Knife postage

[0000]

But as their own details state: "Excludes knives that are banned under UK laws - see Weapons"
Which I read as it would only be a weapon if it was not a legal UK knife.

This PO individual may have conflated legality of ownership and legality of carry without reason. It sounds like he just got a bad egg. I ship knives every week and have used everyone except yodel and hermes and that's just because their delivery times are shocking. I currently use parcelforce if shipping to the US as they are USPS' carrier in the UK. The only issue I've ever had was actually as a consumer and trying to receive a Bark River knife from DLTtrading.com. It got held up in Standsted and I was told that it was a weapon. I eventually got it after a lengthy period of arguing semantics and terminology. What a ballache.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Toddy]

From the Royal Mail link Nice65 posted it clearly states you can post knives:

Sharp objects (including knives, kitchen utensils and gardening tools)

• International & UK - Allowed in the mail, see packaging guidelines below:
• • Sharp objects like knives*, kitchen utensils and gardening tools may only be posted if they are packaged appropriately so that they are no risk to employees, other postal items or recipients.
    *Excludes knives that are banned under UK laws - see Weapons
  • Wrap heavy cardboard around sharp edges and points, strong enough to ensure that the contents do not pierce the outer packaging. Wrap each item with cushioning material. Place in a suitable outer container such as a padded envelope.
  • The sender's name and return address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging.

You could email them and ask why do post office staff not know their own rules?

It may not be worth the risk but if you send it insured and it's destroyed I would assume they would have to reimburse you as they state they can send them.

No, they don't. Post Offices are 'franchises' and the staff in our two local ones are like night and day. One will always ask what it is, and be really nosey about it re details, and even when asked for the cheapest option for posting, they charge the highest they can justify. I've taken a parcel back, walked down to the local myHermes depot and just posted it there, insured, for less than the PO wanted for second class
The other couldn't be more helpful. So long as it's not on the prohibited list, is well packed and labelled, they'll find the best price for the customer.

Go and use another PO, and say that it's a woodworking tool that you have properly and secured packaged.
It ought to go without any bother at all.

Best of luck with it; I am beyond frustrated with our more local PO, and you have my complete sympathies on the hassle the blighters create.

M

 

[Dave Budd]

As said already, RM will happily send knives if properly packaged; it's just the jobsworth in the post office that might get their info wrong. A lot of it stems from the fact that until recently the signs showing banned items used an image of a knife to illustrate weapons.

My local PO has stopped (for the most part) asking me what is inside having got used to me just saying "tools". I did have an incident a few years back in a larger PO where the individual refused to accept that I wasn't posting anything on the banned list. I had to get the item posted to the customer that day, so I invited them to open it. They were rather taken aback when the box contained sex toys, just as I had tried to tell them!

Anything that is going abroad also has the label tools (customs ticket), but I elaborate and use words like 'carving tools' or bushcraft equipment'

 

[sunndog]

Dude just go to another post office and send it insured.

 

[C_Claycomb]

I have been known to make knives and have always shipped via Royal Mail via local post offices. Sending with couriers has been, in my experience, much more difficult. I went to a DHL depot and they categorically would not carry any knife on security grounds. UPS would only do it for business account holders and Fedex would do it in the UK, but rather thought that the US side would not, and since I was looking to ship to the US, that was awkward. In the end, sent it Parcel Force. It was an expensive knife, $800, that looked like something a Klingon might carry, and the shipping and insurance was manageable, although I cannot now recall what it came to.

Go to a different post office.

The only time that I have ever had a problem (back when the picture of a "weapon" was a Kabar style knife) I went to another PO and had no problems.

Having had to re-grind and clean up an ivory Micarta PXL for someone at the Moot, I am curious what needs attention back at the factory?

All the best

Chris

 

[Keith_Beef]

The post office regarded it as a weapon.

No.

One particular Post Office employee has misunderstood the rules.

If you really want to send this little knife back to the manufacturer in Sweden, you can either go to a different post office, or try to get some sort of training for the numpty who is causing you so much frustration...

For a moment, let's imagine that it is impractical for you to go to a different Post Office.

Follow the Royal Mail's own rules, as stated in the post by Nice65.
Print those rules on a piece of paper and hand it to the numpty behind the counter.
If the numpty still refuses, write a letter of complaint to whichever body deals with counter service, suggesting that it is not very good for the Post Office's reputation to have such badly informed numpties dealing with the public.

Lastly, you do not need a customs declaration to send something to Sweden.

 

[Laurentius]

I recieved a slasher through the post and the tip had managed to work it's way through the packaging. The postie would have been entitled to protest that he could not deliver that, but he did all the same. Ebay will not trade in "knives" but they will happily sell slashers, billhooks, scythes, axes and all sorts, but you see they are not "knives" It is all in the description.

 

[Fadcode]

I send my knives via UPS, to the US without any problem, you have to print 3 declarations which have to accompany the package, I sent one last Wednesday which was delivered today(Monday) to Colorado. Total Cost £29.99.
I send my knives in the UK via Royal Mail Special Delivery without any problem.
Hermes will not allow you to post knives, and if by chance you do and it is lost, you will not get compensation.
A lot will depend on the value, and your description of the goods, I label mine "camping utensils, metal, wood and leather", which is a broad description but will cover a bush- craft, and other types of knives, which are tools after all..
Most items for export are x-rayed, but as long as the item matches the description, then there is nothing to worry about..
As suggested go to another Post Office, make sure you put your name and address on the package, and a brief description of the goods, I would not recommend you state it is a knife, as this would arouse suspicion, and to cover their ars** they would probably refuse to accept it, even though you can legitimately send it.

 

[santaman2000]

I recieved a slasher through the post and the tip had managed to work it's way through the packaging. The postie would have been entitled to protest that he could not deliver that, but he did all the same. Ebay will not trade in "knives" but they will happily sell slashers, billhooks, scythes, axes and all sorts, but you see they are not "knives" It is all in the description.

To the best of my knowledge eBay in the US still deals in knives.

 

[Fadcode]

I recieved a slasher through the post and the tip had managed to work it's way through the packaging. The postie would have been entitled to protest that he could not deliver that, but he did all the same. Ebay will not trade in "knives" but they will happily sell slashers, billhooks, scythes, axes and all sorts, but you see they are not "knives" It is all in the description.

It is only Ebay in a few countries that won't deal in knives, you can buy them from Ebay.com, the US site and many other countries.It makes a mockery of the actual EU, and free trade,,etc

 

[Nomad64]

A couple of years ago I bought a chainsaw from the Bay of E which arrived via Royal Mail badly wrapped in cardboard soaked in the fuel and oil that was leaking from it. The Postie had been driving with the van windows open as it stank of petrol.

It was in nothing like the condition described and after a short kerfuffle refereed by the Bay of E it was returned via the Post Office albeit minus the fuel, oil and a carrier bag full of soggy sawdust. A few sensible questions from the guy on the counter and sensible answers from me and no problems - a shame something similar didn’t happen when it was originally sent as it could have caused a major fire!

However frustrating it gets, please don’t be d!cks when dealing with post office staff!

People get things wrong and/or err on the side of caution and while people on here may be well versed in the subtleties of UK knife law (although the regular heated disagreements suggest that there is room for different interpretations), just remember that the person behind the counter is just a glorified shop assistant not the cutting edge (can you see what I did there! ) of a conspiracy by the deep nanny state to take shiney toys from the warm sweaty hands of knife enthusiasts.

I’d love to have a local post office who could refuse to send sharp things for me - ours closed and it is currently a 25 mile round trip to send a parcel by Royal Mail!

 

[Toddy]

That's a very fair point.
The burn that runs along side the path outside my garden is the divide between the two villages. Both still have post offices, so I'm less than a mile from either of them. It's a quick walk to either. It's incredibly frustrating though that one is truly sound and the other (much bigger, with the delivery/collection depot set up behind it) a set of greedy grasping incompetents.

M

 

[SimonL]

At the risk of making an odd suggestion - have you considered contacting (say) Heinnie to see how they do it/who they use/how they word it ?

 

[brancho]

I once complained about this sort of reaction to trying to post a knife and was informed the post offices involved would reminded of the rules.

You state you are wishing to post en edged tool or custom cuttlery

 

[AJB]

Hello,

Thank you all for your comments and input, especially Toddy as ever (even though I’ve not really been on the site for about five years, life can be tough at times). I’ve not replied before now as I had little to add and quire frankly I was a bit *&£#@£&+&&.

I believe the people I spoke to were hard of understanding. Having now talked to lots of people in relevant customer service departments, my local main post office are happy to send it, as long as it is “safely and appropriately packaged” and is “legal to OWN in the UK”. It may be delayed for inspection, but if it meets these two criteria it will be delivered. The only possibility of it being destroyed is if it is an illegal to own knife.

I think my PO have conflated illegal to carry and illegal to own. As yet this is all theory until I can get to my main PO.

Andy

 

[AJB]

Posted at a main PO, without question. Tracking says the knife is leaving the country now!