Genealogy Forum UK

I hate the post office

I just got a letter saying that in order to process a parcel from abroad I need to supply a receipt or order number off ebay etc. And if it is a gift worth more than 10000kr (50 quid) then I will have to pay duty which will be assessed by the customs.

This is a parcel from my sister which contains a pair of socks for each of us (5) plus a warm vest for my daughter and something for me. All from Primark and totalling under 30 pounds.

So I have sent them an email which takes up to 24 hours to deal with, then, assuming they agree that there is no duty to pay, they tell the local post office, who deliver a form to me, and I take that into town to pick up the parcel. And what are the chances of all that happening before mid-day on the 24? Eh? And come to that, what did it cost to do it?

Bah humbug! And a pox on their families and future issue.

our are just as bad got a secondhand military uniform from the states $25 dollars, cost me £30 import duty and a tenner in petrol to pick it up

gardener wrote:I hate the post office

I just got a letter saying that in order to process a parcel from abroad I need to supply a receipt or order number off ebay etc. And if it is a gift worth more than 10000kr (50 quid) then I will have to pay duty which will be assessed by the customs.

This is a parcel from my sister which contains a pair of socks for each of us (5) plus a warm vest for my daughter and something for me. All from Primark and totalling under 30 pounds.

So I have sent them an email which takes up to 24 hours to deal with, then, assuming they agree that there is no duty to pay, they tell the local post office, who deliver a form to me, and I take that into town to pick up the parcel. And what are the chances of all that happening before mid-day on the 24? Eh? And come to that, what did it cost to do it?

Bah humbug! And a pox on their families and future issue.

you had this before didnt you ...i seem to remember something

You have a memory Jan. I think we have been blacklisted!

I don't mind paying when I am imorting something Pete, I just object when it is a present! And they are now enforcing this rule of 10000 kr per parcel which is clearly stupid at Christmas when gifts are put together in one parcel to save on postage and packing.

When Public Servants get bored they invent new ways of torturing the general public.

Three parcels I have received lately have all been torn open, not neatly cut open, by customs.

I don;t mind htem looking for contraband but ther eis no need to wreck the packaging....

I suspect the situation for gardener is more to do with the financial straits that Iceland finds itself in, requiring to garner as much in taxation as possible whilst limiting imports as much as possible, rather than petty bureaucratic meanness.

gardener wrote:You have a memory Jan. I think we have been blacklisted!

I don't mind paying when I am imorting something Pete, I just object when it is a present! And they are now enforcing this rule of 10000 kr per parcel which is clearly stupid at Christmas when gifts are put together in one parcel to save on postage and packing.

I agree it is beaurocracy (don't think that's spelt right!).
Is there no customs declaration on the outside of the parcel anymore? I seem to remember in years gone buy putting labels on stuff I sent abroad, with the fact that it was a gift and the value on it. But haven't send parcels outside of the EU for years.
My grumble this year is the price stamps. I send a card to the UK, it costs me approx £1.20; the ones that I recieve only cost 68p! My two nephews have birthdays a week apart, so I was going to send them in the same envelope, but they weighed 8g too much, which doubled the cost!