Post to Germany

[Rob]

Unforeseen problem this morning. I tried to post a catalogue to Germany. Wrong! In their wisdom, Deutsche Post include paper and wood pulp products which includes printed matter on their list of banned substances, so the post office won't accept it. By logical extension, this must therefore include letters and Christmas cards. It's bonkers. And they accuse the UK of being isolationist........  

Banned items

• Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard
• Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans

 

[Peckris 2]

I've just googled this and it seems that there are some restrictions - but any such are due to Covid.

[copper123]

So posting a photograph is illegal? I bet many ignore it.

Surpose they have to get us back for the two world wars

[1949threepence]

On 11/29/2021 at 9:03 AM, Rob said:

Unforeseen problem this morning. I tried to post a catalogue to Germany. Wrong! In their wisdom, Deutsche Post include paper and wood pulp products which includes printed matter on their list of banned substances, so the post office won't accept it. By logical extension, this must therefore include letters and Christmas cards. It's bonkers. And they accuse the UK of being isolationist........  

Banned items

• Paper and paperboard; articles of paper pulp, of paper or of paperboard
• Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry; manuscripts, typescripts and plans

 

That's literally insane.  

[azda]

I bought a calendar from an astrophotographer in the UK, total cost was £19 but he put £10 on the packet as value. DHL came and said you need to pay me €8,50 and I was scratching my head as to why he wanted money (I"d forgotten about the calendar as the photographer said it would be a little later down the road before posting)

So I check the packet and see it was in fact the calendar, problem being that before tax is applied you are allowed up to €22 tax free, this Brexit is becoming a joke. I have coins sitting at Stanstead that I posted with Fedex priority, 24hr delivery, 5 days later they are still awaiting customs clearance, everything they wanted has been given to them, there is no need for this wait.

[Rob]

35 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

That's literally insane.  

My thoughts too. As Peck posted, there are issues related to covid, but it did cross my mind that they might be trying to eliminate anything liable to a potential customs charge by forcing people to use a courier as it saves them money if they don't have to process liable items, and they do have DPD to divert imports to. The list of banned items encompasses just about everything, but clearly they can't ban letters as a postal service. I guess we will have to wait and see if it persists once the covid issues have gone away.

[1949threepence]

2 hours ago, azda said:

I bought a calendar from an astrophotographer in the UK, total cost was £19 but he put £10 on the packet as value. DHL came and said you need to pay me €8,50 and I was scratching my head as to why he wanted money (I"d forgotten about the calendar as the photographer said it would be a little later down the road before posting)

So I check the packet and see it was in fact the calendar, problem being that before tax is applied you are allowed up to €22 tax free, this Brexit is becoming a joke. I have coins sitting at Stanstead that I posted with Fedex priority, 24hr delivery, 5 days later they are still awaiting customs clearance, everything they wanted has been given to them, there is no need for this wait.

Ridiculous that Brexit should affect private post, either way.  

[Peckris 2]

6 hours ago, 1949threepence said:

Ridiculous that Brexit should affect private post, either way.  

The Rees-Mogg Rule: "Anything that can be blamed on Brexit, or anything at all really, should be".

[1949threepence]

I've just received a coin from Germany, via tracked Deutsche Post, which arrived today after being posted on 20.12.21. No issues whatsoever.  

Not sure whether the "from" as opposed to the "to" makes any difference in the context of this thread, but thought it was worth mentioning.  

[blakeyboy]

On 11/30/2021 at 10:52 AM, 1949threepence said:

That's literally insane.  

Agreed- so, in Germany, all shipping is done in wooden crates, plastic containers, or metal drums?

No cardboard boxes allowed?

I didn't believe Rob at first ( I think is is unsurprising, given the bizarre arcane nature of this) so I looked uo the German Postal Rules,

according to the RM site, and yes, he was quoting.....