of the phone so they can send you a bill each month, but they can't track it to check if it's on a stolen list? What's wrong with this picture?

The technology in computers should definitely be there to track stolen merchandise. There's no excuse for it not to!

it's entirely possible that their stores simply count the number of iPhones that come in and go out, only recording the serno on your receipt once it's purchased. It would likely be time-consuming to record the serial number of each phone (of whatever make and model) in inventory as it comes in, even if done with an IR scanner onto some sort of industrial PDA.

OTOH if they do do this, then it would be a simple matter to flag these phones if ever activated, then find out where the purchaser obtained them.

Insurance is likely going to cover it anyway...

No way someone stole 40 iphones in my home town. I shop at Hawthorne at&t and this sucks for them but insurance should cover them. Its cool to see Salem making the news though but to bad its had to be about people stealing iphones. I will make sure I don't buy one from craigslist anytime soon.

Don't these things have barcoded serial numbers? If they do, how hard can waving your hand over a box on the way to a shelf be?

Sorry, but for me it was UPS who kept stealing my MBP. No one cared, they just shipped the empty box back to Amazon and never said a word about it. They're all the same.

Boycotting every company you have a bad experience with is going to leave you with very few choices in the future.

What a doof you are. Obviously, Fedex performed an investigation or the driver would not have been caught. As for background checks, prior employers are only allowed to give out minimal info on employees. I am sure this thief also stole packages from UPS also. UPS just leaves your stuff in front of your door. Fedex requires a signiture. You can also insure your shipments, Bonehead! I assure you, Fedex quality control is far more superior and advanced than UPS.