Mailing Knives ?

[Kennieyk]

I just sold a small case pocket knife on ebay , Anyways I take it to the postal office and ask to have it mailed from maryland to kentucky.I also asked for the insurance for $30.00. The lady then asked what i was mailing and I said its a small pocket knife. She told me that you are not allowed to mail knives threw the postal mail.I then said well i oreder knives threw the mail all the time .
She then asked if i was a dealer and I said no .She then said again that I could not mail this knife. Now if someone can tell me if the lady was just being a B____ or is she right ? I remember sending my buck knives and other knives back threw posal mail when they needed repair or sharping.I know i could have lied and said it was some sharpie markers , but why lie ? If she was being a B____ what can i do about it , I then went to UPS and shipped it at double the postal cost. I also told them waht it was and they had no problem with it.
Anyways let me know what you guys think .
Thanks

 

[revmic]

Sorry to hear of your situation. I have shipped any number of knives via USPS Priority mail, including insured pieces where , in answer to the question regarding a definition of contents, I have replied "Collectable pocket knife". I've never been refused. The mailing of automatic knives is not alowed, but ordinary, manual pieces are allowable in my experience.

For what it's worth, I've departed from the practice of insuring packages, in favor of "signiture confirmation". A PO employee suggested to me that insuring a pkg. was hardly worth the add'l cost as the pkg. handling was identical to that with a simple "delivery confirmation" sticker...AND...the presence of the "insured" sticker was more of an attraction to a potential thief.

 

[Gollnick]

She is mistaken.

As long as they are adequately wrapped, all knives are fine in USPS mail.

If you get this again, ask for the supervisor and ask to see the written regulation prohibitting them.

Meanwhile, don't hold it against the lady to much. Everything is changing lately. A lot of the front-line folks aren't exactly clear on what is and is not permissible these days. We all need to cut eachother a bit of slack these days.

By the way, I send and receive knives via insured USPS Priority Mail all the time. I've never once been asked about contents beyond the now-usual, "Are the contents flamable or hazardous?" to which I simply say, "No." The small boxes that knives generally come and go in are often not as scrutinized. Even when I ask to insure for hundreds of dollars, nobody asks about contents.

 

[Sticky]

I ship 3/week through usps, never even had anyone ask what's inside.
She probably heard hillary klinton tell her that knives and guns alike are going to come and get her.

 

[anthony cheeseboro]

I had a similar thing happen to me. I demanded that the postal worker show me the relevant regulation. i proceeded to show her that the law prohibits mailing "dirks, switchblades, and weapons," or something to that affect. The law also said that common pocketknives and kitchen knives were banned by the law. The got embarrassed, but I made my point.

 

[VampyreWolf]

it's not a knife, it's a "hand tool" with a relativly low weight and high price.

I have shipped over the border many a time, marked as "hand tool - gift" and never had any problems with the PS. I am quite recognized in the local PO(2km from my house). I walk in and they ask me if I'm sending or picking up. Pretty much 2-3 weeks between trips. Sometimes(like during dec) I'm in 2-3 days apart.

same as packages coming back up... "hand tool - gift" anywhere from 4-14oz, and from 40-195USD(so far, next is 115 and 4.25oz, after that is about 14-16oz and 250USD)... have about 80% opened, but never a delay... yet.

next one coming up here is going right away to get a rig made. not even being delivered to me first until the rig is on it(about a week more)... and is getting marked "knife to be repaired" at the request of the sheath maker.

 

[Gollnick]

I shipped an antique Steuben crystal cordial set a few weeks ago (the 1945 Air Twist pattern in absolutely mint condition) and when I asked to insure it for $3500, the only question was, "Is it fragile?" When I said "Yes," out came the stickers.

While plastering the package with "fragile" stickers, the clerk asked, "Did you pack well? 3" of packing material at least around all sides?" I answered, "But of course!"

The clerk hand-carried it back.

 

[Kennieyk]

Yeah I was kinda angry , Like i said it was a small Case Brand pocket knife. It was in a little brown box taped up with stuffing paper on the inside. Very secure for a little pocket knife. While I was there, and she told me I could not maile it, she then said she had a lady a few days ago try and mail a sword and she told her no also. I thought to myself whats wrong with that. She even ask the other lady at the other end if i could mail a knife and she also said I could not mail it .

 

[TheBadGuy]

What BS, I would have flipped the hell out!!! I ship knives and swords EVERY day just about. They ask every once and awhile and I will tell them. No Problems!! Stuff like this really gets me PISSED!!

 

[Gollnick]

Stuff like this really gets me PISSED!!

As I said, everything is in flux right now. We've all got to be patient and cut each other some extra slack.

The woman is just trying to do her job as she understands it. That job has changed rapidly in the last year or so. Either the new regulations were impropertly explained to her or she misunderstood them.

You may wish to refer the clerk in question to USPS Publication 52. It specifically mentions USED scalples and other medical sharps. It also specifically mentions switchblade knives. But, it does not prohibit common knives.

 

[Gollnick]

By the way, I'm guilty too. I got rather mad at a postal clerk some months ago. I brought two packages. I put the first up and the clerk asked, "Does it contain anything flamable or hazardous?"

I replied, "No."

"Does it contain any liquid?"

"Yes, it's a bottle of wine."

"You can't mail that! That's alcohol! That's flamable!"

"No, it's not. Wine is only about 5-7% alcohol. It's 93-95% water."

"I'm sorry, but you CAN NOT mail that!"

"Ok. Here's the other package."

"Does this one contain anything flamable or hazardous?"

"Yes, it does!"

"What?"

"Two pictures printed on flamable paper. Of course, if they were to catch fire, you could pour the wine on them and put the fire out. Oh, I forgot, you won't have the wine to pour, so your station will probably burn down."

They mailed the pictures.

I have since learned in reviewing Pub 52., that I should have said "Cooking wine" since cooking wine is specifically permitted in Pub. 52.

 

[Patryn]

I also have mailed out a number of knives, all through USPS Priority Mail. When they ask if there is anything "hazardous, flamable or potentially dangerous", I tell them it's a pocket knife. If they give me an odd look, I pull out one and show them and say, "much like this one". Some of them will mark it "potentially hazardous" but mark knife next to it. Most of the time they mark no and send it on its way. If I'd ever have someone tell me No, I'd ask to see the manager, and after registering a complaint, I'd leave and go to the next post office down the road and mail it out.

 

[crazy nicky]

I ship knives through USPS smetimes and never had an issue...but that's because I mail them from work. I think UPS is the way to go though...just box it up and when they ask whats inside just say it's cutlery! lol

 

[Kennieyk]

Well like I said UPS was twice as much as regular postal mail , I would have paid 4 and some change for postal,Ups charged me 8 and some change. I think its a shame when you have people doing a job and they have no idea what they are doing . I mean I have a job and i have to learn new things everyday, I deal with it and i know what i'm doing.We pay good money to have stuff mailed and they should have people that know what they are talking about. It was like 5 minutes befor closing and i had no time to get to the next post office. Why do we have to lie and sugar coat what we are mailing if there is no restrictions on it? I was not sure when i was there but now i know So maybe i will give them a call tommorow.Or maybe I'm just making a big deal outta nothing . I dont know .

 

[Rev. Pete]

My postal station in Lynchburg has an official-looking poster on the wall next to the counters that lists items that may and may not be mailed. It prohibits switcblades but specifically lists regular knives as OK if securely wrapped.

Here is a question for the postal insiders here. Are there any magic words to say to get a supervisor to come out? The trouble with ignoring a postal worker who doesn't know the rules is that they:

- will refuse to accept knives for other customers
- could wrongly instruct other postal workers
- could call the police to report the "crime" of mailing a "weapon" (that would take some time to sort out).
- could accept items that have recently been prohibited (since they are not up to date on the rules)

Please don't let government workers get away with shoddy work. The clerk is required to know the postal rules. In your case you can still call the local supervisor and explain what happened. This will hopefully lead to remedial training for the entire staff.

 

[J. MacDonald]

The rates are much closer to USPS than to UPS Ground and you get a tracking number and the charge is just billed to your credit card. There's no waiting in line, you can drop the packages at just about anyplace that does Fedex. The personal ground with no pick ups account is free. I don't even mess with the USPS anymore unless someone insists on it.

jmx

 

[ZENGHOST]

Like the others, I have mailed and received many knives through the USPS. For me UPS or FEDEX Ground is not an option since I am not a part of the "continental U.S," so if I was not able to ship via USPS, I'd be paying 2nd day air prices which are quite a bit higher. I also have never been asked what is in my package aside from the normal hazardous, perishable, etc. question. If you have the time, I would say print out the portion of the publication 52 that deals with prohibited items and go down and talk to the person in charge so that you do not have the same problem again.

As for the rest of it, I always get insurance and delivery confirmation with my packages.

 

[Andrew]

I ship to Australia all the time and to my brother's place in Oregan. Haven't had a problem yet. Just make sure you say it's a knife on the package.

 

[Clydetz]

Just came back from the P.O.. Mailed my 1st knife Priority Mail, insured. When I was asked the standard ..."anything flammable, breakable", etc., etc., etc. I thought, Hey I can answer no to all of that! Then came the: "Anything dangerous?" I told the clerk, "It's a collectible pocket knife." He didn't even raise an eyebrow, took the package, put on the labels, stamped it & placed it in the bag - told me it should be delivered Tuesday!

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I've been told by both UPS and Canada Post that it is against their rules to allow knives to be shipped. They told me it could be a danger to the people that handle the package. Having said that, I have used Canada Post to ship many knives and never had a problem. When asked I tell them it is a knife and I have never been given a hard time.