royal mail

[matthew spooner]

hi guys, on many an occasion i have posted Ts through royal mail using their special delivery service. yesterday i went to send some Ts to various locations and the person behind the desk asked the usual is it valuable? what is the value type questions then asked what the contents were as they were going to do a random parcel scan, so i told them that they were tarantulas, only to be told that oh no you cannot send live animals through the post. they tell me this now after all this time, i thought ok fair enough and asked them why as i had been doing it for so long, they said it was because of the animal welfare act, i then went on to explain to them how invertebrates were not covered by the act so this would not pose a problem, still they would not allow it, they showed me on their system where it said the only live animals that were allowed to be posted were crickets,locusts, meal worms and fish eggs and that i would have to use a private courier, i dont think so, i simply went to a smaller local post office and they accepted the parcels straight through no problem.

this rule has probably always been in force and i have probably just been fortunate enough for it never to have affected me but i think it is silly, if packed properly with the heat packs etc, i dont see how mailing Ts can be harmful, ok admitidly it may cause more stress to them than you would like to give them but with such a wide range of hobbyists and so few trustworthy shops selling Ts, the mailing network is vital to collectors.
i think a petition should be started for royal mail to add tarantulas to their list of accepted live animals for sending, obviously as long as they are suitably packaged. what do you think?

[Phil Rea]

I think the moral of the story is to try not to discuss the contents of your package with them. Personally I have never had any trouble and all our local posties know that I frequently send and receive spiders.

Starting a petition or similar would perhaps draw attention to a situation that is better left undisturbed

[matthew spooner]

I think the moral of the story is to try not to discuss the contents of your package with them. Personally I have never had any trouble and all our local posties know that I frequently send and receive spiders.

Starting a petition or similar would perhaps draw attention to a situation that is better left undisturbed

perhaps you are right phil, it just really annoyed me. i would not usually discuss the contents but they asked as they were going to do a random scan on the packages, i didnt want to lie to them then have them find out. think i will just go further afield to a different post office in future, trouble is i try and leave it as late in the day as possible before i post as the heat packs wont last the whole journey so i like them to have them for as long as possible before they wear out. which didnt leave me much time at all to get to another post office, and as i was just leaving the second post office, the van came and picked up the stuff to go to the sorting office so only just made it, otherwise would have had to unpack everything again and put new packs in

[Phil Rea]

I'm sure it was a pain, and I'd have been equally annoyed in the same situation. We take all our post to the local sorting office, so we're fortunate not to have to deal directly with post office counters which probably helps!

[matthew spooner]

my problem was at the main post office/sorting office lol

[Phil Rea]

my problem was at the main post office/sorting office lol

Our sorting office is just that, a sorting office. No actual post office facilities and no counter or desk to worry about.

We just hand our franked post over in bags or sacks, they sign for it, it gets scanned if necessary, loaded into a york, stuck in the back of a truck, and driven off

[matthew spooner]

thats what we need here lol, might have to find out where nearets one is n do that

[Eleanor]

they showed me on their system where it said the only live animals that were allowed to be posted were crickets,locusts, meal worms and fish eggs

How bizarre. I wonder what they'd say if you tried to post fruit flies, which also appear not to be on their list.

Ms Cheeseman has the right idea - she labels her parcels 'entomological specimens' which strikes me as a good term to use.

[Phil Rea]

How bizarre. I wonder what they'd say if you tried to post fruit flies, which also appear not to be on their list.

Ms Cheeseman has the right idea - she labels her parcels 'entomological specimens' which strikes me as a good term to use.

It's a good term. 'Live beneficial insects' is also a good one that I've seen. However, if it's not on the list then technically it's not allowed, so if they feel like kicking up a fuss, they can

Personally I don't label mine at all. I just send them unmarked.

[paul fleming]

The best thing to do is keep your mouth shut......that's what I do.
If you tell them the contents (eg.3 large venemous (T's) spiders ),they are bound to freak to out.
We should not really be posting them.....end of !

[Eleanor]

The best thing to do is keep your mouth shut.

True. So do I usually, and I don't label them either. Sometimes it's hard to avoid telling them though, like the OP's story. Ours are quite chatty and it's hard to get out of telling them if they ask, at least not without being rude (always an option but one I try to avoid)! Luckily they don't care anyway.

[paul fleming]

Because they are nosey when the package is so light,I always tell them,if they ask, it is a small glass model and that is why I want fragile labels attached.....always works for me.
It was a bit hard explaining the warm part (heat pack) but then you just say it has been near the car heater/ blower
It is your choice really.....lie or tell the truth and risk all the hassle of trying to post a big hairy venemous spider,which is how they will see it.

[Mrs Linda Street]

We do the same as Paul, fragile stickers work everytime Our postie knows what's in the ones we get, and he doesn't have a problem with it, and when the crickets arrive, he usually says 'here's your lunch' lol

[Phil Rea]

I don't put fragile stickers on my packages. Just an excuse for them to play football with it if you ask me

[Mrs Linda Street]

Phil, don't be such a pessimist