Is this some kind of joke !

[Techno]

......That I'm falling for ?

One of the (ahem) other firms I make figures for will no longer send figures to Italy, because so many packages go missing and the firm has got completely fed up with sending duplicate orders and losing money.

Well....On Monday I forwarded some half finished masters to a designer (not Barbarian) in Italy, to finish off. (I was struggling...Not one of my preferred scales...Hey Ho !)

Monday (as I say) ....In the post.
Tuesday....Tracking information says....Preparing for dispatch to the country of destination.
Wednesday....Package received in Italy.
Thursday....Package in Milan...preparing for delivery.
Today.....Back in the UK.....preparing for dispatch abroad.......EH !? WHAT !?

Phone call to the Post Office...." Er....Wossgoin on ?"
"Looks like your package has been refused...and they've instantly returned it."
"Any ideas why ?"
"No sorry....Did you put a return address on it"
"Yes... twice."
"Well... you'll get a form stating as to why this was the case....You might have sent a restricted item"

SURELY NOT !!...Fair enough....The lass obviously couldn't give me information that she hadn't got.

So....What on Earth was going on.
Phil wracks his puny brain....Did I put the wrong address on ?...(Certain I didn't)....Was I given the wrong address...(No..the chap I was sending them on for is far too careful for that.)

So what am I left with....An x-ray operator though it was some sort of "bemb"....Nah !...I'd have had special branch round hours ago.
I suppose I ought to look at restrictions.

**** me.......Prohibitions (amongst oodles of other things)......Toys....Not made wholly out of wood.
Is this true ? (To our friends in Italy).....If it is, how the heck do you get any wee metal men to game with.

If it is true, it explains an awful lot about figures going missing....At least the package I sent was being tracked AND was insured.....so hopefully at some stage I'll get the damn thing back !

Bewildered of Wales (Who's rather hoping he's fallen for an early April Fool joke.)

[Malbork]

Sounds weird to me. I bought two 15mm armies from Italy last year and they arrived here in Luxembourg within a week. No sign of any tampering by anybody.

It would seem odd if you could send toys out of the country btu not into it, unless they are trying to protect domestic industry of course

[Leon]

There are a quite a few wargames companies who refuse to send to several countries, Italy and Russia being the main ones I believe.  Unfortunately, from personal experience, the Italian postal service isn't the greatest, and we've had more lost packages to Italy than every other country combined probably.  (That's not to say loads have gone missing, as it's very rare we have stuff disappear!)

I don't know what causes it, and it's a real shame because we've got a great bunch of Italian customers, but we do worry every time a package gets sent out.

I hope it comes back to you, the tracking should help that.  Despite us putting return addresses on ours, we've only had around half of the packages come back to us.

[barbarian]

I suspect thieves that work for le Poste Italiane.
I guess they open some packages, then when they see this is crap (for them) they just throw them away.

That or plain inefficiency.

[Steve J]

We made some tooth brush models about 10 years ago for a global company and they were duly delivered ok. However they were stolen internally and we had to replace them as we could not prove that we had actually put them in the box!

[Techno]

http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/il_008.htm

Well....that's the link (hope I've done that right)
If it's not a spoof.

Scroll down the prohibitions...You'll find Toys.
Might answer a lot as to why things go missing in Italy.

They might just be going in a bin in the post office (to give them the benefit of the doubt.)
As I said these particular ones ARE insured....So there will be (the possibility of) compensation....(How long will that take....GROAN.)
I'm wondering whether most small packages with wee men in aren't checked....But any that are.............Bin/keep/maybe return.

Fascinating.

Cheers - Phil.

[Leon]

http://pe.usps.gov/text/imm/il_008.htm

Scroll down the prohibitions...You'll find Toys.
Might answer a lot as to why things go missing in Italy.

Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.
Clocks and supplies for clocks.
Footwear of any kind.
Leather goods.
Playing cards of any kind.
Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).

[Techno]

And toys not made wholly of wood !!

Can you cast in wood pulp at Pendraken Towers Leon ?
No wonder wee men go awol.

Cheers - Phil.

[barbarian]

On the site of the Italian post:

"oggetti di valore artistico, di antiquariato, di collezionismo; opere d'arte o parti di esse"...

Items of artistic value, antics, of collection ; piece of art or part of it"

Nothing about toys.

And by the ways, toys have a definition in EU, and our soldiers aren't toys by any means.

[petercooman]

I have come across this problem on an epic forum i frequent.

Apparently the key is to ship it signed for with notification of delivery. Seems they like to chuck it into the garbage, but when someone has to sign for it, they can't bin it and tell they delivered it. 

The person who had this problem subsequently had all packages sgnedfor, and from then on had no further problems.

Lazy italian post  office clerks!! Shut uppa you face and deleeever!! 

[Techno]

Peter.....

The package I've sent IS an (insured) signed for item.....So hopefully I'll get it back....From all the stories I've had in the past from miniature companies I really didn't want to send the package to Italy anyway.

B.....
Does the Italian phrase you've written mean 'artistic' stuff is prohibited or allowed into the country ?
I'm presuming it means prohibited ??
An interesting point if model soldiers aren't classed as toys by EU regulations.
The site I've linked to is (I believe) a genuine (?) guide from the US postal service where 'toys' are specifically mentioned...Unless they're made of wood.

I'm even more confused now.
Guess I'll have to wait until the package is (hopefully) returned... and see what the reason given is. .......(Sigh.)

Thanks - Phil

[Orcs]

I now refuse to post to Italy on all Ebay Sales.   I know of several other gamers and Traders who do the same. 

It seems the missing parcels issue is rife over there.  Nobody seems to have worked out iif it is blatant inefficiency or a high level of dishonesty, I would like to think its the former.

[petercooman]

Peter.....

The package I've sent IS an (insured) signed for item.....So hopefully I'll get it back....From all the stories I've had in the past from miniature companies I really didn't want to send the package to Italy anyway.

But did you get the "notification of delivery" 

Whatever it is though, it's a shame ! And it has been for a great while already, as the topic on the forum i mentioned is quite old.

[FierceKitty]

The Italian post office is the object of much scorn and contempt

[Techno]

But did you get the "notification of delivery" 

No....The last time I looked it had been returned to this country....(Where it's safe ?....'PERLEASE')....I'll check again in a minute.
It'll be interesting to see whether anything has been removed from the package, as they have to have opened it, as it didn't require a customs declaration.

From what a number of you have said, my preconceived fears about the Italian Postal Service seem to have been on the right lines. 

Cheers - Phil.