New U.K. Postal rules.

There is a very good discussion going on, over in Fragrantica, on the general discussion forum, titled : New UK postal rules. No fragrances are allowed to be posted anymore from the U.K. In fact, one member had her perfume destroyed, that she was sending on a swap. And, some of the online stores have already started to stop posting out of the U.K. Just thought it might be good if we started a thread here, so we can keep up with all the new developments. If you are planning on posting any perfume for swaps etc., from the U.k,, don't, as they scan everything now, and, it will be destroyed.

This is very sad. Do these rules also apply to other distributors such as UPS and the like?

As far as I can gather, it's the airmail parcels that are the most affected. I am not sure if land, rail delivery will be affected as well. The member who had her perfume destroyed, was posting it to another member in the U.S. The British Post Office sent her a letter, and said her parcel contained fragrance, which is illegal to send, and that they have the right to destroy, or dispose of the perfume. (Which they did). This law has been enforced in January...and it looks like quite a few ebay sellers (U.K. based) have had their products either returned to them, without leaving the country, or destroyed. Another member made an order, this evening from cheapsmells, from overseas, and when she got to the check-out, they said only can be delivered within the U.K. This is what I found today, while looking around.

www.salonskincare.co.uk/product_info.php/manuf acturers_id/63/products_id/27917

What a nightmare!

That's a really a shame. Any reason as to why this is happening? I find it so limiting. At the very least, I would have expected restrictions to be between the EU and UK only.

If there are such strict Rules, the U.K. businesses are probably going to suffer, also. They are losing their international customers.

In Fragrantica, we discussed the troubles of swapping members, just individuals trading.

Off Topic:
Andy Tauer has similar troubles with international shipping originating from Switzerland.

Yes, We heard about Andy's troubles, before Christmas, remember? I actually asked him again, on his facebook page) if there is anything new to report, and he said, no, nothing, he's hoping they can work something out...but doesn't look too promising

Except when you use an excpensive courier service for dangerous goods, all mail is affected because all mail is transported through air nowadays and the same rules apply all over the world.
They were simply not as strictly enforced before as they are now.

There is a lively discussion too on a FB-group with members from all over the world and one is in China. He told us every single parcel was opened in advance when it was in the post office if there was only a small suspicion. If it contains perfume you are in BIG trouble.
Tauer will be in the same trouble because all parcels get routinely checked before going on the plane. When it contains perfume and the destination is not one of the allowed countries with different/expensive carriers , the fine would ruin business. As simple as that , which is why UK businesses that do not use an expensive courier stop doing business....

Well, since this is a problem, and not a small problem, there is a need for a solution.

Problem: Perfume with alcohol is flammable and hazardous.
Solution: Produce perfume in oil form. Produce perfume in gel form.
______________________________________________ ______________________

Problem: Perfume with alcohol is flammable and air shipment is out.
Solution: Ship large quantities, in bulk, by ocean liner, takes longer, but not very expensive.
______________________________________________ _____________________

Problem: Perfume is produced in local plants and needs to be shipped.
Solution: Open more branches of plants to bring product closer to the consumer. This is an outlandish solution and expensive.
______________________________________________ _____________________

Problem: Perfume is housed in attractive glass bottles.
Solution: Perfume in glass bottles, before shipping, gets a protective cushioning around the glass bottle that prevents any harm in case it explodes in flames.
______________________________________________ ______________________

YOUR IDEAS ?

This "flammable liquid" excuse is such a load of dog's Doo Doo ... When was the last time a plane burst into a great ball of fire due to bottles of smellies?
I'll send a bag of yummy marshmallows to (almost) anybody who can find an example of such occurrence.

Questions:
If there is such a danger, then what will happen to perfume duty-free purchases made at the airport?
Will they have to be shipped separately by land?
No they won't.
They'll come on the plane with you, as they always have.
So then, what is the difference?

I believe this is yet again another profiteering scheme. Who by though?
Answers on a postcard please.

Do these restrictions apply to wine and spirits?

That's a really good question. Somehow I doubt that the shipping of spirits is going to come to a screeching halt...

Exactly!
I mentioned perfumes bought at Duty Free, but alcohol is a perfect example too.
Funny how we're going backwards with time, now having to post by sea and land.

Maybe it's all a part of the Perfume Police Conspiracy to abolish perfumery from the face of the planet???

On the IFRA front, they're making it progressively more difficult to create masterful elixirs. On the logistics front, we cannot even transfer perfumes from one place to another without undue strife...

That is what I asked in my Blog today, over at the German site, bemoaning these circumstances.

It is ironic that technology connects the seller and the buyer at lightning speed and the physical product is hard to come by.

www.parfumo.de/Benutzer/Pipette/Blog/Eintrag/W ird_Parfum_nun_mehr_geschaetzt_

Dolby , that is the infuriating part.. there is NO rhyme or reason, just strict application by dumb officials who can not see the difference.
Remember what happened to the Jews in Nazi-time? Everyne NOW claims they would have acted upon it.. in reality everyone just obeys the rules and thinks it will not be so harmful.
But in the end this can mean the end of business for indie perfumers and smaller webshops that sell perfume and don't have the means to send entire (or partial) containers over the ocean.
And why? Because dumb officials rigidly apply rules that make NO sense whatsoever...

As I stated elsewhere, shipping by air is still possible but it requires higher fees due to the items needing to be handled by special couriers like e.g FedEx who has their own FedEx planes and as such can decide what to ship and what not. There are only very few of such couriers.. and of course those are expensive!

Of course it is a bunch of crap but what can small businesses do other than to bend themselves backwards in order to comply??
Individuals have much more freedom.

In earnest.. I am LIVID absolutely LIVID about these rules .. not because I deal with fragrance but because I know exactly what happens.. in a different vein my own business is suffering as badly from other equally crazy and strict but different regulations. Many of my collegues have decided to stop their business.

So this helps the ailing British economy and stops would-be terrorists how exactly?

AFAIK, these rules re shipping applies world-wide, they are just not applied as strictly everywhere. In China they were already firmly in place. In Britain the crackdown started more or less a week ago .

Crackdown will start elsewhere soon as well.. don't you 'worry' (ahem).

Good point Seatonica!
We are continuously being fed contradictory statements.
On the one hand, we have campaigns and political lobbies for encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship and small businesses, whilst on the other, there is a continuous strangulation by red tape and ridiculous legislations.

I know we're not living under a dictatorial regiment, and that there are far worse places on earth, but I cannot help but sneer at the mockery Democracy is made of.
We may be free, but we are filmed everywhere we go, and we get a hefty fine for stepping out of line at every given opportunities.

They love implementing new "rules" in the UK.
Keeps moronic pen pushers in work I guess.
The hiccup is that they don't have the resources to implements them.

As for terrorists, I took a British Airways flight a couple of years ago and discovered that I had a box of matches in my handbag.
Told the guys at the screening/x-ray stage and was waved through with a shrug.

DutchSniffer, you talk about the dumb officials who apply the rules but what you need to look at is who makes those rules in the first place.
This is why I asked to know who is profiteering here.

Honestly, I'm inclined to think it is just dumb application of ever stricter rules to prevent 'terrist attacks' rather than a clever plot. Both politicians and bureaucrats are too dumb for this.

I also can't really see how the general perfume industry profits from it, thhough indeed as you noticed, the more expensive courier service as well as surface mail (road/ship) is not affected.

Could we please not compare a postal restriction to the Holocaust? Thanks so kindly.

Sorry about touching a nerve Cryptic, that was not the intention.
It is not the same obviously but the the mindset is similar. Not re the goal, but the mindset of people who are 'only doing their work' w/o thinking why they do it and if they would actually stand up, they would get in big trouble.. so they just do it.

Hi,DutchSniffer, who exactly do you mean "should stand up" and protest ?
The postal clerk accepting the package is supposed to ask the question: "Is there anything flammable in there, like perfume ?" This is routinely asked at the U.S. post office windows. They want to keep their job and get the paycheck and pay the rent.

@ DutchSniffer: No, not even the mindset is similar.

I understand the anger about the postal rules, but this sort of comparison is an absolute no-go, at least in my country and I suppose everywhere else, too. Please do not use this kind of comparison.

Let's give Dutch Sniffer a break. She obviously read Hannah Arendt on "The Banality of Evil", which paints even the highest level criminals as pencil-pushing bureaucrats.