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

What is this?

Due to recent changes in their shipping restrictions, Royal Mail will no longer ship more than 4 pots of water-based paint per package, with each pot having a maximum volume of 150ml. Packages which breach this policy are identified by x-ray and then sent away to be destroyed. Repeat offenders will then be prosecuted.

Water-based paint guidelines



Who does this affect?

There are a lot of people in the UK sending or receiving paints, whether for hobby or professional use, and policies like this are also restricting a variety of small businesses. Thousands of people order water-based paints every week, and we hope to gain enough support for Royal Mail to consider changing the restrictions on these items.

It would be worth all UK based Dakka users who mail order paint (or might want to in the future) signing this (not sure if signatures from those living abroad but ordering from the UK will count)

I REALLY don't want all the mail order places limiting use to no more than 4 pots of paint (whatever the size) per order

*** 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 a lesser risk than a 200ml pot of acrylic paint?!

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 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!

Many thanks for your support so far.

Cheers,

Leon Pengilley

Hmmm... Never knew about this or seen any hobby mail order companies complain about it. Will sign anyway!

It's a recent regulation change (and I suspect many stores are not really aware of it yet),

but the moment one of their shipments gets noticed the RM will officially 'warn' them and they'll have to respond or risk fines

with luck the petition will get the RM to change things before they get that far

(and since they do let you ship a litre of flammable spirits in a glass bottle there's no reason for them not to)

I don't know if it happened at the same time, but Royal Mail will no longer ship aerosols. The stores I've seen that are aware now make it clear to the consumer that their stuff will have to go via courier if it includes a spray can.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/564354.page

In this circumstance I think we're alright with 2 threads on this.

Signed, this is ridiculous and will affect me.

Signed.

A ridiculous restriction.

Just use a courier instead. Most of the online orders I've made have come by courier. If Royal Mail doesn't want the business, give it to someone else...

The issues with couriers arise when you're not in to take delivery, my regular postman knows where he can safely leave parcels for me, if I get someone else then I can just nip down the road with a card to the sorting office.

I'm frequently not there during the day, and I can't always know where I'll be to give a different delivery address, so if I miss a courier, arranging re delivery becomes a pain, and collection isn't really viable as most of the larger company's depots are an hour away by car.

Good start to RM becoming private, don't do what your competitors currently and will continue to do. Well done.

Also why are they choosing to do this?

 azreal13 wrote:
The issues with couriers arise when you're not in to take delivery, my regular postman knows where he can safely leave parcels for me, if I get someone else then I can just nip down the road with a card to the sorting office.

I'm frequently not there during the day, and I can't always know where I'll be to give a different delivery address, so if I miss a courier, arranging re delivery becomes a pain, and collection isn't really viable as most of the larger company's depots are an hour away by car.

In the States if your signature isn't required courier companies like UPS and FedEx just leave it like the regular post does.

We tend to have extremes here, either the courier doesn't leave it when it would be logical to do so, signature or not, or does leave it, but is daft about where it is left.

For example, I ordered something off eBay which was bulky, so sent by courier. After a few days, I hadn't received it, so contacted the seller, they said delivery had been confirmed two days previously. I hadn't received any card through the door or anything to indicate attempted delivery. I ultimately found it on the step of my back door, outside and open to the elements. The really daft part is the courier had to walk down the side of the house, which is completely undercover as the top floor extends over it to join to the next house, where I have a wallpaper table set up for tools and stuff when working on my bike, so could have left it off the ground and under cover, but instead chose to walk further and leave it somewhere worse!

Royal Mail, for all its critics, has, in general, higher standards and greater consistency than courier firms in the Uk, so, for me, are first choice for anything that isn't too large or heavy to be uneconomic to send.

I guess I've just been lucky with couriers, but I always ask for a note to be added advising the courier to leave in my summerhouse porch.

Is there a reason behind this change?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just realised, does this mean that GW can't ship their paint sets? Or do they use courier?

The last bulk order of paints I got from GW came by Royal Mail so would be hit by this (but it was about 9 months ago)

I've not tried since this came in

Are we sure this is 100% legit - it mentions RM x-raying packages to see what's in them. I can't see them doing this due to cost and time.
No - just checked, this is actually real!
http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/Tell-me-about-Restricted-Goods
just dont know what to say.

Signed, I knew RM going private was a bad idea. Next they will start changing a lot more to deliver to villages.

Signed for the Sign god.

Anyone else got the sense that this is a completely ridiculous idea made in the vein that when they create a slightly less ridiculous idea we'll go along with it, because 'it could be worse.'

I recently ordered a large amount of paints from a big UK seller and had to have it sent via courier due to this restriction.

Lucky for me they had a free shipping offer on if you spent x amount which included courier.

Signed. I really don't understand why delivering paint is a problem on such a small scale.

Well I can't say I get where theyre coming from, but when did this go into effect?
I just had 20 pots of VMA, 200ml primer and 200ml thinners delivered in a single parcel last week.

Theres actually a lot of prepackaged paint sets / selections that will breach this.
My suggestion is to boycott Royal Mail! I think Hermes offer a better value, quicker delivery option for most parcels nowadays anyway.
Youl probably find that most ebay merchants wont use RM anymore since the latest price hikes.

Edit; realising now that my VMA's were delivered by 'Interlink Express' Who I might say have the best tracking system that Ive ever seen.
I can't see Royal Mails new regulations changing anything for us; most online retailers dont even use royal mail, because they suck. Private courier services beat them any day of the week.

Thanks for all the support so far, it's much appreciated. Hopefully we can make Royal Mail have a look at these restrictions.

HairySticks wrote:

My suggestion is to boycott Royal Mail! I think Hermes offer a better value, quicker delivery option for most parcels nowadays anyway.
Youl probably find that most ebay merchants wont use RM anymore since the latest price hikes.

Edit; realising now that my VMA's were delivered by 'Interlink Express' Who I might say have the best tracking system that Ive ever seen.
I can't see Royal Mails new regulations changing anything for us; most online retailers dont even use royal mail, because they suck. Private courier services beat them any day of the week.

A lot of the courier services either have similar restrictions, or use Royal Mail at some stage of the delivery, so are bound by the same restrictions. My Hermes is one which falls into the latter category. The other factor is the costs involved, with most courier services starting at £8-£10, which is far too much on an order of 5 pots of paint.

WTF? Why do they have this restriction?

Signed, and shared with people on Facebook and Google+.

Likewise, signed and shared.

Good thing this is a public service that will be required to respond to the needs of the British public...oh, wait...

Wow, and I thought Finnish mail was stupid with their refusal to ship gun parts or gun replicas..

Signed, thankfully one can add anything in the email and address boxes because the T&C doesn't look secure.

Those who signed up with their actual email addresses, I hope you like advertising.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
WTF? Why do they have this restriction?

Because acrylic paint can be used as a component for dirty bombs.

Privatisation, its for winners.