What’s with all this detail?

As we busily wrap and send parcels overseas we are surprised to find how much detail we need to give of their content.

NZ Post should explain why it needs such detail on our declarations when posting said parcels. Often we don’t want the recipient to know the content of the parcel because it’s a gift, or we don’t want to reveal how much has been spent. The requirement to write every gram and number of every item and their costs is not only ridiculous but an invasion of privacy.

Yes, I understand that, if we claim for missing parcels, the organisation needs proof. But what is so different now when previously the statement of ‘‘gift’’ was enough?

Staff at the Post Shop get many inquiries and are told from head office it is a worldwide customs requirement. Which, frankly, is not true. We, friends and family have received many parcels from overseas and none have the detailed declaration required here. Even the latest ones have not had detail on them.

Carol Cooper-McCord, Lower Hutt