Please mention that one of your supporters received a letter like this recently from a postal depot. They wondered why their parcel wasn’t sent to their local post office. Seeing the words ‘detained’ and ‘customs’ on the letter also freaked them out. Upon deciding to call the postal service depot to find out more about the package they were told that the package was there and ready to be collected. Upon informing the person on the phone that they could not pick the parcel up from the depot as they lived too far away they were asked who the parcel was from and what was inside. The supporter answered that they did not know the answer to either of those questions, but guessed that the parcel was from a friend overseas and maybe was a late birthday gift. They were informed that the parcel did not have a sender’s details or return address on it. The supporter was asked once more whether they knew what the contents were and said no. The person on the phone then said that the parcel contained ‘dagga seeds’ and that they would not be able to send them to the supporter.
Thank goodness that the supporter decided to phone and also more importantly show complete ignorance. The outcome could have been a lot worse if they had decided to go into the office in person or sent someone else to.
This is a good example of what you can expect when ordering seeds from abroad. Be careful and keep a sharp eye out for signs that something isn’t right. There is no smoke without fire!
Also please ask if anyone else has had a similar experience. We need to highlight this issue.