UK - Aerosols by carrier only

[TWINSET]

Dunno if this is old news, but just found out Royal Mail will no longer deliver aerosol products (paint) as some of their domestic post load is now moved around the country by planes.

There's a few eBay sellers still quoting 'postal' prices, but I just checked Apex, Modelsport and Wheelspin and they're all charging £6-£7 carriage for one can of paint.

TimeTunnel/Godstar have carriage at £4.95

Fusion have carriage at £2.50

Be interesting to see if the ones I bought on eBay last week arrive by post (or at all)

[ChrisRx718]

9/10 they will be none-the-wiser as to what a package contains. This means that the eBay sellers and the like will continue to use standard services as they have done for the last 10 years+

You'd have to be very unlucky for the Royal Fail to open your parcel under suspiscion of prohibited substances and then hit you with a fine, though. I've had paint delivered which has very obviously been an aerosol paint in the past and had no problems (one was just shrink-wrapped with an address label...)

[TWINSET]

I've had paint delivered which has very obviously been an aerosol paint in the past

This looks to be since June this year

There's plenty of eBay sellers still offering postal services - i don't know what the Royal Mail would do with suspected aerosol packages but obviously if they are going on a plane they might be more thorough with their checking first.

For ground post there's no issue, it's just that some of their depot to depot transfers might be by air.

Edit;

The Royal Mail's stance on posting - The onus is on the seller, not the recipient;

We reserve the right to refuse any other item banned by law or that in our opinion may be harmful or dangerous to our customers or employees.

If you send dangerous goods and do not comply with the applicable terms and conditions and legal requirements then we may deal with the goods as we see fit including destroying or disposing of the relevant goods.

[30YrsL8r]

Apparently Royal Mail x-rays stuff; my post office keeps asking me if my parcel contains batteries and I asked them how they would know if someone fibbed....

[vrs55]

I live in Orkney and have just bought paint from an ebay shop but royal mail found it so I have just ordered paint from modelsport I got it sent for £10 but in future its going to cost £20 to get a tin of Tamiya spray paint sent

[Tamiyabigstuff]

RM have banned tons of stuff such as batteries, etc...latest info either leaflet from your local PO or on the RM website.

I recently bought a laptop battery from an ebay seller which was delivered by TNT - they sent the wrong battery & asked me to return it..I explained RM would not accept it and requested they arrange collection via TNT as they were going to sent me the correct abttery anyway. Apparently too complex & costly so they just sent me the correct battery and told me to keep the other one...as it was no use to me I donated it to a local charity shop.

Laptop batteries are classed as 'Miscellaneous Hazardous' material or something and can only be transported by a licensed carrier...more EU crap probably.

Guess the same goes for aerosols ???

Also seems a business has to have an account with the carrier to send such items so if you are just Joe Public you are out of luck !

[JWeston]

I went to Radshape on Saturday and stocked up. Pointless buying them online now.

If smitchos sees this thread, he has something to add as well. Someone posted him a car with a Tamiya tin in the package and Royal Mail intercepted it (must have heard the rattle) and now it's stuck in Ireland.

[TWINSET]

Pointless buying them online now.

Not so easy to buy them off the shelf round here any more - the only model shops within reasonable distance don't stock PS paints (or lexan shells for that matter)

[InsaneJim69]

Well firstly I would like to say to people, please DO NOT try to send model spray paint or even an R/C car battery in the post as it is likely to be intercepted and sent to Royal Mails depot for prohibited/dangerous goods and destroyed.

Also I am the person who sent Smitchos a brand new Tamiya 84111 Tyrrell P34 Japan GP 1976 Kit via special delivery and it was intercepted due to their scanners and sent to their main depot for prohibited goods in Ireland because of a tin of Tamiya PS4 paint Yes I know a silly thing to do, but in all honesty last monday morning the postman buzzed at my door and delivered a tin of PS4 tamiya blue paint for the tyrrell in nothing more than a jiffy bag rattling like mad. I then took the paint wrapped it in bubble wrap and then wrapped it is brown cardboard to make sure incase that it leaked it didn't effect the kit, and popped it into the kit box. The box was then wrapped in bubble wrap and thick parcel tape. There was barely a rattle from inside at all.

To my amazement I honestly never knew about Royal Mails new policy on spray paints especially when the postman arrived that morning with a tin rattling away and no issue at all. I phoned RM when I found out that the parcel would be sent to Ireland to be opened for examination. I was then told that there may be a possibility that they would destroy the whole package, or remove the offending item and send the rest onto its original destination. Now I am desperately hoping that they have workers with common sense to see that they can easilly bin the tin of paint and then send the kit onwards. (fingers crossed) although I am thinking towards worst case scenario where I refund the buyer the ££ and then also pay him for the Baja Champ that was in part trade, meaning I would be down a Tyrrell P34 and also spent £120 on a Baja Champ. Although I know technically thats my own fault, which I accept. Now this was last Wednesday and the parcel status on the tracking site is still saying the same, "Parcel is to be opened for examination due to possibly containing dangerous or prohibited goods".

So basically just a heads up folks, when selling a kit that may be RTR with battery and charger or paint etc, it may well get intercepted, or it may not. But its really not worth taking the chance, so either send with a courier that accepts those goods or remove the prohibited items before sending via Royal Mail.

Many thanks

James

:

[TWINSET]

That's just plain unfortunate - Until this week I'd have done the same thing - It was only looking at eBay and seeing paint advertised as 'collection only' at Tony's Tamiya Parts that it got me wondering.

In the end I phoned Modelsport and one of their guys told me about the air transport issues.

I guess any paints that do arrive by mail didn't have to be air-frighted within the UK anywhere so they weren't scrutinised as much.

We order from Farnell at work, and even their marker paint and coin-cell batteries cause delays in our deliveries sometimes;

http://uk.farnell.com/panasonic/br-2032-bn/battery-lithium-br2032-190mah/dp/1298251

http://uk.farnell.com/crc/30009/paint-marker-aqua-fluo-red-500ml/dp/2075778

Hazardous Goods: Lead times reflect shipping restrictions

[TWINSET]

Well, the two I ordered last week arrived today - couldn't have been much more obvious that they were rattle-cans without a big sign on the box

Even without openng the box the guy that took delivery phoned down and told me some paint had arrived

I guess the Royal Mail aren't too worried if they're not going on a plane, although these came from Cumbria so travelled a fair distance by road.