To feel fucked off at having to describe the contents of my parcels to all and sundry in the post office queue?

[u32ng]

Just returned from a trip to the post office (bad enough at this time of year too!): Anyway, apparently my answer of "chocolates" & "a kitchen gift" were not sufficient explanation for its contents and ended up having to say "chocolates", "trivia game", "kitchen gadget for your pans to stop them from boiling over".

I swear a man in the queue let out a snort of amusement at the last one!

Proceded to do same with the 2 other parcels I had.

Why can they not just ask if you're sending anything prohibited or not?! I don't have to itemise the contents of my suitcase at check in so why for my parcels? It feels so bloody embarrassing!

Tinkly Sometimes Post Office clerks can be over zealous shall we say, and apply the rules how they think they should be applied rather than what the rules are. :)

DH says he's going to say it's the ingredients for a 'bombe' next time he gets asked.

I caused mild consternation at our post office when I told the counter woman that the parcel I wanted to send to the US contained, amongst other things, bomb fragments. It really did, I wasn't making up an arsy reply, but they were WW2 souvenirs which had belonged to my grandparents that I was posting to an anglophile American friend of mine who loved the idea of owning some little bits of British history.

To her credit the post office woman decided to put the parcel's contents down as "trinkets" on the customs declaration.

No one has asked me and I have sent lots of parcels recently. I have bought the postage online recently. Not sure if that makes a difference.

"Anal beads".

I post packets of my dd's "artwork",to her grandparents on a regular basis. They always ask me what's in it and I always say "toddler artwork" with a smile. Then they always ask me if its valuable... I guess it might be one day, but right now it's just painted macaroni and some glitter...

the post office is much cheaper for the small parcel size. And I also have one in walking distance.

just 'sweets' or 'a photo album' were recent answers. It's really not hard.

it isn't the fault of the clerks. You know whose fault it is.

It is annoying, but did lead to an amusing moment for me earlier this week when a bloke posting a parcel for his girlfriend had to say that it was a present for her best friend, and they usually got each other joke presents, and it was a novelty sex toy.

The lady behind the counter then asked if it contained batteries. They was definitely some quiet laughter at that point:) He looked really embarrassed!

Argh see I don't get the thing about cards enclosed within parcels - who cares if there's a card in there?? It's all being posted in one parcel that your paying for so why treat it separately?

Big time laughs over "dildo's and butt plugs"

Actually (confession time), I did lie last month about posting nail polish abroad because I forgot the rules and the woman refused to post it. Fair enough...so the next day I took it to a different post office and 'ommitted' to tell them about the nail polish and it got posted. Bad I know but seriously it was a tiny 5ml or something bottle of mavala fgs!

No. A postage stamp is a postage stamp. Postage is set by the size and weight of the envelope. Irrespective of whether you send a Christmas card, a gas bill or blackmail letters.

That's not true if posting abroad

It's daft really as londonrach said, if you were going to send something dodgy you'd lie, wouldn't you?

I had interrogation about sending a bottle of whisky. No it wasn't over 70% proof.

Overseas services
The price you pay depends on:

the destination country
the size and weight of your item
whether you want to track your item or get a signature on delivery.
Use this option to send items outside the UK, including the Channel Islands.

from Royal Mail website

I was grilled at the post office this week.

My answer of dolls clothes wasn't sufficient apparently. She wanted to know exactly what items of dolly clothing I was sending and had to list it all or she wouldn't accept it

I have a friend in New Zealand, she sends the kids little presents for Christmas every year and doesn't have to give half as much detail for her customs form as I did to send 2 little presents within the UK.

As if I'm going to admit to sending a banned item anyway

Yes, this pisses me off! I did a VLCD for a while but gave up and sold the shakes on ebay. It was fairly embarrassing announcing to the queue behind me that I was sending four jiffy bags of diet shakes

Printed papers are priced differently
www.royalmail.com/price-finder/printed-papers
a 2kg parcel to france is £20.34 cheapest whereas 2kg of printed papers £13.85

yes that's right youreallbonkers. so if you're sending a book its cheaper but if you have a handwritten card in the package its no longer counted as printed paper.

OP thank god for that I thought it was just me! I know they have been told to do it but there is a bloke at our post office who really gives me the creeps and is a proper jobsworth - he always makes a big performance of saying 'AND for the purposes of safety can you please tell me what is in your packages today'. He then questions you further to make sure you haven't got anything dodgy in there.
Not on his watch I tell you.

I went to a different PO yesterday and she just said 'clothes is it?' I nodded even though they were dog coats. Close enough.

I might try the sex toy line although he would probably then want to know the exact type and what batteries they take.

Yeah it's bollocks is r it

Exactly my point. If something was going overseas and was marked as printed papers then letters and cards would need to be removed

I had the stupidest conversation yesterday, I had no idea what the question was about, leading to the insane offer of a stamp costing £7.50 to send an enamelled badge for a five year old's birthday.

I got asked yesterday too. I thought it was odd. I said it was knitted items. That wasnt enough so I had to say 'tiny knitted jumpers as tree decorations' I too thought it was a bit much. How can ANY knitted item be a risk?!

Enjora - not everyone lives near a pick up point. There's a shop that does collect+ a couple of miles away, in the next village. Or we have a post office 7 minutes walk away.

I want to know more about Dido's random mystery box company!

This pees me off every time. Don't send many thank goodness, but it really is none of their business unless it contravenes what they allow to send. Paper based goods was not specific enough last time. So I said "Various things that have been made from paper and written on as, well, they are made from paper". She gave in in the end and just showed me the banned list so I could confirm nothing on it in the parcels. I felt bad (as it is probably post office policy), but, well, they were just paper based gifts...

Unless they needed to know each item in detail!?

Tell them its gunpowder... and lots of it!