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!

Asking about the pictures, for example, is ridiculous. The extra questions are, I suspect, a way of wringing extra cash out of you. They would have tried to get you to buy registered mail or something.

I was sending them recorded anyway. I didn't fancy sorting out the nightmare if the post office lost it

The queue for our post office is always out the door. No wonder if they're subjecting every customer to that level of grilling.

I actually manage a post office and honestly, it should just add ten, maybe twenty seconds to our transaction time. We are audited regularly by Post Office HQ, Royal Mail and the CAA to check we're simply asking 'for the purposes of safety, please can you tell me what's in your parcel?'
If we fail these audits, our mailing license is suspended and we are not allowed to accept any post over the counter, obviously reducing our business by about 90%.
I take care to make sure my staff are as fast, professional and as discreet as possible, with regular training and a good knowledge of every service we can offer you. Please bear in mind though that these rules are royal mail's and not Post Office - and at this time of year, with our queues out of the door, we're just trying to do our jobs.
And a quick word of warning, if you do send something prohibited and it's picked up, Royal Mail reserve the right to destroy the entire parcel.

They are also asking because if it is something valuable you may need extra insurance. I'm sure people would be on here bleating quick enough if they'd posted their granny's antique diamond and hadn't been offered extra insurance!

Mine is quite sensible, if it's soft she just says "is it just clothes?" and if its a box, she just says "dvds?" To which the answer is always just "Yes" I wouldn't post anything hazardous or dangerous but agree that if I wanted to I'm hardly likely to declare it. Though to be fair after my puzzled look the first time she asked, she did say "it's not that you can't post the item, simply that I have to note it and put a sticker on it" she also said it didn't cost more either.

The simple question 'is your package worth more than £x?' is sufficient though. Not a grilling on the size, cut, shape, carat and age of grandmother's antique diamond like some people are getting. The risk should be yours.

whiteblankpage - I think the thing coming out of this thread is that it isn't taking 20 seconds and some POs are asking for way more information than they need and the counter staff doing this are poorly trained in this area. I still think the process wouldn't hold up to challenge if any consumer group took this on. I use the same post office regularly to post small packages. The woman at the counter has been making a point of asking what is in the parcel for months but she doesn't probe so that is OK. She forgot the other day. I didn't notice until I left but imagine I was somebody who didn't post regularly and didn't know the rules. Imagine their parcel was the centre of the incident. They would say, rightly, nobody said anything to them about it and they didn't know they weren't supposed to post X, Y or Z. The counter staff would say that because they always ask, they must have asked that day but they didn't of course. It is one person's word against another which is no way to prove liability one way or another. As a system if is not very good. There needs to a signature or a sticker which would cut down on the chat and the probing and make everybody aware they knew what their rights and responsibilities were when it comes to the post.

I'm only just beginning to get to grips with this, it's all new to me. PO today did mention "for safety" and this time I knew what to do. What about packages you can fit in a letter box? You could get 5 nail varnish through the slot, I'd have thought?

Hopefully RM might take the hint when everyone uses other couriers more. All good healthy competition.

Aw crap! Looks like I better unpack the cat that I was going to send to my grandmother

MyIronLung

Was it packed into a box? I think you may have just outed yourself...

is your surname...Schrodinger?

Oh dear StilleNachtCarolling, looks like I need to Namechange

although I think it's fair to suppose that the damn cat is dead, it was put in the box 79 years ago

I get questioned when I send boxes to the states. I remember the first time I went to send a box, it was full of sweets and gifts for my dd's friend who lives in Virginia. The lady said I had to list every single item in the box! I said I had no idea exactly what was in the box as we'd been gathering various sweets and biscuits for a few months to send. It was full of Jaffa cakes and tunnocks tea cakes and chocolate bars that she can't get in the states, plus postcards and a mug and goodness knows what else. In the end we wrote sweets and gifts.

The worst part was when the box from the states arrived in the UK, full of American chocolate and sweets and gifts, I had to go and pay customs charges and VAT, which was roughly the same amount as what our friends had paid to send the box, before I could pick it up. I've never had to do that before and until recently I would get parcels from America fairly regularly.

I was surprised to be asked contents of envelope in the P.O.last week, and as frequently happens these days, my mind went blank, and all I could remember was "herbs". Assistant was saying that was sufficient info, while I continued as usual in these cases, encouraging other person to guess the word by giving clues, in this case "Herbs made from crocus flowers - begins with an "ess", ah yes, Saffron !" while assistant showed no further interest, of course, and I resolved to write down the appropriate word next time.
I did wonder why the PO needed to know, so glad to see this thread.

Yet another reason to use Amazon! I must have waited 15 minutes to be served in a book shop the toher day and had the same thought again.

I thought of this thread yesterday at the post office when I was asked what was in my parcels.
"Socks and a velociraptor", I said honestly.

Post office worker didn't even crack a smile.

I've been mounting my own one woman revolution, I'm really stickin' it to the man this Xmas!
When they ask me what's in the parcel, I tell them 'socks".
But it's not socks, it might be a jumper, or a scarf, or hankies.
But only I know that. [Adjusts aviators, smiles enigmatically, leaves post office]

So many good points made here! Midnitescribbler's conversation transcript hit the nail on the head for me: there surely comes a point when the extra questions are just fecking nosey and aren't actally serving a purpose?! There is surely a better way to deal with the restricted items questioning that gets the info required without us having to resort to embarrassing minutiae

From now on I am going to adopt what other people have suggested:
If it's light: 3 tellytubbies & a peeler
If heavy: books and sweets

I know what I shouldn't be sending so I don't see the issue with lying to keep a bit of my privacy!

I was collecting a parcel from the depot, and had lost my red card, so was asked the name of the company... feminine hygiene products. Yes, it had to be the moon cup didn't it.

"Its a kazooo, its a threat to world peace"
"Its not on the list"
"Yeah but kazoos are pretty dangerous, they've been known to provoke violent attacks"
"Its a big box for a kazoo"
"I really hate them, and its Christmas you know"
"Its OK, you can post it"
"So your going to take responsibility for an unchaperoned kazoo, that's pretty brave"
"It is one of those sort of tooty things you blow"

"I mean.."
"No that's up to you, please don't explain"
"It dosn't have batteries does it ?"
"You just won't stop will you ?

I'd be a smartass and start listing really embarrassing things in great detail.

"It's hemorrhoid cream for my auntie Petunia. She has them terribly. Bleeds every time she wipes. Been to several doctors, they're all just scratching their heads figuring out how to pop them"

Do this with every item. It's not like they're going to check, are they?

Random post to bump a zombie there, Scottyboy

Use the self checkout, much quicker.

Our local PO has been doing this for about 4yrs - it's not new here
Anyway, if your parcel goes in a plane (I send parcels to europe) then it is xrayed at the airport, so you mustn't lie. Within UK, Royal Mail don't have xray machines, so you'll be okay.
I left a few items off my Christmas parcels, mainly because I couldn't remember everything that was in them - there were several items in each box - and it still got there.

Tell them it's a dildo
what if it really is a sex tou/dildo? do people tell? since when privacy doesn't matter any more! as pp say, no one who sends prohibited stuff would admit it.

This thread is 6 years old.

And bumped by a creeper apparently...