Local Police have fined a lady for going to the Post Office with an EBay parcel

twhitehousescat

facebook now shared as public . please turn speakers down before viewing , it is VERY loud 
https://www.facebook.com/mileage.doc.1/videos/204933744109615/UzpfSTEwMDAzNzYyNjA5ODIxNjoyMTE0NzAyNzY3ODM4NDE/

hot fuzz , for the better 

goodfella66

Couldn't the lady just say she was using her allowance of daily exercise to walk to the Post Office?

soolin

goodfella66 said:

Couldn't the lady just say she was using her allowance of daily exercise to walk to the Post Office?

My OH is going to the mail centre again today, it fits both the requirement for his daily 5 mile walk and also keeps my small business going . Under the current rules that is perfectly allowed and we have decided that should the police try and intervene we would fight any fine. If the rules change then we will re consider our plans.

On a different note there was a report on a local Facebook group that a woman was stopped driving to the supermarket to collect food for her household and was told she wasn’t allowed and was now only allowed to walk to the supermarket. Her family were asking if this was correct as if she drove she could pick up food for a week or 10 days but if she walked she would probably have to go out three times a week minimum. I fear the Police May be over using the powers they think they have. 

twhitehousescat

as stated previously "hot fuzz" , bbc report shows this is happening https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52101040

hermante

My ebay selling activity is kicking off now. My postbox is near to Sainsburys so I won't get fined for going there. But I am holding off on selling items that don't fit into the postbox because I don't want to walk through the town centre or go to the post office - I'm not scared of being fined but I don't want to get sick.

I put items up to £50 in the postbox, because I have realised for some time I simply don't care if they get lost or the buyer files a fraudulent INR, I'll just refund them. I have better things to do than queue up for half an hour (in normal times) just to get a proof of postage.

However I don't understand why some sellers are going to the post office for £5 items that fit in a normal 2nd class letter. Nobody is signing for items anyway which means that postmen are free to steal things if they want to (happened a lot at the address I was staying at in 2013).

custardy

hermante said:

My ebay selling activity is kicking off now. My postbox is near to Sainsburys so I won't get fined for going there. But I am holding off on selling items that don't fit into the postbox because I don't want to walk through the town centre or go to the post office - I'm not scared of being fined but I don't want to get sick.

I put items up to £50 in the postbox, because I have realised for some time I simply don't care if they get lost or the buyer files a fraudulent INR, I'll just refund them. I have better things to do than queue up for half an hour (in normal times) just to get a proof of postage.

However I don't understand why some sellers are going to the post office for £5 items that fit in a normal 2nd class letter. Nobody is signing for items anyway which means that postmen are free to steal things if they want to (happened a lot at the address I was staying at in 2013).

Just the men are thieves,eh?
At a time when posties (there are at least 2 genders) are out at increased risk its nice you take from a measure to protect them and the public, that its a free for all for them to unleash their male light fingered ways.

soolin

hermante said:

My ebay selling activity is kicking off now. My postbox is near to Sainsburys so I won't get fined for going there. But I am holding off on selling items that don't fit into the postbox because I don't want to walk through the town centre or go to the post office - I'm not scared of being fined but I don't want to get sick.

I put items up to £50 in the postbox, because I have realised for some time I simply don't care if they get lost or the buyer files a fraudulent INR, I'll just refund them. I have better things to do than queue up for half an hour (in normal times) just to get a proof of postage.

However I don't understand why some sellers are going to the post office for £5 items that fit in a normal 2nd class letter. Nobody is signing for items anyway which means that postmen are free to steal things if they want to (happened a lot at the address I was staying at in 2013).

It isn't just the loss of the item that people are worried about (and I suspect not many people are willing to potentially lose a £50 item with no way of claiming anything) it's the limitation of size. You say yourself that you are only posting large letters , for many businesses that is just not possible. 

I also wonder why you even use the post if you consider postmen to be thieves, a very odd assumption and one that doesn't make me comfortable at all. 

twhitehousescat

getting this back on tangent 
the powers that boris invoked regarding going out and £60 fines , the wording stated you must stay in and if stopped by a policeman you must comply and return home , failure to comply will result in £60 fine 

this was not , "we will stop people at random , check what you have in your hands/cars and issue a fine" 

PasturesNew

The problem is they're interpreting the laws in a way, that is probably reasonable, but as it's not spelt out everybody's unsure, and/or nobody's seen it like that. 

The 'problem' has come from 'everybody' switching their daily shopping and lifestyle activities to online - buying online.  So, the Post Office deliveries have increased massively.  The issues the overzealous stasi are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut with aren't communicated by them... but will be a mix of: 

1/ Everybody's shopping online; Post Office/parcels/deliveries are through the roof. 
2/ Many Post Office employees are self-isolating or vulnerable, reducing their staff.  In many areas that got 2 deliveries of post a day they're only getting one.  The Post Office are short of staff to do the deliveries. 
3/ Every parcel taken over the counter and handed over at the door is an interaction that could provide any virus the potential to move.  Viruses don't move, people do. 
4/ Necessary/essentials doesn't mean "everything you normally do and have", but hasn't been defined as "only what you strictly NEED".
5/ Many marketplaces have been closed down as parcels potentially carry the virus inside them, from household to household.
6/ More people are sending more parcels to the vulnerable, who are isolated... potentially posting them the thing they're trying to avoid. 

If you can't see the virus, you can't swear it's not on your hands, on the item, on the filler, on the package.... you can't swear you don't touch it on the Post Office counter yourself and bring it home.  Nobody knows where it is.... if it is.... 

twhitehousescat

do you know how long the virus lasts on say a parcel