Post office staff asks too many questions...is it a right to know?

wishuponastar

So when i post a parcel from my local post office, there is one staff member who always asks questions about what is inside the parcel, when i say it's nothing on your prohibited list and it's a gift, she then says she needs to know what is inside. And it gets a bit awkward as i don't believe she needs to know. Not that i'm sending anything embarrassing or anything, i just don't like her asking or insisting she knows what it is before she will accept it for posting as i feel she is just being nosey. I'm tempted to use another post office but don't have one so close and i'd rather give my local one the trade. Other staff don't ask or anything like that, it is just her. She's been like this before the Coronavirus started so it's not related to the Corona she is being like this.
Any tips or does she have a 'right to know'? 

mgdavid

This comes up fairly regularly; there is little that can be done through official channels to re-educate the individual member of staff apparently. The best solution, next time you are asked, is to say fairly loudly "it's a dildo being returned for repair". The usually don't ask again.

theoretica

"If you're sending your item at the Post Office®, you will be asked at the counter what the contents of your parcel are"

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/mail/uk-what-can-i-send

I have never had a further problem with a slightly generic but truthful answer- 'plastic tat' works for an amazing number of things.

forgotmyname

I would go into great detail picking something really gross and waffle on and on about it in great detail. 

If you go down the line of the above post tell them how rubbish it is and ask would they be able to recommend something
else.

pinkshoes

They need to verify the item you are sending is not on the list of prohibited items. It's nice that you have checked the list, but they also need to double check that you haven't made a mistake!

(have you seen the amount of posts where people have not realised their item was prohibited??)

I really don't see the issue. Just give them a vague description of what it is. Or tell them something really cringey!

vacheron

I posted the same question a while ago and it is completely dependent on the person behind the counter!

TripleH

If asked, I am honest but vague. Eg clothes shoes, books etc and say sold them on ebay. Never had much comeback from that. If they ever do insist on wanting more details, I'd  take a leaf out of mgdavid's book. 

travis-powers

mgdavid said:

This comes up fairly regularly; there is little that can be done through official channels to re-educate the individual member of staff apparently. The best solution, next time you are asked, is to say fairly loudly "it's a dildo being returned for repair". The usually don't ask again.

I would so do that! Surly what’s inside and what you say is inside is irrelevant unless it’s opened!

powerful_Rogue

You want to use the postal service, you need to follow thier rules. Does it really matter?

soolin

powerful_Rogue said:

You want to use the postal service, you need to follow thier rules. Does it really matter?

Which rules though? That’s  the point of this thread, trying to find out why Post Office counters are asking these questions, they work for the post office and there doesn’t seem to be any requirement from Royal Mail for POC employees to closely question people on what’s in their parcels. A simple response ‘the package doesn’t contain anything prohibited’ should suffice. 

theoretica

The page I linked to makes it clear post office counter staff are instructed to ask what is in parcels rather than just for an assurance it is not something on the banned list.  Why insist on making their lives hard?