I'm from Germany and have already made more then 50 swaps with collectors
from several Countries without any problems.
On 04.09.2010 I got a PM from a french collector with following text:
"I have a big problem ; I sent the coins Monday to you and the POST Office
opened the letter and returned the letter to me without the coins.
They found the coins in the letter and kept them because it’s forbidden.
I’am very sorry for this trouble."
Until now he didn't get back the coins from the french "LaPoste".
On 16.10.2010 I received a Mail Lite Bag from an other french collector.
The envelope was empty but not demaged.
I think that the adhesive closure of the envelope was opened
in France or Germany during the transport.
I never had problems with them, except for two parcels that were never reached me. I regularly buy from cgb/cgf in Paris, without any problem. The most recent swap I had with a French collector (Tony28) was about 2 weeks ago. I received his coins last Monday. Maybe you just had a bad luck, though it is strange that it happened twice in a row.
Si tu cognes ta tête contre une cruche et que ça sonne creux, ce n'est pas forcément la cruche... lollll mon proverbe préféré !
Well, we actually had about 100 swap all leaving from France...and had a trouble only once (letter open, nothing in it... ). Nevertheless we send with certificate mail when the coins are valuable, the quantity important or when it is a far swap (other than europe).
Actually the "law" is that you are only suppose to send paper/document not "things" if you use regular mail (which is what almost everyone use...).... so that is true that if the post office find the "thing" they can say you are not suppose to do so... The best is to make a very carefull package so that no one can think you are sending something else than paper (the best is to use "buble envelope" - do that make any sense in english ?)
"May the force be with you..."
Séverine, Laurent, la grande Charline et le petit Corentin
Mende - Lozère
France
In the first case the frenche La Poste can say: "It's not allowed to send coins in a letter"
In my opinion they can refuse the shipping but they are not allowed to confiscate the coins and send back the empty envelope.
In the second case I think that any employer of the french or german Post has stolen the coins out of the buble envelope during the transport from Côte d'azur to Cologne.
I'm a total newbie here, but I found this linked in the first post on this forum:
www.fleur-de-coin.com/trade/tradefaq.html
There is a lot of good advice there.
It has a section on shipping, and one of the pieces of advise is to make the envelope appear to not contain coins. It points out that mail, when stacked and compressed, will press the outline of the coin into the envelope and make it obvious that letter contains money. In addition, the contents shouldn't jingle with the sound of coins when shaken. It takes some careful packaging to avoid post office policy and theives.
I'm currently engaged in my first exchange (which is to France, BTW) and hoping all goes well. I tried to follow the advise given in the above link, and I used cardboard, rubber bands, and a bubble mailer. I probably over did it, but from the outside I think the package looks and feels like a stack of photos.
The lady at the post office didn't ask what was in it.
I am a Canadian, and they always ask me what is in the envelope, then I say it's coins. They write it on a small adhesive paper and stick it on the envelope. They checked the gift case, and here we go. Sometimes, when it's bank notes, they seem to disagree but they send it anyway. And I don't use the registered mail, too expensive here. It's a fact that when I receive parcels from France (or anywhere else), there is no such information. Oh, and I always use bubble envelopes, they send it as a "paquet léger" (light mail).
Si tu cognes ta tête contre une cruche et que ça sonne creux, ce n'est pas forcément la cruche... lollll mon proverbe préféré !
I'm French and often send coins, but you have to hide them very well. Sometime I buy some clothes and people send me coins too and I don't receive them everytime :/
So an advise : HIDE THE COINS !
bonjour
Me too i had some problems but with the french post , the foreign post ??? i dont know. Is like that i send always in registred R2 and if the letter arrive empty or dont arrive ,i have around 150 euros for dedommagement. I know is more expensif but is the security.
To day i have sended one letter for UK the weight is 264 grams and the price 11.95 euros.In this price is 5.00 for registration. I think that is good for the value inside
Best regards Gerard
