An Post, liquids and regulations.

Sonics2k

Hi guys,

Bit of a quick question for you, and reckoned it would be better placed here than on After Hours or similar.

Does anyone know of the regulation, law or reason that An Post, Royal Mail and others don't allow some liquids to be sent in the post.

Recently my girlfriend tried to send a few hand-creams and perfumes from where she works to her family in England for Christmas, but was told this isn't possible.

I understand why batteries and similar can't be sent, but the hand cream ban seems a bit odd to me.

Is it anything to do with EU Law, Irish Law or the IATA?

Pat Mustard

Sonics2k wrote: »

Is it anything to do with EU Law, Irish Law or the IATA?

I reckon so.

Do not send
Never send liquids outside of the Republic of Ireland using any of our services. We cannot accept liquids due to IATA regulations. Other restrictions for both national and international services include explosives, corrosives and irritants. Many international destinations have additional restrictions on items the will accept by post. If you have any concerns please contact customer.services@anpost.ie or CallSave 1850 57 58 59.

I suppose that many hand creams are not actually liquids, so I'm not sure why a blanket ban on them should apply, but I haven't read the regulations. Perhaps you could email An Post.

pajor

I reckon it's got to do with the same reason you're only allowed 100ml of liquids in your hand luggage.

ABajaninCork

I've had that problem too. Funny enough, I've had nail varnishes, creams and lotions sent here from the US as well as the UK. No problems at all.

Paulw

Try using DHL, FedEx or UPS for shipping, as many of those have their own flights and can transport liquids.

Sonics2k

The Mustard wrote: »

I reckon so.


I suppose that many hand creams are not actually liquids, so I'm not sure why a blanket ban on them should apply, but I haven't read the regulations. Perhaps you could email An Post.

Cheers for that, I'd read that not long after posting here, but can't find where on the IATA site it has their regulations on this.

Thanks you very much though!

Victor

I imagine a lot of it is down to fear of leakages and damaging other post.

As mentioned, other operators do carry liquids.

CelticRambler

An Post seem to have taken a very OTT approach to this, because I've no problems sending the same Liquids (of any kind including water, alcohol, gels, creams, aftershaves and perfumes) from France or the UK into Ireland. I suppose anyone who wants to support Irish gel, cream, aftershave and perfume manufacturers will just have to pop up the North and send their presents by Royal Mail instead.

Sheep Shagger

It's coming up to that time of year again, does anyone know if gels/handcreams ever get stopped when posting outside of Ireland?

The reason I ask is the likes of Strawberry.net will post to Ireland (and other countries), how do they get away with it?

They'll even ship perfume too at a small additional cost (that can be waived if you buy certain goods in the same order).

conorh91

There's an advertisement on the radio encouraging people to send poo in the post.

It's for a good cause. Bowel-cancer testing. But still. Sending poo in the post?

How can they possibly object to hand cream, after that?

Peregrinus

It's because of the damage done to other people's postal items if the container leaks or breaks.

When you bring your package to the post office, it's already wrapped up. They have no chance of inspecting how well sealed the liquid is. Nor, in any event, do they want to get into examining the packaging standards of individual parcels. So they just choose not to carry liquids. Almost all other national post offices make a similar choice, so even if they are prepared to carry liquids in the inland post, they cannot accept them for international post.

A courier company will carry liquids. It will cost a lot more.

(With respect to poo, they accept it because (a) it's inland post only; (b) they are willing to bank on nearly everybody using the proper container supplied to them by the medics; and (c) it's for serious medical reasons. But it's still exceptional.)

braddun

some post goes on the airlines


We cannot accept liquids due to IATA regulations


Other restrictions for both national and international services include explosives, corrosives and irritants. Many international destinations have additional restrictions on items the will accept by post. If you have any concerns please contact customer.services at anpost.ie or CallSave 1850 57 58 59.

inisboffin

Yep, they are X-raying a lot more. My Mum regularly sent make-up/little bits of creams etc to an aunt, and the last 2 deliveries never arrived.
There was a 'new girl' in the post office today and when Mum tried to post stuff and told her what was in she told her it would most likely be dumped or at best sent back and lose postage. I rang to check and the (older) guy on the phone told me they were really clamping down. Even lipsticks banned, which he was surprised at when he checked.

You could chance it but it may not get there.

bipedalhumanoid

The reasons they give for the liquid ban are complete nonsense. Every other postal service in the developed world handles liquids. You can order bottles of wine from other countries and an post will deliver them to your door. You can order phone batteries on Amazon.com and An Post will deliver them to your door.

The restriction only applies to sending things out of Ireland. Royal Mail, USPS, Australia Post etc. do not have this restriction at all.

amtc

It's an airline restriction. An Post doesn't use surface mail

bipedalhumanoid

amtc wrote: »

It's an airline restriction. An Post doesn't use surface mail

If it is, it only applies to the specific airline(s) used by An Post. If I tried to send liquids surface mail from New Zealand they'd take 3 months to get here, yet I can order wine and have it arrive in 1.5-2 weeks.

The mobile phone battery I ordered from Amazon.com shipped from the US and arrived 1 week later. That's not surface mail.

Peregrinus

Yes. But remember An Post can't control what other national post offices consign to airlines for deliver to Ireland; only what they themselves consign to airlines for carriage out of Ireland.

It may be - I don't know - that other post offices have entered into arrangement with airlines which enable them to ship liquids. I know htat there's no difficulty about posting liquids in Australia, but you do have to use approved packaging supplied by the post office. I also know that posting in Australia is massively, massively expensive; much more than posting a similar weight in Ireland going in the other direction. And these two facts may be connected.

It may be, in other words, that An Post doesn't pay to put in place arrangements for the safe carriage of liquids because, for the volume of business they do, the costs of doing so, spread across the number of customers making use of the service, would result in unecomonic postal charges.

banchang

So whats the conclusion

- drive north & ship via Royal Mail
- DHL/UPS

?

L1011

Perfume is often excisable so check that the receiving country allows it to be shipped direct to recipients first

dowd

In post office to was told I can't send soap from Ireland to Spain it's not in liquid form not on the list they have