Petitioning Royal Mail about shipping paints!

[Too Bo Coo]

Perhaps it's due to not being the sharpest tool in the shed, but what am I missing here?  What was the motivation for this type of policy?  With shipping costs form the UK already astronomical, are they not making enough money yet?  On of the best perks of ordering from Silent Invader's site is that for a very reasonable 30 GBP purchase, he includes free shipping to Europe! 

[Leon Pendraken]

So please sign up if it affects you. This is not a private British party everyone is welcome.

Definitely!   

[Wirelizard]

@ Wirelizard f the Post Offices restrictions will affect you then feel free to sign the petition. It may be helpful if they realise when they read the petition that it is not just Brits who will will be hurt by their inane bureaucracy.

Right, signed, and by the look of the scroll at the petition site, I'm far from the only random colonial/uppity foreigner trying to tell the RM how stupid they're being. 

There's an absolute tidal wave of mail-ordered wargame stuff shipping out of (and inside) the UK every day; screwing up ordering paints really does seem dumb. Especially because it's specifically water-based paints - the oil painters can still order a dozen tubes of their poison of choice and get it shipped, apparently.

[Dr DeAth]

I have had a further reply to my email to the RM CEO, in which a member of the Chairman and Chief Executive Office has confirmed he is looking into 'the matter' and will contact me again shortly.

I'm not holding my breath but I'll keep you updated

M

[Too Bo Coo]

Just got this:

GW better mail these out QUICK!

Games Workshop
     The Games Workshop Newsletter    26.11.2013
In this issue: The Ultimate Paint Set, Special Effect Paints and more!

Choose from our specially designed paint range.

[Leon Pendraken]

Update - 27th November

The petition has been discussed during a conference call at Royal Mail today, so at least we've got their attention!  Unfortunately, at this stage, they have decided that there will be no changes made to the restrictions.

We have also now been given a reason for the restrictions, which is that it's to 'safeguard the rest of the mail in the system from potential damage'.  Now this is perfectly understandable, but there is still no reply on how 5 x 17ml pots of paint can cause more damage than 4 x 150ml pots?  Or how 1 litre of whiskey in a glass bottle is seen as an allowable risk, yet a 200ml pot of acrylic paint isn't?!

So, we have some answers, but still no real progress on these illogical restrictions, and the potential to amend them.

What's the next stage?

Basically, we need numbers!  Despite gaining almost 2,500 signatures in less than a week, we're obviously not registering strongly enough on their radar, so we need to really push the petition out there and gain more support.

So, we're asking everyone who has signed so far to please help us spread the word.  Post this on your Facebook walls, on your Twitter feeds, on your blogs, your forums and your websites.  Even Tweet some politically inclined celebrities if you like!  We're working hard at this end to get some national coverage in hobby magazines and national newspapers, so there's a lot more to come!

We have also set up a new Facebook page, so that we can provide regular updates, and also answer any questions people may have: https://www.facebook.com/PostOurPaint

Many thanks for your support so far.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/royal-mail-lift-the-restrictions-on-shipping-water-based-paints

[Ray Rivers]

Well... 2,500 people is a tiny blip on the radar.

I would suggest that the folks who are going to take the greatest hit here... the companies that sell paint... like Foundry and GW... get together and start a REAL campaign via their newsletters and web sites to make a much greater effort to get folks to sign the petition. These folks also have sales data which should be packaged and presented to show the effect this is going to have on UK exports.

If the companies who sell paint can't be bothered to band together and work to change this crap law, you really can't blame the poor consumers.

[zemjw]

What I don't undertand is:

- How are they planning to enforce this? Are they going to open every package "just to make sure"?
- Are companies expected to declare if there are paints in the package, but that they conform to regulation 1234? What are the punishments if you get it wrong? Does the Spanish Inquisition turn up ('cause nobody would ever expect that)
- Given that Foundry, Vallejo and Andrea etc ship sets in boxes, how would the RM even know there were bottles inside? A bit of overpacking on the sender's part, some extra bubblewrap around everything, and nothing short of destroying the package would let them find out.

Or are we too honest/scared a nation to behave in such an unsportsman like way

[Conquistador]

<snip> A bit of overpacking on the sender's part, some extra bubblewrap around everything, and nothing short of destroying the package would let them find out.

Or are we too honest/scared a nation to behave in such an unsportsman like way

The first:  Working for a major "Bureacracy" myself please do not think for a moment that would even be a consideration.

Second, a question I can't answer even if there wasn't a huge chance this will go political/national values based and be locked.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Bugsda]

Nowadays the Post Office counter staff ask you specifically what's in the box. You have to reply in a loud voice "Toy Soldier" so that the rest of the long queue can snigger at the over grown kid at the window.

My guess is they x-ray it and if you've lied an anti terrorist team takes out your house with a rocket while you sleep, just in case.  

Another gas explosion gets reported on the news in the morning  

[Too Bo Coo]

Nowadays the Post Office counter staff ask you specifically what's in the box. You have to reply in a loud voice "Toy Soldier" so that the rest of the long queue can snigger at the over grown kid at the window.

[Too Bo Coo]

I got another mailer from GW wanting to sell me the MEGA Paint Deal. I guess I'll get 50 packages from them at the same time, or do you think they'll mail one per day to be a pain to the Post?

[Conquistador]

I got another mailer from GW wanting to sell me the MEGA Paint Deal. I guess I'll get 50 packages from them at the same time, or do you think they'll mail one per day to be a pain to the Post?

Given the volume of modern mail I doubt they will notice.

But I like the second option a lot.

Gracias,

Glenn

[Vermis]

Does it affect tube paint too?

[moonshado]

I received an e-mail from David Gee, another of the Post Office CEOs, advising that :-

These restrictions along with the packaging requirements are in place to safeguard mail in terms of limiting spillages which could potentially cause damage to other parcels and letters in our network.

This reply suggests very little thought has been put into their response, so I've responded as below to seek clarification and justification of this vague statement

 

Dear Mr Gee,

  Thank you for your response. However your statement that this policy is in place to reduce spillages avoids several points and ignores the contradictions within your policy. could you please clarify the following;

A) Has any member of your staff actually viewed the containers that modellers Acrylic paints are supplied in? These pots are just about indestructible and are sealed in such a way that it would be nigh impossible for tops to come loose during shipment.
B) How many incidents of damage to post have you recorded in the last 5 years that can be traced back to Acrylic paints? Also what percentage of incidents does it amount to when measured against records of all incidents of spillage damage?
C) How does it limit spillages by limiting parcels to four items? If any thing this surely increases the possibility of spillages as for the same number of items being shipped the number of packages are substantially increased. e.g. I order 12 pots of paint, now instead of one parcel you will have three parcels in your system( not safer but certainly more lucrative for you).
D) Why are you limiting the quantity of Acrylic paints to be shipped to such a small quantity when you believe that alcohol can be safely shipped in far larger quantities and in  relatively fragile glass bottles?

 If you can give me sensible answers to these points I'll happily accept your explanation, but at present your reply suggests that your policy was implemented with very little thought and that not a great deal more thought has been put into coming up with a plausible explanation .
 Look forward to your reply,

 Yours faithfully,

 I'll let you know if I get a reply