Yeah they brought this in around a Month ago, bit of a pain.
Looking at a new capacitor for a Seiko I have- a pretty reasonable £10 on cousins but now they seem to be charging a ridiculous £8.40 because Hazardous item(s) in your basket will restrict your carrier options.-
Now I'm pretty sure RM don't restrict these
Yeah they brought this in around a Month ago, bit of a pain.
They are not capacitors any more (and have not been capacitors for years); they are in fact rechargeable cells, presumably lithium ones.
Royal Mail's regulations require lithium cells to be sent in or with the equipment for which they are intended; Royal Mail will not accept lithium cells to be sent unaccompanied or with other batteries. Royal Mail's regulations are based on international regulations.
Therefore Cousins are quite right: They cannot send these by Royal Mail. Instead they have to use a specialist courier.
Yes, it's stupid but it's not Cousins' fault. As far as I can tell, the regulations are mad: Lithium cells are more dangerous when sent in or with equipment (since there is more chance of a short circuit) than when on their own, but the regulations nevertheless prohibit lithium cells to be sent on their own. Conversely (and confusingly), NiMH and alkaline cells must be new and in their original packaging and NOT in or with equipment.
Last edited by markrlondon; 22nd March 2017 at 22:11.
Last edited by markrlondon; 22nd March 2017 at 22:10. Reason: Improved text clarity
It is what it is, logic doesn`t come into these decisions. Cousins are only following the regulations as they're obliged to do.
Paul
Maybe so, but then they've only recently applied it to Seiko capacitors. I included one (Seiko p/n 3023.5MZ, which is effectively a Maxell TC920S) in my last Cousins order in mid-February and got away with the standard £2.50 Royal Mail postage.
The Maxell TC920S is a button-type titanium carbon lithium rechargeable Li-ion battery that uses lithium titanium oxide as the positive material, carbon as the negative material, and organic electrolyte.
Last edited by Seiko7A38; 27th March 2017 at 19:56. Reason: Looking for spec. of TC920S
Ah, then it looks like they were previously making a mistake by sending the 'capacitors' on their own via Royal Mail!
This spec...
... definitely means that such batteries should not have been sent by Royal Mail unless they were "contained in/connected to" the equipment for which they were intended.The Maxell TC920S is a button-type titanium carbon lithium rechargeable Li-ion battery that uses lithium titanium oxide as the positive material, carbon as the negative material, and organic electrolyte.
Royal Mail UK restricted goods for business customers: https://business.help.royalmail.com/...etail/a_id/898
Irritatingly, Cousins won't allow pick-up. I live fairly local to them and it would make life so much easier and cheaper. Of course, a group buy would be out of the question even if they allowed such a thing.... ;-)