Going Postal?

A gentle word of warning.

There is nothing quite like coming downstairs in the morning to find what the postman has brought for you, but before you order all the little necessities of life by mail order here's a little cautionary note. The following items are all specifically prohibited from being sent through the British postal service (as recorded on their web site.)

You may not send nitroglycerine, blasting caps, ammunition or christmas cracker snaps. Hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide (when compressed) are all out, so it's pointless trying to stuff them into your envelopes.

Gasoline and petroleum are prohibited, so if you run out of petrol miles from home, it's no good asking your local garage to post it to you. Cellulose Nitrate products are banned, as are metallic magnesium and zinc powder. Components of fibreglass repair kits are right out.

You may not post your uranium 235 or radioactive waste (so quite how you are supposed to get them to your terrorist friends I'm not sure.) If you have any asbestos lying around the place, don't expect Postman Pat to cart it away for you.

When you start on your pop music career, don't go sending your stage props through the post, as dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) is banned. Still, it would be a con to send it anyway, as I'm sure it would weigh a lot less when it arrived than when it was weighed for postage. If you're trying to send any magnetised material, make sure that it has a magnetic field strength of less than 0.159 A/m at a distance of 2.1m from the outside of the parcel.

Don't be tempted to try mail order from the local Off Licence if your favourite tipple is particularly strong, as alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic content greater than 70% by volume are prohibited. If it's less than 70% you'll be fine, unless you want more than five litres.

You may not send any counterfeit currency or postage stamps, unless of course that they are no longer available for current use.

While you can't send much by way of livestock, you would be OK if you want to post, amongst others, bees or leeches, and so long as the destination is within the United Kingdom, you could add earthworms and maggots.

Finally, for the Isle of Man, you mustn't send hay, straw, peatmoss or litter (unless used as packaging).

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