Security alert stickers on boxes, contents to be inspected

The last box that I received from a UK trade came sealed up with a “Security Alert” sticker that claimed that contents would be inspected for security reasons at a facility down the line. My sender actually had to sign the sticker when he dropped off the box. To be honest, it seems like they are just trying to honor some legal obligation without enforcing any of this, because as far as I can tell, an inspection never actually happened, because the sticker and all packaging, which was quite elaborate, was still intact upon delivery,

Still I can’t help but worry about this a little, I mean who knows if it’s really a rule and not the exception that these inspections don’t actually happen. It is officially against the ToS of most carriers to ship liquids after all. I’ve received quite a few boxes from the UK already and this is the first time I have encountered this. Is this some new policy or is it perhaps unique to the carrier (DHL)?

Nobody has encountered this? Is it safe to say that this it not the norm then and probably something that is unique to DHL in the UK? They certainly don’t do this in Germany though.

I had to stop using DHL years ago for this reason

Good to know, that’s interesting. Really weird that they seem to be the only carrier in the UK to do this when they don’t even do it in Germany, where they are the official national carrier. They don’t even bother asking any question when dropping off a box, nor do you have to list any contents on the label when sending with them within the EU, weird.

Kinda makes me wonder what my sender was thinking though… It’s not like he could know for sure that the box wouldn’t actually get inspected…

I also had trouble with fedex who rejected a box when they sacnned it and sent it back saying contains liquids

Was told i was lucky to get back

Not something I’ve encountered before. I’d imagine it’s specific to DHL UK.

DHL isn’t a very common courier choice here though. From when I did my research on which couriers to use it seems almost everyone used either Parcelforce or DPD. Other options being either too shit or too expensive.

More expensive than Parcelforce? I did some quick research and they seemed to be almost 5x more expensive than Hermes… Which brings me to my next point: I’m guessing that Hermes falls under “too shit” here, but personally I’ve never had any problems sending or receiving with/from them. DPD actually has a worse reputation in Germany. Another interesting tidbit is that Hermes are almost twice as expensive to ship with in Germany than the UK…

Parcelforce is a weird one with prices, sometimes can be incredibly expensive, especially if going directly through their website or a post office, but if you sort it out through a third party website they can be reasonable.

Hermes has a terrible reputation here, similar to Yodel, but both are usually always the cheapest options which is why they’re popular. Never personally used them for international deliveries though so I don’t know how they are for that.

DPD’s reputation seems to be mixed. Had a couple of issues with them myself actually, however in terms of actually getting parcels from A > B they’ve been great. Have both sent and received with them.

In essence though: Pretty much every courier is shit and it’s luck of the draw, or more accurately, how their delivery drivers/handlers are in your area.

A parcel of mine is currently being held in Germany by DHL whilst it’s assessed for damage. That’s what they told Erzengel. I meanwhile have received no updates. The tracking just has the date it sent on.

I recently had a parcel from the USA held back by DHL in Germany as well. They told me it was in “special processing” and that’s all they would say. It made it through to me fine after a delay of about a week though.

The latest parcel I received from the UK, the one this thread is about, made it through absolutely fine in just a few days, despite the Security Alert sticker. No problems there whatsover ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

For boxes inside the EU use DPD via Parcel2go. US - UK use USPS. UK - US use Parcelforce via Parcel2go. Within the UK use the Post Office for under 2kg and over 2kg (anything above a single 750ml bottle, basically) use Hermes via Parcel2go.

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Going to try this advise. Just has a parcel returned for the 2nd time in a row by IPostParcels/DHL. One broken bottle. They didn’t actually open it, unlike the package I’d received from Erzengel which was re-packed by Parcel Force, after one bottle broke. Also zero communication - just turned up today.

DHL have a bad reputation. Avoid at all costs. That info I posted above isn’t borne just from my experience, but a general consensus among a good number of UK based beer traders.

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who do you use now?

Pretty much gave up trading due to the increase in hassle. (and massive increase in availability of stuff in shops and festivals like Copenhagen/BeaverFest) But last trade was parcel force through someone like parcel monkey. As it seemed least risky