Expecting the unexpected through the post!

ascdirect.co.uk has been providing a wide and varied range of corrugated box solutions for over 30 years. These can be designed to exact specification including recyclable, lightweight or heavy duty for export. The boxbuilder tool allows customers to design a bespoke design tailored to their exact needs which keeps postal costs to a minimum and offers great environmental savings.

To mark the re-launch of its new website ascdirect.co.uk has released a list of the weird and unusual things its customers have posted with boxes made through the boxbuilder function:

1. ‘Breathable’ boxes for a bee breeder;
2. Snake carrier;
3. Worms (for fishing enthusiasts);
4. Double walled box for posting frogs;
5. Motorcycle box (whole);

One customer requested a box be made so he could post his daughter out to visit his parents in Australia. Though a box could be made it is illegal to put children in the post!

Andrew Woodhead, Managing Director at ascdirect.co.uk said: “We have had some very unusual requests but we enjoy providing the perfect solution to all our customers packaging needs. These have ranged from a request for boxes to post live crickets to reptile pet owners as food, and a box to post a bee hive safely.”
 
“We are always looking at ways to support the individual packaging needs of a growing network of entrepreneurial home-workers who are fuelling our extraordinary cottage industry in the UK. Now our customers can design their bespoke boxes easier and quicker than ever before. The process has being simplified down to three simple steps, improving our customer’s on-line experience but with our great value prices remaining the same.
 
”With Ebay and Amazon sellers also playing a big part of our customer base, they are able to design their perfect box - offering savings on postal costs as well as environmental benefits.”
It is possible to send living creatures through Royal Mail and these include bees, caterpillars, cockroaches, crickets, destroyers of noxious pests, earthworms, fish fry and eggs, leeches and other parasites, lugworms, maggots, mealworms, pupae and chrysalides, rag worms, silkworms, spiders and stick insects. In order to comply with the tight postal guidelines** laid down by Royal Mail, the boxes used need to be secure and good quality to ensure that they do not break open during transit.
 
*Live animals and reptiles are prohibited, as are any creatures or insects classified as dangerous within the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (including certain venomous spiders). Please see www.royalmail.com/internationalprohibitedgoods for more information.
 
**They must be boxed and packaged to protect the creatures, Royal Mail staff and their customers from harm. Items must be clearly marked ‘URGENT – LIVING CREATURES - HANDLE WITH CARE’. The sender’s name and return address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging.