Bit annoyed with the PO

[Kaz]

Not the queues this time as we were first in the passport queue and got seen straight away! The form was all signed and filled in correctly which is good - there might be a slight issue with the photo as they said there was shadow on H's face and it might mean sending new pics if they question it - but the application is in, so that's something

My beef is with the little parcel I wanted to send - a small perfume spray. Aunty Rose loves this spray but can't get it where she lives, so I sourced it on ebay and had it delivered here (by Royal Mail I might add) but the lady today said the RM couldn't handle it as it wasn't in a box inside the packaging!!! It was wrapped in pretty tissue, then a thin layer of bubble wrap, then inside a padded Jiffy, but still she refused to take it. She showed me their leaflets, and perfumes have to be in original boxes! This didn't come in a box though, it came in exactly the same as the packaging I was using

So now I need to find a ratty old toiletries box of roughly the correct size, and put it in that, then inside a Jiffy

I am pretty cross

[Diflower]

Oh blimey, and we're supposed to know all that?!

[Kaz]

Apparently!!! The best bit though is that they themselves quite happily delivered it to me, from the ebay seller, a couple of days ago!

[saundra]

idiots i expect its health/safety
go to a different p/o
and just say its a personal present dont say perfume
an orniment or something
never heard of that rule to be honest
did the seller admit it was perfume tho ?

[Kaz]

I'd never heard of it either Saundra, but it is listed in the leaflet she gave me

I could do that I suppose, I guess that might well be what the sender did?

[Workingman]

Having operated machinery for the Royal Mail at Normanton and Leeds it comes as no surprise that glass bottles containing liquids are "supposed" to be in sturdy packaging.

The processes a parcel goes through in getting it from A to B would make your toes curl! The words "Fragile", "With care" and "This way up" mean nothing to the sorting machines. All they are worried about is turning things this way and that so the delivery address can be read and that a correct payment has been made. They are very clever at doing those things, they are not so good at sorting things so that heavy stuff goes on the bottom of the container with the lighter stuff on top.

It was different when the sorting was done by people. For the most part they did respect the parcels they were handling and under pressure they did try to load the containers, known as "Yorkies", in an ordered way.

My guess is that the eBay seller is not telling RM what is in his parcels. I know that does not help, Kaz, but is likely to be the way things are.

[Kaz]

Sounds like it Frank

[JoM]

I thought that too, although dozy mare at the post office end of the counter in McColls never asks what's in a parcel so it may be that the sender wasn't asked. Dozy mare always asks me where Orkney is too when I mail gifts to my friend there a few times a year too...

Kaz, is there a Card Factory near you? They usually sell cheap but pretty gift boxes. M had bought one from Poundland too the other day.

[lissie]

I went to send presents to NZ and had to declare what was in the parcel.
One present was a watch for my niece.
The lady in the PO asked if it had a battery and I said yes.
She said I would have to remove the battery so I had to take it home and repackage
It. I did,nt tell her but I put the battery in with the card I sent in the parcel.

lissie

[Kaz]

Blimey Lissie that sounds daft too! Well done on outsmarting them

Jo I've decided to hang on the perfume and not bother sending it - it can wait until I see her. I'll send the usual flower card instead - life's too short!