Petitioning Royal Mail!

[Leon]

Thanks for starting this petition. We have been sharing it with all our Facebook and Twitter followers since Friday and it has had a very good response. We are a small family run business selling fine art materials and this restriction has resulted in us having numerous parcels destroyed. We sell lots of watercolour paint which comes in 5ml tubes so people are often buying more than 4 tubes at a time. In fact, we have been told if we are sending out a gift set which contains more than 4 tubes of paint, we have to break it up into separate parcels and send them separately!!! We have had to start using couriers for all our paint orders now including overseas which is much more expensive. We have been working with the Federation of Small Businesses to try and get Royal Mail to reverse this policy and we have sent them a link to your petition.

Hi Ken, welcome to the Forum and thanks for the post.  Can you recommend some of the larger artist websites/magazines that I could contact to spread the word?  The artist community is probably one of the largest markets to be affected by these restrictions, so it would be good to get those guys on board.

[Techno]

Passed it around to a few contacts today. 
Cheers - Phil.

[KenBromleyArt]

Hi Leon,

It does really affect the art industry. I have tweeted the petition to Winsor & Newton and Daler Rowney - two of the biggest manufacturers of paint in the UK and also Daniel Smith who are very big in the US. I also sent it to Painters Online who publish The Leisure Painter and The Artist Magazines and to the Artists' and Illustrators Magazine - these are the three biggest magazines for artists if you wanted to contact them direct.

It may be worth your while contacting some of the bigger art supplies shops too...

Best wishes,

Laureen
Ken Bromley Art Supplies
#PostOurPaint

[KenBromleyArt]

Artists and Illustrators have just retweeted to their 7k followers...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Fantastic

[sultanbev]

I've had several thoughts this morning:
now RM is a private company, they do not have the right to threaten to prosecute "repeat offenders" any more than you or I do. You can only prosecute if a law is broken, and they would have to persuade a lawyer or judge of that. Simply wanting to post 5 pots of water is hardly a crime.

Destroying people's property is criminal damage. Therefore all companies that have had parcels "destroyed" should contact the police and/or their solicitor. Just because it is in their terms and conditions, doesn't give them the right to break the law.

Having read around the 'net, "destroyed" actually means being sent to auction in Essex, where certain Ebay sellers bulk buy the products and put them on evilbay.....

Having the threat of your parcel being "destroyed" probably comes under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

If I ask you to post something and threaten to blow up your house if you don't would be constituted as an unfair condition, not to mention threatening behaviour.  

I think a complaint to Trading Standards may be in order, as this is a purely commercial decision by RM, who have a near monopoly on small package posting, and is a restriction on free trade.

Department for Business, skills & innovation might be bothered as it affects exports from the UK. I had a read through the reasons under the petition and was surprised by how many people buy paint for modelling from the UK, eg in Russia, Brazil, America, Australia, Ireland.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-innovation-skills
Interesting they have an article about excessive courier charges!
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/consumers-put-off-by-high-delivery-courier-charges

The MP to contact appears to be Jo Swinson:
https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers/parliamentary-under-secretary-of-state-for-employment-relations-and-consumer-affairs
who'se remit includes the Post Office.

A good lawyer might question, or at least investitage, the RMail's right to arbitarily restrict mail, under the Postal Services Acts 2000 and 2011. Any takers?

https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/ensuring-the-future-of-the-universal-postal-service-and-post-office-network-services

There is a (dormant) petition to remove the Royal from Royal Mail, that might be worth backing now:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/56821

Mark

[KenBromleyArt]

We are currently working with the Federation of Small businesses who have legal experts, so hopefully they will be able to help us with this...

[Techno]

Great work by Mark and Ken !
Cheers - Phil.

[Kiwidave]

now RM is a private company...

According to an recently retired RM worker I know, RM is still 51% owned by HM Government - dunno if that changes any of you arguments Mark...?

The whole thing is still pretty bloody stupid...

KD

[Leon]

Excellent, thanks for the updates Mark and Ken, much appreciated.  I've also been informed by a Post Office manager nearby, that when these restrictions came into place earlier this year, there was nothing sent out to the branches at all.  Not in the business info back in January (?) and nothing in the public restriction amendments in July, so no wonder you get so many conflicting messages on what can/can't be sent at different Post Offices.

[sebigboss79]

Excellent, thanks for the updates Mark and Ken, much appreciated.  I've also been informed by a Post Office manager nearby, that when these restrictions came into place earlier this year, there was nothing sent out to the branches at all.  Not in the business info back in January (?) and nothing in the public restriction amendments in July, so no wonder you get so many conflicting messages on what can/can't be sent at different Post Offices.

I see a deliberate scheme. Must be my German nontrusting self.....

[Fenton]

I have just posted it on the Mantic forum

[Leon]

I've now setup a Facebook page for the Post Our Paint campaign as well, which should make it easier to update and discuss the latest news, and also answer any queries which come up: https://www.facebook.com/PostOurPaint

[FierceKitty]

According to an recently retired RM worker I know, RM is still 51% owned by HM Government - dunno if that changes any of you arguments Mark...?

The whole thing is still pretty bloody stupid...

KD

Since Charles 1, it has been established that "Royal" does not mean "authorised to disregard the law" in the UK. And well done, all of you. Death to bullies!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I've now setup a Facebook page for the Post Our Paint campaign as well, which should make it easier to update and discuss the latest news, and also answer any queries which come up: https://www.facebook.com/PostOurPaint

Spread the word!