Thread: Courier

This seemed like the most appropriate place to post this question...

What's the law regarding courier companies handling ammunition/firearms? I ordered a few hundred rounds of ammo with the mail order form etc, realised they were going to arrive today when I was at work and assumed they'd end up at the depot.

Came home to find that my unlicensed flatmate had signed for the package... are couriers allowed to do this? And while we're at it, how are they legally even allowed to transport this stuff without having a license?!

who cares

Don't mistake my curiosity for caring. Means I don't have to go down to the depot tomorrow and pick them up

In my experience they only seem interested in separate parcels for a firearm and ammunition.

Sent from my workbench

Couriers have to have a DG license to carry gas bottles, chemicals etc this covers ammunition as well. They don't have to have a firearms license as they are just a means of transportation. Most RD people give permission for the driver to drop off parcels without a signature, heard that has happened in town as well. Guess it depends on how the stuff was sent track n trace or general parcel.

To them it's just another heavy parcel, one of thousands they see every day. So long as it's packed well they won't ever find out. Same goes for a rifle, if it hasn't got "THIS IS A BOOMSTICK" on the outside I'm sure it doesn't even cross thier minds

Just be glad your stuff arrived into the hands of a flatmate. I have had signature required stuff (2 rifle barrels) signed by the courier (well a scrawl at any rate) and as no one was home, left at the front door.

I guess the question is did they know it was ammo?? To them it is just another box

Carriage of goods act or somesuch.. it's somewhere in the law that courier/freight drivers don't require a license to transport weapons and ammo for the purposes of their job. Think ammo is only dangerous goods if above a certain weight, 5kg maybe?

45Carrying or possession of firearms, airguns, pistols, restricted weapons, or explosives, except for lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose
(1)Every person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to both who, except for some lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose,—
(a)carries; or
(b)is in possession of—
any firearm, airgun, pistol, restricted weapon, or explosive.
(2)In any prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) in which it is proved that the defendant was carrying or in possession of any firearm, airgun, pistol, restricted weapon, or explosive, as the case may require, the burden of proving the existence of some lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose shall lie on the defendant.

Originally Posted by Savage1

45Carrying or possession of firearms, airguns, pistols, restricted weapons, or explosives, except for lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose
(1)Every person commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years or to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to both who, except for some lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose,—
(a)carries; or
(b)is in possession of—
any firearm, airgun, pistol, restricted weapon, or explosive.
(2)In any prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) in which it is proved that the defendant was carrying or in possession of any firearm, airgun, pistol, restricted weapon, or explosive, as the case may require, the burden of proving the existence of some lawful, proper, and sufficient purpose shall lie on the defendant.

Indeed. Carriage of goods act allows drivers to carry these items as freight. How do you think they get to gunshops to start with?

NZ post are an interesting case. They refused to ship a rifle back to a customer from us and while I was speaking to them over the phone their driver was unloading a shipment of about 24 rifles from a wholesaler to us. We were going to get him to take it with him while he was still there........Go figure.

Limited Quantity Dangerous Goods (LQDG) means things like ammo under 5kg (not 50 as I understand it) do not require a DG license for the courier (or that as mentioned, the couriers all have a DG licence which does not seem likely knowing the couriers here). Either way, Fastways seems to be the way to go.

^ what he said.

Also double check on the Terms and Conditions of carriage for the company, as each one varies. Have read many crys from people about courier companies stopping delivery when they discover it's firearms, ammunition, etc. NZ Post comes to mind, it's listed in their T&C's of prohibited items.

That's right about NZ post. However Fastways are more than happy to take firearms and ammo as they require all their drivers to have their DG's.

We send and receive multiple firearms a day through fastway, nz couriers and Toll. No issues.

For courier and truck drivers the "lawful, proper and sufficient purpose," is to effect the delivery of the goods. Ammunition, powder etc are "dangerous goods and must be labelled appropriately and the carrier must have the applicable paperwork. dangerous goods are dangerous good sand the above applies no matter the quantity. under 50kgs is classed as "dangerous goods in limited quantity" (DGLQ) and the carrying vehicle need not display a DG placard, though I always did anyway.