Scanning

[Melonfool]

Hello

Someone on Mumsnet has claimed her mail has been 'scanned' and a sticker stuck on it saying what is in it, and that then her local PO and her postie know what she is having delivered (and refused to give it to her, saying it should only be given to a man).

The thread was talking about sex toys, so that's why it was mentioned.

Is this likely? I know this has never happened to me.

Thanks

Melonfool

[TrueBlueTerrier]

It's not impossible that the postie refused to hand it over, but it's extremely unlikely, and certainly, if they did it's against Royal Mails policies.

Its also unlikely that the postie was aware of what was inside unless the packaging was damaged, or the item activated whilst in transit, even then it would only be a guess.

Local PO won't know as they would have no dealing with it, unless the sorting office is inside the same building.

Its possible the item was scanned for safety purposes, and the sender may have had to declare it.

However, to be frank we deliver so many plain packets from "Gold Group" why would the postie refuse to hand it over except to a male. Its either a very poor and bad taste joke on the posties part, or a bit of exaggeration from the original poster on Mums Net.

[Melonfool]

Thank you - she said it was condoms!

I think it's an exaggeration. I know if I did your job I'd be bored of trying to guess what was in people's parcels after about two days - I handle our internal mail and that game got dull for me after about two weeks.

The reason for asking is that she is putting people off using mail order for these types of products and that, in turn, puts people off buying them as they don't want to go into shops and that, in turn (again), could be detrimental to people, which would be a shame!

I think, if it's true at all, her postie opened it.

Melonfool

[Snaggletooth]

If she is buying them from outside the EU* then the parcel will have to carry a customs label. This would clearly state what is inside. If it was coming from outside the EU and the sender failed to add a customs declaration then I suppose UK customs might scan it and state the contents on a sticker. Not sure what happens in this situation?

Failure to hand over at the address unless there was a man present would almost certainly be illegal under the postal laws as well as a probable breach of sex discrimination laws.

I have bought condoms online a number of times and have never had any such problems. I only used UK based sellers.

Note that the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey etc) are not in the EU and quite a few mail order companies are based there.

[Melonfool]

It was Love Honey, I've used them myself with no issues, nothing on the box at all, definitely from within the EU (well, posted from, probably mainly manufactured in Taiwan!).

Thanks - I knew she was being untruthful.

Melonfool