Shipping Restrictions in Lithuania

Make sure to take note of the country conditions for mailing a parcel to Lithuania, otherwise you may face some difficulties in getting your parcel properly imported. Check with your local customs officer for more details on shipping restrictions and prohibited items, but for now, here are a few restrictions to take note of.

Objects of cultural value, such as antiques and works of art can only be imported into Lithuania with a permit from the Ministry of Culture’s Department of the Protection of Objects of Cultural Value. Take care when sending prepared foodstuffs and raw materials of animal origin; if the industrial packaging is damaged or the use-by-date has passed then the packages will be prohibited and may be destroyed.

[rand]sugar blogSugar is permitted for import into Lithuania, but not exceeding 11 pounds or 5 kg per shipment. All articles subject to customs duty may not be sent in ordinary or registered First-Class Package International Service items, Priority Mail International Flat Rate Envelopes, First-Class Mail International items, or Priority Mail International Small Flat Rate Priced Boxes.

At RAND Logistics, whether you require a specific eBay courier service for sending parcels internationally, or you are simply sending a gift to a friend or relative, we can provide you with first class service at competitive rates. Plus with free tracking options available, you can track your parcel at every step of the journey.

Shipping Restrictions in Finland

Do you have a friend or relative who has a birthday coming up, or are you doing research on sending parcels to Finland in preparation for Easter? Either way, RAND Logistics can give you invaluable advice regarding the shipping restrictions and prohibitions of when importing goods into Finland. For express parcels to anywhere in Finland from Helsinki to Tampere, and anywhere else in the world, choose RAND Logistics!

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When sending meat and meat products, prior authorization must be obtained from the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture for the recipient. Parcels can be addressed to a street address or to a post office box, but a telephone number must be provided when the parcel is addressed to a post office box.

It is prohibited to send live plants and animals to Finland as well as any form of human remains, including ashes. An invoice is required on the outside of the parcel with the PS Form 2976-E with the customs declaration for all commercial shipments, regardless of the value.

RAND Logistics offer all our customers the most competitive deals and prices on shipping across the world. Whether your parcel needs delivering as soon as possible, you have a heavy parcel, or you are just looking for a secure delivery service, RAND Logistics can help.

Shipping Restrictions in Cyprus

When sending a gift or a package to Cyprus, make sure to check with your local customs officer to find out the full details of what can and can’t be shipped to Cyprus. It is important to check whether or not your intended recipient needs to obtain prior authorisation before sending goods to Cyprus, or you could face some delivery complications further down the line.

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Take care when sending postcards to Cyprus, as all postcards with individual illustrated designs not previously approved by the Cyprus Post Office are prohibited.

Various registered items including traveller’s checks, coins, notes or securities of any kind made payable to the bearer, including precious stones and jewellery may only be imported into the country under a license from the Cyprus Central Bank.

It is important to note that commercial shipments must be accompanied by all the relevant invoices, and they should be attached to the outside of the item or package in an unsealed envelope, where the invoice can be clearly viewed if necessary.

RAND Logistics provides first class services when sending anything from heavy parcels to fragile parcels all over the world. Why not find out how much you can save by typing in your requirements to our quick quote form?

Shipping Restrictions in Australia

It is always important to check and double check if the country you are sending goods to will allow those goods to be imported, otherwise your intended recipient may end up waiting far longer to receive their parcel! Check out these restrictions before sending a parcel to Australia.

Used Goods

Various used goods are strictly prohibited for import in Australia. Used Bedding is prohibited, as are used Fruit cartons. In fact, new fruit cartons are also prohibited as they could carry ticks or parasites that once released can have devastating effects on the Australian ecosystem.

Animal Produce

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Jewellery that has been made from, or contains parts of ivory, or made from an endangered species, such as snake, crocodile or elephant, is strictly prohibited unless accompanied by an Import Permit in relation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Permission must also be obtained prior to the sending of any parcels, from the Australian Quarantine authorities when sending meat or any other animal products, including powdered milk or milk from concentrate.

Take great care when shipping goods to Australia, and as always, check with your local customs officer to ensure that any goods you plan to ship are okay for importation into the recipient country. Why not use RAND Logistics for all international parcel and large parcel delivery?

 

Alternative, Eco-Friendly Methods of Packaging

If you’re someone who has to ship gifts and parcels abroad quite regularly, you might find yourself having to invest in wrapping paper and other necessary parcel materials on a regular basis. This blog post will provide you with various other methods of wrapping parcels so that you can make the process eco-friendly and a little more exciting. Here are a few alternatives to the average parcel.

Newspaper might seem a bit tasteless, but in truth you can turn it into an excellent resource for parcel wrapping if you’re a bit more creative than the average person. Newspaper that gets regularly delivered to your house is ideal and you can use colouring pens, paint, stickers or whatever suits you.

If you aren’t so creative, why not have a look through the gift wrapping materials you’ve got leftover? You’ll be able to choose from all sorts of colours and designs that your addressee will admire, or you can just turn it inside out and use the blank white canvas instead.

Certain fabrics are prohibited in some countries but if you’re sending a gift somewhere where this doesn’t apply, you can always make the most of colourful fabrics from beds, cushions, pillow cases or whatever you can find. In fact, this is a common method of gift wrapping in Japan, so it wouldn’t be to out of the ordinary if you’re sending a gift to Japan.

Possible Gifts For Mothers Day This Coming Sunday

Mothers Day is fast approaching, so this is the perfect opportunity for you to give something back to one of the most important people in anyone’s life. You may even need to ship a parcel abroad for Mothers Day if your mum isn’t in the country, and you can do this using the services we have to offer here at RAND.  For now though, here are some great gift ideas that are sure to please her on the big day.

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If your mum enjoys a tasty alcoholic beverage, she’d really appreciate an exotic bottle of sparkling wine. In addition, sweet treats such as chocolates might also work well if you’re going down this route. Try to get something out of the ordinary and possibly a little more expensive as well rather than something she’d usually expect.

Flowers are the perfect symbol of love, friendship and appreciation. A colourful bouquet can really lighten up anyone’s mood but on Mother’s Day it is a traditional gift to say thank you for everything they do for us.

If you think a gift might be a better option, why not consider something she has previously asked for her birthday? Small gifts aren’t as spectacular as some of the other things mentioned above, though they could act as a sign of the strong bond that you share with your mum.

Contact RAND today to discover more about sending gifts locally and abroad, whilst you can also get an instant quotation.

Royal Mail Put Kids TV Characters on Stamps To Celebrate 50 Years of Children’s TV

You might have noticed some familiar faces on your stamps recently, especially if you remember the days of watching kids TV. Since the start of 2014, children’s TV characters have begun to appear on Royal Mail postage stamps as a means of celebrating 60 years of children’s TV.

There are some notable figures to watch out for, including a selection of newcomers such as Peppa Pig, Bob the Builder and Shaun the Sheep. Some of us might even get a bit nostalgic seeing the older characters Postman Pat, Mr Ben and Ivor the Engine.

Andrew Hammond from Royal Mail Stamps told the BBC that they simply couldn’t ignore the landmark. “It feels appropriate to celebrate all of these unforgettable characters on a set of very special stamps” he said.

If you plan on sending a letter or parcel abroad, you might be able to make the most of these unique set of stamps, especially if they’re going to a distant friend or a younger recipient.

We offer an unrivalled parcel delivery service here at RAND, so make sure you get a quote from us today to see how we can save you money when shipping parcels abroad.

The Postal Service During the First World War

To celebrate the news that we could be seeing Mail Rail back on track as part of London’s underground network for the first time in over ten years, we take a look at some of the other historical aspects of the postal service and how sending a parcel abroad might have differed during the First World War.

The Post Office was by far the most lucrative enterprise in the country back in 1914, becoming “the largest single employer of labour in the world” according to the British Postal Museum. Once the war began, many of the workers decided to leave their jobs as staff and left the country to fight or contribute to the war in other ways.

The number of postal staff that ended up joining the army was staggering, as they had been encouraged to enlist in the first place. There was even a battalion, the Post Office Rifles, created that was made up entirely of post office workers.

The APS was then introduced as a means of getting letters to and from the trenches. The Home Depot was introduced in Regents Park to sort all these letters. By the end of the war, the Home Depot had dealt with over 2 billion letters.

 

London’s “Ghost Railway” To Be Re-Opened?

There’s currently another method of transport that many people are unaware of beneath the capital; an alternative underground system that wasn’t meant for passengers. Instead, it was a method of international parcel delivery that fell out of favour back in 2003. The Telegraph recently claimed that, with proper funding, we could see the old parcel delivery service become an exciting way for the public to get around town.

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It is essentially a forgotten part of London’s history, with no access to the public and just a few members of staff that ensure the tunnels are kept in good shape. However, it has been revealed that there are plans to make the first ever driverless railway system in the UK part of a new museum. This could be achieved if the British Postal Museum and Archive get hold of another £2million.

The Mail Rail, as it was known, would often carry as many as four million parcels a day below London’s bustling streets back when it first opened in 1927. Whilst it’s more of a ghost railway at present, £2million in donations could be what it takes to revitalise a significant piece of postal history.

Contact RAND for more information about our parcel delivery services and get an instant quotation today.

Green Week Day 2 – Sorting Envelopes for Recycling

Day 2 in our Green Week sees us looking at the ‘recyclability’ of envelopes. Are all types of envelopes recyclable? Is everything on the envelope recyclable? Here is a break down:

Envelope itself: Yes
Stamp: Yes
Other Stickers/Stamps: Yes
Plastic Window: No

Fortunately for the most part you can easily just drop your envelopes into the recycling and be done with it, but for those pesky windowed envelopes it is better to remove the window before recycling them.

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Check your recycling options available in your area, as some other areas may reject the glued part of the envelope, but all it takes is a quick job with the scissors and your envelope is ready for recycling!

For larger parcels and packages it is better to flatten them down and store them away in case you may need to send something larger, and cardboard boxes can always be used for storage or as arts and crafts materials if you have young children or grandchildren!

With strong efforts being put into the conservation of virgin forests and biodiversity, Costa Rica is the 3rd greenest country worldwide. RAND Logistics can provide cheap and efficient postage rates on parcels to Costa Rica, why not have a look at how much you could save by using our quick quote form today?