Gah! Post office staff & posting air pistols

[distantcamera]

So today I tried to post an air pistol, Royal Mail Special Delivery, which I believe is currently the most sensible option for posting air pistols. So I took it to the post office (open in Scotland 'cos we don't get this bank holiday).

"What's in it?"
"A low powered air pistol."

First she tells me that you can't post that. I tell her that according to the Royal Mail website, I can, so long as I use minimum 1st Class post. As it says here:
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/...ricted%20goods

So after a bit of tutting she agreed to phone the "Helpline." She asks me whether the six inch long box contains a pistol or a rifle. After confirming it is a pistol she tells me that it can only be posted by Parcelforce48. I point out again that it says on the Royal Mail website that I can send it minimum First Class, but I want to send it Special Delivery. I load up the Royal Mail website on my phone and show her. Nope. She has to go with what the helpline says. So I ask her to call them back and ask why their information differs from the Royal Mail website. She does this and then produces a leaflet from behind the counter. This leaflet is new and does indeed say that you can post an air pistol Parcelforce48. It does not say that you can't post it by Royal Mail. She insists that it does say that. At this point I assume that she doesn't know that if words are in a different order they have a different meaning. In the end I gave up and left; not really a good idea getting arsey when you are actuallly carrying a gun, even if it is all wrapped up in a box.

I don't know whether the helpline she spoke to is Post Office run or whether it is Royal Mail run. I suspect the former as I have experienced the Post Office trying to push Parcelforce services unnecessarily before. I have sent a complaint to Royal Mail for the website and the helpline having conflicting information and have asked the BASC for advice.

[12/200]

Send it Parcel force

[distantcamera]

Send it Parcel force

With this gun Parcelforce would probably be OK. But with compensation limited to £100 instead of £500 it would not be the best option for a more expensive pistol.

[PaulR]

I send mine special delivery 24 hr. (£11) which gives enough in compensation. The rules allow this.

That said when asked what it contains I say "sports equipment".

I have yet to make a compensation claim but am prepared to argue the toss should it ever happen.

[Rich]

After having done some work on a stock for someone I went to send it back to him, PF48 and asked to increase the insured value to £200.

"Before I do that, would you mind telling me what's inside this parcel?"

A piece of wood.

"It must be bluddy expensive wood if it's worth £200"

[bighit]

Fine saying sporting goods until it goes missing and you then tell them it was an airgun

Seeing as airguns have their own regulations.

[Rapidnick]

Why did you bother to tell the clerk details of the contents? My understanding is that all you have to do -and then only if specifically asked- is to certify that what you want to send isn't against regulations. The best thing to do in the real world is to call the item in the box is 'engineering parts' or 'sporting goods' whatever you choose to say.

[Rapidnick]

After having done some work on a stock for someone I went to send it back to him, PF48 and asked to increase the insured value to £200.

"Before I do that, would you mind telling me what's inside this parcel?"

A piece of wood.

"It must be bluddy expensive wood if it's worth £200"

A 'wooden sculpture' is the right answer here Rich.

[lew07]

Why did you bother to tell the clerk details of the contents? My understanding is that all you have to do -and then only if specifically asked- is to certify that what you want to send isn't against regulations. The best thing to do in the real world is to call the item in the box is 'engineering parts' or 'sporting goods' whatever you choose to say.

This exactly.They are to make You aware some goods are prohibited. They should have a list.You then answer Yes or No. The exact contents of Your parcel are none of their business.

[Rich]

A 'wooden sculpture' is the right answer here Rich.

Thanks Nick, I like to think that some of them are works of art...

[Jonjon79]

"What's in it?"
"A low powered air pistol."

First she tells me that you can't post that.

So after a bit of tutting she agreed to phone the "Helpline." She asks me whether the six inch long box contains a pistol or a rifle. After confirming it is a pistol she tells me that it can only be posted by Parcelforce48. I point out again that it says on the Royal Mail website that I can send it minimum First Class, but I want to send it Special Delivery. I load up the Royal Mail website on my phone and show her. Nope. She has to go with what the helpline says. So I ask her to call them back and ask why their information differs from the Royal Mail website. She does this and then produces a leaflet from behind the counter. This leaflet is new and does indeed say that you can post an air pistol Parcelforce48. It does not say that you can't post it by Royal Mail. She insists that it does say that. At this point I assume that she doesn't know that if words are in a different order they have a different meaning. In the end I gave up and left

Infuriating isn't it.

Post Office counters seem to attract a certain type of employee - generally a strange kind of bastard offspring generated during a nights dogging with a librarian, an SS officer and, sloth from Goonies.

My opinion on this doesn't always seem popular but, I wrap a parcel so that it'll survive a couple of days of the worst abuse that warehouse workers and couriers could throw at it, then, when I get to the counter, smile politely and lie through my teeth.

I'd think twice if I knew something risked going by air mail but, I've sent a fair few things so far and, absolutely everything has arrived intact.

The furthest was decorative wood and metal carvings (*cough* Daystate Merlyn) from Swindon to Northumberland.

[look no hands]

I sent a replacement trigger blade out the other day in one of the tiniest jiffy bags you've ever seen, now it flat with a tiny little bump in the middle, the first thing asked was "does it contain anything flammable or any batteries?", well you could guess the answer I gave, she then proceeded to stick it through the little thin slot on here plastic guideline gauge, which it just didn't go through, now in all my years I've never ever seen a letterbox that thin (unless they are trying to put stuff under doors nowadays), when you say that too them and ask for an honest answer, they just don't know what to say, I sent a form to DVLA once and they tried to stick it through the little slot again, I said to them that do you honestly think that the masses of letters that get sent to DVLA everyday that the postman is going to stick them through a slot that tiny, we all know they are going to be taken in a mailbag and is it that hard for a postman nowadays to stick a slightly thicker letter in a normal size letterbox?

It seems a bit of a pisstake.

Pete

[LewesNick]

On a similar thread previously, one bbs member said that he declared the contents to be "marital aids".

[angrybear]

Why did you bother to tell the clerk details of the contents? My understanding is that all you have to do -and then only if specifically asked- is to certify that what you want to send isn't against regulations. The best thing to do in the real world is to call the item in the box is 'engineering parts' or 'sporting goods' whatever you choose to say.

This exactly.They are to make You aware some goods are prohibited. They should have a list.You then answer Yes or No. The exact contents of Your parcel are none of their business.

They are a private company taking responsibility for transporting & delivering your item, so they are 100% entitled to know what they are carrying,
If you don't like their terms...don't use their service.

Apart from that it's pointless to lie or misrepresent your item, it's legal to send a low power airgun, or parts of one & if you need to claim the compensation you're still going to have to prove what it was & what it was worth, at which point the rules for a gun will apply.

[Geezer]

The odd thing is that RM and PF have really complicated regulations, that their staff don't seem to know and get twitchy about. But then you have other couriers, like My Hermes, who doubtless ban all shooty things, but just turn up and take a parcel, no questions asked, and deliver it. So RM/PF quibble over air pistols, but their competition would apparently deliver a bazooka, no questions asked.

(NB - I do not own, and have not owned, and nor have I had someone courier on my behalf, a bazooka.)