We all know checking the mail every day can be a frightening experience, dreading the thought of seeing those council tax and utility bills lurking in our postboxes. But the next time you hear the clatter of the letter box and find another pile of paper bills and takeaway pamphlets on the floor, thank your lucky stars, because it could be much, much worse. What follows are some examples of the strangest and most disgusting things you can legally send and receive by mail.
Bodily Fluids
Yes, that’s right, you can legally send several kinds of bodily fluids through the post in the UK. Blood, sweat and tears, the whole shebang! Usually, however, this is for medical and scientific purposes and comes with caveats as far as packaging said contents goes, so don’t expect to be able to ask your friend to bubble wrap a urine sample and send you enough so you’re covered for a drug test at work.
Living Creatures
Ever opened your post and found it crawling with maggots? No? Then think yourself very lucky, because it can happen! The rather long list of live insects and invertebrates you can send includes stick insects, spiders, silkworms, rag worms (we don’t even want to know what these are), pupae, chrysalides, maggots, lugworms, bees, cockroaches, caterpillars, earthworms, crickets, leeches and lots of other charming little parasites.
If for some reason this appeals to you, keep in mind you need to send them via first class post, and package them up in a way that protects the little critters and be sure to clearly mark the package “URGENT – LIVING CREATURES – HANDLE WITH CARE”. You can’t send live animals or reptiles though, nor can you send any species classified as dangerous wild animals, so as much as your Auntie Sue might appreciate a tarantula under the tree this Christmas, you’ll have to see her in person to be able to gift her it.
Human Remains
So, this is kind of morbid, but you can actually send human remains via Royal Mail in the form of cremated ashes. Keep in mind though, that you can’t send an entire body’s worth of ashes in the post and be covered (unsurprisingly), you can however send up to 50 grams of ashes at a time, so in theory you could send the whole lot in about 60 mailings. However, if for some reason you do decide to send the lot in one go, Royal Mail won’t fine you for sending them, but cannot accept responsibility for loss or damage. So, we wouldn’t recommend it, unless the ashes are of someone who you didn’t really like.
Firearms
Shotguns, Rifles, Glocks, that’s pretty much all the guns we can name off the top of our head here, but you can send any of them via Royal Mail. Not just antiquated weaponry either, active firearms are allowed to be shipped but only if they’re being used for sporting purposes, so don’t expect to be able to do it if you’ve locked yourself out of your home and can’t afford a locksmith.
Poo
Oh it’s true, you can send poo. But don’t go reaching for a cardboard box and parcel tape the next time you need to unblock the toilet. There are limits to what you can send, for instance, total volume can’t exceed 50ml or 50 grams so don’t expect to be able to package up the result of last night’s Beef Vindaloo and send them to your boss for, ahem, shits and giggles, pun intended. In 2014, there was a mass mailout of faeces, when the makers of the raunchy party game Cards Against Humanity sent bull excrement to 30,000 people worldwide, after selling ‘bullshit’ for $6 a pop as part of their Black Friday sale.
Whilst we don’t expect many requests for any of the above we can certainly print, mail and post some equally attention grabbing direct mail. Get in touch today with your direct mail campaign inquiries and we’ll accommodate your request as best we can, we promise to put our figurative blood, sweat and tears into making any direct mail campaign a success.
