Hello one and all, please take note of this warning! Seventeen days ago, I posted 2 parcels to Conny Carlsson in Sweden. This was the TL-10 which I was sending to him in exchange for the Primus lantern which he sent to me. When packed, the complete TL-10 weighed well over 2 kilos, so I had to send it in two parcels to keep the price reasonable. I paid for Royal Mail's small package airmail service and the smaller of the two parcels, which contained the pump, gallery, burner etc., arrived at Conny's a few days later. The larger parcel which contained the tank, never left the UK., and it took the Royal mail 17 days to return it to me. I paid for airmail, but they have refused to send it even by surface mail. Here is a scan of the first page of the letter which came with the returned parcel, Jeff.
Hello Ray, apparently, it's because it once contained fuel, it does not matter to them if it has not contained fuel for decades. I have been posting lamps abroad for many years and I have never had this problem before, so this must be a new policy. Royal Mail now X-ray parcels which are going abroad and they are ignorant about lamps. I shall never post a lamp abroad again and I shall be checking out private couriers for UK., parcels. One more point, this restriction does not apply to lamps which are being sent to the UK.. So once again common sense has disappeared and been replaced by totally stupid regulations! Jeff.
Hi Jeff. I bought a lamp from someone in Cornwall via Ebay. He posted it full of fuel! When it arrived, the stickers on the parcel showed that during it's journey it had gone by air from Exeter to Stansted. Similarly, anything going via RM from Southern England to Scotland and vice versa goes via air, so the RM rules are nonsense. Terry
Hello Terry, you are correct about their rules! They accepted the parcel which I mentioned and happily took my money for a service which they did not provide. Apparently they do not x-ray domestic parcels! Jeff.
This is nothing new - Bryan Miller (kaw550red) has been banging on about this kind of thing for years over at CCS. Stove tanks instead of lamp tanks, sure, but there's no difference...
I sent a parcel from Sweden to US and got it back with about the same note. It turned out it was a blowlamp inside which they considered dangerous (of course it was completely dry of fuel), this package had been x-rayed. However the swedish postoffice sent the package again with no extra fee, just asked me to "correct the content according their rules". So one thing less in the parcel, but no extra fee. Best Regards Joakim
Hello Joakim, that was a happy ending! The parcel which was returned to me only contained the Tilley tank, because I had sent all of the removable parts in another parcel which was delivered, Jeff.
I have had similar problems with the Royal Mail and have spoken with their International Claims Dept a few times. The problem with Royal Mail as opposed to other carriers is that they use passenger aircraft a lot to carry airmail, unlike UPS, Fedex etc. So they are ultra careful, any doubts your parcel gets knocked back or put on a boat for 3 months!! I do agree with Jeff...they are definately getting more keen. The last advisor I spoke to told me that they do not want to carry anything to do with paraffin or pressure, full stop. It doesn't matter that it is totally dry or in bits. The original purpose of the item is to carry paraffin under pressure so it's not going. So the moral of the story is do not use Royal Mail International...Three weeks ago I sent a lamp to Australia with UPS..it was through customs and delivered in less than 72 hours!!!!
Hello Ian, the parcel which I mentioned was gone for so long, that I thought it had been sent by surface mail, but if you look at the scan of the first page of the letter, RM., were not willing to do that either. I shall try to find out which private couriers are available from here, Jeff.
I was considering taking a lantern and a stove on a trip to the back of beyond in the USA. I looked into all the regulations very carefully (this is for passenger aeroplanes rather than cargo but the rules are similar). Basically, you cannot ship fuel and this much makes total sense. Then they go on to say that if equipment has ever contained fuel it must be treated in such a way as to remove all traces of fuel and fuel vapours. This is a very difficult thing to do with a built-in tank but it is possible with stoves with a separate fuel bottle. Of course this is slightly ridiculous. Other items are permitted in hold luggage that could be dangerous e.g. perfume, spirits (Whisky, Gin etc). Lighters are even allowed in the cabin (one per passenger and of course you can't smoke). Having discovered that even an empty lantern was not permitted unless I could render it absolutely fuel residue free I looked into sending the equipment by post/courrier. Actually this would have been uneconomic but I checked anyway. Anything that goes by air, it seems, is subject to similar restrictions whether it is FedEx, Royal Mail or whatever. I would very carefully check the list of restricted or prohibited cargo before sending anything.
Jeff, You dismantled the lamp. So isn't there a change that there was a smell of paraffin ? Any container can held paraffin, gasoline or whatever.
Hello Wim, I drained the tank and then let it dry out for 2 days. The tank was wrapped and sealed in layers of bubble wrap and surrounded by polystyrene chips, the cardboard box was taped and sealed. So to answer your question, there was no smell of paraffin with it and I have the parcel here still packed taped and sealed and there is no smell from it. Jeff.
What I want to know is how they can tell what is a lamp, stove or pressure vessel? Do they have an expert on these things or something?
Hello Matt, I wish that they did have an expert there, then we would not have all this trouble with them. They make a fuss about an empty lamp tank, but how many hundreds of gallons of fuel does a plane have in it's tanks!
Svenedin: 1. Take gas canister stoves and lanterns and buy the canisters when you get to the US, or 2. Mention where you are going and one or more of the US CCS'ers might be able to loan / sell you cheaply the things that you want. Paul
Ah, the Mark I human nose - similar to the Mark I human eyeball i.e. not necessarily the most sensitive of scientific measuring instruments! Nowhere near as sensitive as the trained Mark I canine nose, which may well have been responsible for detecting the smell of hydrocarbons in your parcel, Jeff. Notwithstanding that, I share everyone's frustration here - I just cannot see how the minute trace of kero in a cleaned and dried lamp or stove tank can present any real risk to an aircraft. I'm also completely at a loss how a tank with the fuel cap and/or pump removed can possibly constitute a pressure vessel. It's complete idiocy...
Personally i think it's all down to what you write on the customs sticker that goes with the package....i've never had a problem..then again i don't write pressure lamp on it either...
You could be right, Paul, and I tend to put something correct but suitably vague like 'used camping light parts' on the customs sticker. On the other hand, there are any amount of TV programmes on Freeview about the work of Customs & Excise, Border Agency etc. They commonly select batches of parcels, spread them out and let the sniffer dogs rake over them. They seem to find a few things that are illegitimate in every batch...
Hello David, apparently Royal Mail x-ray parcels which are going abroad and if you read Ian's reply in this post, you will see that he has had the same problems with RM.. However, you may be correct about the use of a canine. I wonder why it took RM., 17 days to return my parcel, they had not opened it, I know my own packing when I see it. Hello Paul, when posting parcels within the EEC., or whatever it's called nowadays, a customs declaration is not required. It is required for countries outwith the EEC., Jeff.
I have this week recieved a Tl 10 and 2 PL 53s 1930-1934 pumps valves vaporisers seperate in same parcel at cost of 57.00 GBP Parcels 2 Go (via Fed Ex) Still waiting for KL80 posted GB 13 Jul Small packet airmail Previosly 1 Al 15 2KG+ fully assembled 43.00 GBP with Parcel Monkey Both these pick up from sender and service is tracked I had problem with Australia post with refusal because lamp=fuel container only to recieve 2 lamps the following week with packing saturated dripping Kero (or should that be paraffin). My opinion with PO mail is it depends on the petty beaurocrat that you strike
I think it's more likely the bureaucrats made the rules to reflect the changed world situation following '9/11' (i.e. 11/9) and they're applied consistently by ordinary workers who have no option to use discretion, otherwise they'll face disciplinary procedures. I'd say the chance element is introduced by the sampling of batches of parcels - there are far too many parcels and too few postal and/or customs officers so they can't examine them all individually. It's a lottery - some you win, some you lose...
Dolts like this cause the issue. Since the carriers can't decide who has sense enough to do it right, they exclude any items that could possibly be a problem. As teacher used to say "Little Jonny can't behave, so everyone has to put their heads down on their desks".
I will contribute to this topic with a newly made experience from the Swedish horizon. I made a trade with Paul Mitchell and sent a lantern from Sweden to UK by the Swedish Post (Posten). Five days later I got the package in return with a note that said –“oil lamp smell”. I have emptied and cleaned the tank and the rest of the lantern well but maybe you could feel a vague smell of metal parts, I don’t know. I phoned the post customer service and they advised me to do a better cleaning and it wasn’t any problem or restrictions of sending a lantern in general. I did a meticulously cleaning and changed card board box and packing material and the package went away…………………five days later I got it back again; now with a red sticker saying “oil lamp smell bad” . It was sign by the same person both times, and now I was getting a bit agitated and thought ….what the f*** is it with this clown in customs. I made a complaint and got an excuse and a refund of the shipping costs. I could make a third attempt free of charge. Now I had attached a note that explained that the package contained an antique lantern free of hazardous fuels and that the package did not have a smell of oil lamps!!!! Furthermore I had the package unopened from the second attempt and just put it inside another card board box. Today I got a mail from Paul saying he had received the lantern. So what can we learn from this? Maybe that it’s like tossing a dice if you will be fortunate with your lamp/lantern shipping. It is probably also a smelling test involved when these people at the post sorting facilities get hired. /Conny
Ouch. Sounds like you just simply had the bad luck to manage to get a person that's just plain obstinate. They are everywhere, even at the postal service.
I have had numerous lamps sent from the U.K. and never had any problem with recieving them. Two lamps arrived safe and sound this week using "Parcel 2 Go" freight. Transglobal is another great service as well as Parcelforce. I would avoid Royal mail for any international freight for lamps. Astro.
