Question : Problem: Aluminum foil as an antistatic bag substitute

I just received some memory modules wrapped in aluminum foil (eBay).  That's perhaps not as alarming as if they had been wrapped in standard bubblewrap (as was a processor I got a few weeks back), but I am wondering whether foil is the ultimate in ESD protection or poses a hazard to ESD sensitive components that may lie within.

Answer : Problem: Aluminum foil as an antistatic bag substitute

Using CONDUCTIVE material is a VALID form of ESD protection.
Anti-static bags actually are conductive due to the fact they have [very thin] metal in them.
You know those ESD bags with the grid pattern on them... The grid is thin metal foil.
The silvery ones are silvery because there is thin metal foil between the layers of plastic.

Read here under "Storage and Transportation of ESD sensitive component and boards"
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_3/chpt_9/1.html