Big Brother is watching your parcels!

So it’s rather pointless asking people isn’t it?
All it does is ‘cover their arses’ if it turns out that they didn’t ask what was in it if it turns out you have sent three pounds of tnt or whatnot through the post.

Your neighbour could have told you anything! (TNT)?
It's your face on the CCTV

Yes, TNT and an old alarum clock as the Dubliners used to sing .
My neighbour is 84 though.

I regularly post small parcels to Wales, and am always asked what`s inside, then the next question is whether it`s worth over £20.

The reason the post office needs to know the contents of a packet posted to the uk is because of the new dangerous goods rule.
If a packet contains flammable goods such as alcohol, nail varnish, batteries, aerosol etc, it needs a label on to indicate this and can then be segregated from the rest of the mail. There have been problems with fires with these packets in transit.
If the packets aren't labelled correctly and are found to contain flammable items, they are x rayed, Royal Mail will destroy the item. So the post office staff are following their instructions and making sure that customers packets have the best chance of arriving at their destination

Ordinary mail is compensated up to £20. If the contents are worth more than this, you may wish to insure it up to its value i.e. Signed for, up to £50 or Special Delivery up to £2500

My medical supplies come with a hazard sticker on the box, it contains a tiny can of sticky stuff remover in an aerosol can.

A friend of mine has a number of quality stallions and provides 'output' for artificial insemination of mares.

The post office staff have stopped asking her whats in the parcel.

For anywhere out of the EU a customs form is filled in, you state the value etc. This has been standard practice for years.
As most parcels even in the UK are carried by air the content has to be checked by the post office as lithium batteries, nail polish, perfumes and dozens of other items are not permitted.
It does seem a little crazy as the counter staff have no way of checking and no one is going to declare drugs, firearms etc!
The parcels are however scanned at the sorting office.

Yes I'm with Melanie. Batteries is what they're looking for, rather than illegal goods.
Mind I hope I'm in the queue the day someone admits the package contains illegal drugs.

When I take parcels to Post Office for postage within the UK, I am generally asked what are in them .. I have no idea why. I prefer to get Hermes to collect my parcels now. They just need the weight, depth and height for postage calculation on-line and whether you need up to £20 insurance cover. They never ask what's inside and luckily my Hermes lady is very reliable.

Once I was returning some things to my young grandson he had left at my home, via the PO and was asked what was in my very small parcel, I said a toothbrush and a toy pig, the PO lady just replied "Oh"

Sounds like the basic customs declaration for goods going out of the EU. Do it for all gifts going to family in Australia. Much more of that after Brexit.

Have you read the list of prohibited items ? It s a wonder any parcels get sent . The girl in the post office said they do random checks and parcels are just crushed if they don't comply .

This Christmas is the first time I've been asked the contents question. I'm comparatively friendly with the postmaster and I jocularly asked if he would give me a printout of the 'not allowed' so that I'd be sure to fib. I think they're simply complying with legislation. My response is now vague and cheap.

Interesting that people have different experiences. I am usually asked what's in the packages I post even if it's just within UK and always if to Europe

I found out about this to my cost a few years ago. I had sent an unopened toiletry set including a spray perfume to my niece in Southern Ireland. She didn’t receive it, the. I got a letter from Glasgow sorting office saying it had been destroyed as a dangerous item.
This week I looked into sending my sister in Ireland an e-reader (Kindle) and apparently the rechargeable battery inside them means this is is also illegal to send outside of the UK.

We frequently send parcels within the UK and are asked every time at the PO what the contents are. This is standard procedure as there are certain items that are prohibited from being sent via the post. I believe if sending outside the UK you are required to fill in a customs form anyway and declare the contents of it.

I've been posting parcels to GS & family in USA for over twenty years & a "customs declaration" has aways been required. Batteries aren't allowed so on the odd occasion when I've sent an item including these, I simply take them out. (GS always has plenty.) Knowing what may have batteries in is quite a task, because so many toys/gadgets have these now. (Before Christmas, I opened & checked a small technic Lego set, just to be sure!) I have sometimes written no batteries on the "declaration", as well.

I sent my brother a small parcel a few days before Christmas. It was a set of 10 CDs of Dads Army, which he loves. I got it in a charity shop and it cost £10. When I went to the Post Office I was not asked to fill in any form about contents as usual , and it would have had my name and address on it. I told the man in the PO that I had not written my return address on it but he put my parcel on a shelf and said "Don't worry, no parcels ever get lost." You can guess what happened....

I forgot to say my brother only lives 26 miles from me. Mot abroad.

There are a few things that need to be labelled even WITHIN the UK (eg gasses such as helium) - but you shouldn’t have had to fill a form in for UK delivery.
Outside of the EU as others have said, it would be a customs declaration.
They have to ask what’s in it now - they have a list of “prohibited items”.
I was told by phone from a supervisor at customer services that I just need to say “nothing on your prohibited list” if inland, but this doesn’t work at the post office as they have been told to ask what is in it.
The post office have a card with prohibited items listed - I was told they may have to show me to confirm I had read it, and they do - but it’s such a saga that I generally say clothes, toys or whatever.

I bought some powdered material dyes on line Uk company delivered to me no problem at all, I didn’t want them in the end and decided to sell them on. I was honest at the PO and said powdered dyes and the young girl would not accept them. How come they can come one way and not the other. Sent them by Hermes no problem!

Our local post offices all ask what is in the parcel or package no matter where it is going.....UK or international. They have done this for a number of years now. I agree with everyone who has said “who would own up to sending something illegal”. I have had one or two parcels opened in Australia when they haven’t been happy with one of my descriptions. My daughter confirms that nothing ever goes missing though.

I post parcels abroad regularly so am used to being asked what is in them. I've learned what not to send through bitter experience! But it's always struck me as a pointless exercise as it's so easy to lie! (not that I do!).

Terribul Not just the U.S.
I had on one occasion, and for convenience, used a UK 'village' post office to send a parcel that contained an item that required batteries to use it. I 'declared'?? this fact in my description of the contents but never the less was given the' 3rd' degree by the person behind the counter.