Back in early October I picked thirteen images from my "Geograph" collection for my 2025 Calendar. I had eight of these made at great expense - £80 in total. My box of new calendars was delivered to me in mid-November. I was delighted with them.
As planned, at the start of December, I parcelled two of the calendars up and toddled down to our local post office. I was sending them to my sister-in-law Josephine and my niece Katie who both live in western Ireland. I also sent one without hindrance to my brother Robin in France.
I filled in customs declarations and paid the appropriate amount of postage - £6.55 for each calendar.
Christmas arrived and I imagined that both calendars had been delivered. After all, I have sent many parcels and packages to The Republic of Ireland over the years.
However, at the end of this past week, both packages were returned to our house with stickers telling me that they had been rejected by Irish customs. No explanation given - just that. I took the parcels down to our local post office and was told by the helpful postmaster that several other customers had had Christmas parcels rejected by Irish customs.
I mean, what the hell could possibly be wrong with a calendar? How on earth could the parcels have failed the scrutiny of the Irish customs service? It just does not make sense.
For each package I am out of pocket by £16.55 and besides who wants a new calendar when we are on the threshold of the second month of the year? Inside the packages there were also Christmas cards wishing the Irish members of my family all the best in the festive season and beyond. Some jobsworths have blocked that ritualistic annual contact.
Well that doesn't make any sense at all! it's a calendar!! mostly paper, not at all harmful and not likely to blow up inside a mail delivery van. Do you know anyone who might be travelling to Ireland and can deliver them for you?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should take them over to the Emerald Isle yourself. A vacay might do your blood pressure good.
DeleteIf you fund it I will take pictures for you Bruce. It will be a vicarious break for you with me doing the leg work.
DeleteHow frustrating! I'd be mad too.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be no reason for the obstruction.
DeleteSometimes the systems can be a real pain.
ReplyDeletePreviously, mailing stuff to Ireland has always been very straightforward. Many thousands of Irish people live in Great Britain.
DeleteIf your postal service is anything like ours, the nonsense is all that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteSince being privatised Britain's mail service has deteriorated but I think that this has to do with Irish customs.
DeleteI'd take it to the post office and ask what the issue was, you may be able to correct it and your people will appreciate having it for 11 months.
ReplyDeleteI had a parcel returned because it wasn't addressed to an individual.
I did take the two packages to our local post office but the postmaster could not offer a solution.
DeleteDo the calendars have that metal spiral piece to keep the page together. That's the only thing I can think of. As I was reading, I immediately thought of Brexit. Maybe a private courier type company would be the way to go in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou might be right about a private courier company but surely they must also comply with customs regulations.
DeleteIt really doesn't make sense, but very little does these days, it seems.
ReplyDeleteBecause of long delays in sending parcels (or them not arriving at all), exorbitant postage and customs fees and the sheer pointlessness of it all (having to state on the customs sticker outside what "surprises" were inside for the recipient) made our Yorkshire family and us decide that we are not sending each other parcels any longer. It is sad, because I loved choosing, wrapping and sending presents to them just as much as I loved receiving their parcels at birthdays and for Christmas.
Instead, we have now limited ourselves to just sending cards, and sometimes I use a UK-based service to have flowers or hampers sent to family and friends who have "big" birthdays coming up.
When we're in Yorkshire, we make sure to spend time with them all, and treat each other to meals and days out.
It is pretty sad when postal difficulties hinder normal family relationships.
DeleteI suppose the answer lies in 'failed electronic' someone forgot to put more on the algorithm. Welcome to AI.
ReplyDeleteI think you are probably right Thelma - an electronic registration system that the Irish customs people don't tell anyone about. That's so Irish.
DeleteIt will almost certainly be that the equipment didn't like the metal binding. That is so common that you'd think they would have sorted it. No problem with the US.
ReplyDeleteI successfully sent the 2023 & 2024 versions of the calendar to Ireland.
DeleteAs you even filled in customs declarations, that does seem weird. One might also wonder - if suspicious, why don't they open and check rather than just return it? (To answer my own question - probably because it's simpler for them. But still...)
ReplyDeleteI agree... or an X-ray would have confirmed what was inside.
DeleteBrexit was the first thing that came into my mind.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Irish postal system has tightened up it's rules and regulations? No need to let anyone know of course. Imagine the glee when the employees are in a stroppy mood and can come down hard on foreign post - especially from that lot of traitors in the UK! They've probably got you on a blacklist now with accusations of sending parcels with "unsuitable" content!
You have got a vivid imagination Carol! I am a white man so if they have got me on a list it would need to be a whitelist.
DeleteThat does sound very strange indeed. I would definitely query it with the Post Office (not a counter clerk, as they are bound not to know, but someone higher up in the organisation. Maybe you had an incorrect customs declaration or, as somebody else mentioned, they detected some metal parts and thought you were supplying guns to the IRA!! Even though we are nearly at the end of January, it is still worth sending them again.
ReplyDeleteO was very surprised that both packages were sent back. Something is operating in relation to "electronic customs clearance" but the Irish customs seem to be keeping it to themselves.
DeleteFed-Ex, but it might be cheaper to buy a plane ticket and go for a short visit. We took a Ferry from Dublin to Holyhead back in March of 2020, it was a nice ride and as foot passengers it was about 50-euros a person round trip.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about calendars is that you really need them at the very start of the calendar year.
DeleteThat's a pain. Seriously. Postal service has been weird around here too. Shall we go back to the Pony Express?
ReplyDeleteI rode a horse once and it bolted. I never want to get on a horse again.
DeleteWhen we buy stuff from England we sometimes get letters to pay import tax on the items. Can anyone tell me one good thing about Brexit?
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about Brexit is that it ends with a consonant. I cannot think of anything else.
DeleteThat is ludicrous and very disappointing for you and your family. Why ever did we allow Brexit? I was so sure it wouldn't happen, but then I was sure the orange one would never be elected first time round. Something faulty with my intuition, I feel.
ReplyDeleteNever become a fortune teller at the seaside Janice.
DeleteThat's too bad, Neil. Do you have a UPS type of delivery service there? Maybe they would do a better job of getting your packages to their destination. You can give the calendars to local friends if you don't want them to go to waste.
ReplyDeleteSo ridiculous! The sticker makes it seem like it failed some sort of electronic screening test. As Andrew said, maybe because of the metal coil binding? I can't imagine why else that would have happened. I doubt a "jobsworth" even handled it.
ReplyDeleteBrexit is indeed a never-ending nightmare.
Expensive and frustrating as hell. Perhaps a strongly worded letter, sent to Irish customs:)
ReplyDelete