Royal post knife ban

[Genghis_F]

Has anyone heard of the Royal Post ban on posting knives beginning April?
I usually use UPS or USPS for international not sure who their “last mile” or local partners are
Will this affect the constant knife tourism that we all indulge in?
Particularly in

 

[Vertigo]

Stupid as heck, but that "will kill my small business" thing is a little dramatic. There are alternatives to Royal Mail (or at least there were).

"Royal Mail will needlessly inconvenience everyone on 22nd April 2024."

 

[jedy617]

I mean... if you are a maker/business in the UK, shipping in country sounds like it has become quite a big problem. Could just be the tip of the iceberg, who knows, other companies may follow. Good they are taking a stand now.

 

[Uncle Danny]

I tried to sell a knife to the UK, but from Denmark to England, shipping was $100 I would pay less for a plane ticket if I was to go there myself

 

[MarcelNL]

is it the UK royal mail? Just check their website to see what the rules are, it may well be an attempt to prevent kids mail ordering knives for gang related knife play.

 

[Vertigo]

is it the UK royal mail? Just check their website to see what the rules are, it may well be an attempt to prevent kids mail ordering knives for gang related knife play.

It is and that's specifically why. And it's a full blanket ban that definitely includes things like kitchen knives.

That said, Royal Mail isn't the only game in town and all they're gonna do is drive business to other carriers. It won't stop the chavs from stabbin and it won't stop you from buying a chef's knife.

 

[Uncle Danny]

…starting a knife specific shipping company. Click, click, click.

 

[MarcelNL]

doing business with the UK has become quite uninteresting, I stopped buying Vinyl from the UK as I always get hit with VAT twice.

 

[Corradobrit1]

Forget using any foreign national carrier eg USPS to ship knives to the UK, since they partner with the Royal Mail. Does anyone know if this ban also applies to ParcelForce which is a separate entity and handles larger packages?

This is a concern for shipping nihonto too. It seems more is allowed via Parcelforce but there is always the risk the shipment falls foul of ignorance and the knife/sword gets confiscated anyway. UPS appears to use a common system together with RM and PF, so limitations might hit that carrier too.

 

[OkayMode]

Chiming in as I have read all the relevant legislation surrounding buying, selling, and posting kitchen knives in the UK (and I work with policy and lawyers for a living, so I feel remotely qualified to comment).

Basically there should be no restriction on an average person buying, selling, or posting a kitchen knife as a private sale provided it is packaged safely enough for it to be processed during shipping using a service that requires an 18+ signature on delivery.

DHL have long been known to turn kitchen knife packages back to the sender when importing into the UK, and I can only guess this is because their legal team are overly risk-averse and have adopted a blanket policy which goes over and above any current legislation.

It now looks as though Royal Mail are adopting the same approach.

All this means for now is that you won’t be able to ship to the UK using your national post carrier. All other couriers (but not DHL) will be fine provided you follow the requirements about packaging and 18+ signature.

Parcelforce is a separate entity to RM and haven’t announced any changes to their policy as far as I’m aware.

I would be surprised if other shipping companies in the UK adopt this approach, and many here just see it as another small step for RM fading into obsolescence.

 

[blokey]

I tried to sell a knife to the UK, but from Denmark to England, shipping was $100 I would pay less for a plane ticket if I was to go there myself

Damn… it cost me $45 from US to UK last time, I use pirate shipping tho

 

[Uncle Danny]

I gotta try using Pirate ship, cause $100 is just insane and there are great KKF’ers to do deals with in the UK.

 

[odinson2099]

First brexit happened and made buying stuff from EU 20% more expensive, even making people pay VAT twice like it happened to me when I send a gift to my parents, now Royal Mail "banning" knives...
Instead of doing something about the causes of "knife crime/violence" the morons in the government are trying to ban the knives...

 

[OkayMode]

An update!

The short version is ‘we ****ed up, kitchen knives are fine, just pack them safe and use an age verification service.’