sent tracking tag to Germany 4 weeks ago - still not there

[alexbl3003]

Hi there,
I put a Samsung Smart Tag (tracking tag) into a stable cardboard envelope and sent it as an ordinary untracked letter from London to my home in Düsseldorf, Germany (no sender on the envelope; recipient only). I stuck stamps for £3.25 on the envelope. It should be a kind of an experiment because I wanted to follow the journey on my smartphone.
However, this happened 4 weeks ago! I follow my Smart Tag every day, and I can see that the letter is permanently moving between London and Birmingham. It is in the Royal Mail Heathrow World Wide Distribution Center, Atherstone Royal Mail Parcel Hub or Royal Mail Distribution Center Hemel Hempstead. It has already been four or five times in each of these locations! However, it is still not on the way to Germany after 4 weeks time!
Has anybody an explanation for that? Thanks!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

It sounds like a problem with someone, or something, reading the address wrong, or the label has come off.

If all paperwork, if needed, is correct that's the only sensible explanation.

I would get in touch with an official site and explain that it has a tracker in it. Also describe the parcel as well, if might help free it and get it on its way.

[Binsey]

I suspect there isn’t enough postage on it.

I would try RLB in Belfast.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I suspect there isn’t enough postage on it.

I would try RLB in Belfast.

Possibly but £3.25 is the correct price for an untracked large letter so as long as it does not exceed the weight or dimensions

(Large Letters not exceeding: Length: 35.3cm Width: 25cm
Thickness up to and including: 2.5cm Weight limit: 750g)

it should be ok.

[Snaggletooth]

If the Smart Tag has an internal battery then there is a good chance that it isn't allowed in to Germany due to their ban on Lithium batteries in the mail. It is possible that it has already been marked as "Return To Sender". However, if the return address is ambiguous, or it hasn't been clearly marked as RTS, then it might be stuck in a loop with no part of RM having a clear instruction as to what to do with it.

[alexbl3003]

Thank you for all your replies.
£3.25 postage should be okay according to the Royal Mail price list. Dimensions and weight are kept.
Yes, there is a small button cell battery in it, but who knows that? Do letters get x-rayed?
I will contact Royal Mail directly but I'm afraid that I have to write it off...

[Snaggletooth]

It should be carrying a customs declaration, so RM can guess from that. And if it hasn’t got a declaration, that’s another reason why it might have been rejected.

If you submit a lost parcel claim form then you might get it back after RM give up on delivering it and send it to the National Returns Centre. Although before you do, you might want to check what rules and, indeed, UK laws you might have broken…

[alexbl3003]

Ha, ha, but the problem is that there is no sender's address in the UK. Sender and recipient are both myself. I live in Germany and put it into a letterbox in London during a trip to the UK. Probably I can't get it back because the letter needs to be transported to Germany anyway even in case of a return. Maybe the letter will be opened some day and the content destroyed....

[SpacePhoenix]

Thank you for all your replies.
£3.25 postage should be okay according to the Royal Mail price list. Dimensions and weight are kept.
Yes, there is a small button cell battery in it, but who knows that? Do letters get x-rayed?
I will contact Royal Mail directly but I'm afraid that I have to write it off...

AFAIK all mail leaving the country gets x-rayed. What's the model/part number of the tag so we can look up to see if the battery is a lithium one

[alexbl3003]

It's a Samsung Galaxy SmartTag EI-T5300. The battery is a button cell CR2032.

[SpacePhoenix]

It's a Samsung Galaxy SmartTag EI-T5300. The battery is a button cell CR2032.

Just googled the battery model and it's indeed a lithium battery which explains why it's not reached Germany

[Snaggletooth]

Just googled the battery model and it's indeed a lithium battery which explains why it's not reached Germany

Ha, ha, but the problem is that there is no sender's address in the UK. Sender and recipient are both myself. I live in Germany and put it into a letterbox in London during a trip to the UK.

Any lithium battery sent from the UK to an overseas destination must have a return address on the package, not doing so is a crime under UK law. Which is a separate issue to the rule that you mustn't send anything to a country that bans that item from the mail, as Germany does in this case.

It is also the law that packages containing lithium batteries must be presented at a Post Office counter so that the special ID labels can be attached.

For rules, see:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalma ... nglish.pdf

I have assumed that this counts as a battery connected to a device.

Maybe the letter will be opened some day and the content destroyed....

It will be destroyed once RM realise that it contravenes the Dangerous Goods act. But it will have to make it's way to the National Returns Centre first.