Saturday 28 July 2012

what's wrong with "and"?

An Amazon Marketplace book delivery arrived this week, with a bright yellow sticker attached:

Goods Do Not Meet
The Requirement Of
Article 9 and 10 Of
The Contract For The
Foundation Of The
European Community

I have no idea what this means, and, judging by the result of Googling the phrase, neither does anyone else whose parcels have sprouted this sticker.

Presumably it has something to do with the Treaty of Rome, but I have no idea what.

But more to the point: What's With All That Unnecessary Capitalisation Of  Every Word Except "and"?

3 comments:

  1. I got that sticker too! I have no idea what it is for, most people with this have ordered books but I ordered a tshirt from redbubble.com. It was simply a geeky tshirt with an image of the 'big daddy' and 'little sister' from the Bioshock videogame series.

    I was also concerned about the dodgy capitalisation and its font. It didn't look official to me. I can't find 'The Contract For The Foundation Of The European Community' online to read exactly what article 9 and 10 were.

    My package came from America, I'm in England, it took quite a bit longer than stated to arrive to me, and the postman came to my door with a skeptical look saying, "You have a package from Germany..." So I signed for it and took it in and found that package and also stickers saying it had sent from US to Germany to UK.

    I'm not sure what it all means, I have never ordered from America before, so this is all new to me. If you ever find out what it means, please let me know as I'm a bit worried.

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    Replies
    1. I frequently get books delivered from the States. This was the first, and so far only, time I got the sticker. So I wouldn't worry about it.

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  2. Someone in the German customs office needs some English lessons!

    This sticker is meant to alert the UK customs officials that the package has come from outside the EU and therefore might possibly attract a UK customs charge. Articles 9 and 10 regulate that no customs charges are levied for goods that are moving within the EU, but that only applies under certain conditions, which these packages from the US do not satisfy.

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