Recently I have started swapping coins with people from different countries, yet when I try to mail off my coins, the post office always hassles me on "it's forbidden" to mail coins of any amount. So my question is...How does everyone else mail out coins? Why is my post office giving me such a hard time about it?
Guess you have to be a bit more "discrete" about it. Best way around it is to declare it as numismatic items or metal discs for hobby. Reason why coins are forbidden because of the potential cash value to wrong group of people.
They always ask "What is it" as soon as I hand it to them. Someone told me there was a law allowing trade of coins. Also this is on the USPS' own site:
Why do you have to tell them what's in the package? All I've ever been asked is if it is liquid, hazardous or explosive. No one at the USPO asks me for anything more than that.
Depending on where and how you want to ship coins, they may be prohibited or restricted items. http://pe.usps.com/text/Imm/immctry.htm Now a single coin that you put in a plain envelope may well make to the recipient no matter where. But once you want registered/insured mail, or need to fill out a customs form ... Christian
Same here, they always ask me what's inside the parcel when i hand it to them, but never had a problem as i always tell them it's just a souvenir.
Never tell the postal employees that you are mailing coins. A truthful and legitimate response is that you are mailing "merchandise" or "product". There is no need to know on their part.
They dont ask me when i ship they just ask if its perishable or liquid. For smaller trades i staple the 2x2 to a piece of cardboard and wrap it in a piece of paper and slap 2 stamps on it and drop it in the box. Never had any issues. That is only for low end coins like a wheat penny someone needs etc. For anything of more value it goes into a bubble mailer and is stapled to cardboard in the 2x2 and is shipped registered mail
All questions and hassle can be avoided simply by placing the envelope/package in your mailbox, instead of taking it to the post office.
Merchandise. Always works for me with the new folks at my local PO. The clerks that have been there for years know what I do and help me keep things quite.
Most of my mail goes out of the country and is more than one or two stamps, but I wish it were that simple to just stick it in the mail box. Also, if I told them simply "merchandise", I have a feeling they would still ask what it is.
If I have a customs form why do they ask at all? It says right on the form what it is. I don't think half the people around here know what they are doing, and that includes the banks. I called in to see if they had half dollar rolls and they said yes, so I went to pick them up and they were rolls of Presidential dollars.
