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Sweden, is this fur real? Dog's paw print needed to pick up parcel from post office

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Sweden, is this fur real? Dog's paw print needed to pick up parcel from post office
When Marie Palmgren went to collect a parcel there was one problem. It was addressed to her dog Chaya. Photo: Private

There's bureaucracy, and then there's this story.

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You probably know how it works.

In Sweden, parcels are usually delivered to the local collection point of postal company Postnord rather than straight to your doorstep. You are then sent a notification which you bring with you when you go to show your ID and pick it up, and it is very important that everything adds up or you will not be allowed to collect your parcel lest you evoke the anger of the Gods of Bureaucracy on Holy Red Tape Mountain.*

And when Marie Palmgren's British friend sent her a present from the UK for her dog Chaya – and jokingly addressed it to Chaya – the staff at her collection point north of Stockholm were not about to bend the rules.

The Swede was told that she would need a proof of identity, and the dog's own signature.

"I was really frustrated," Palmgren told The Local. But she decided to focus on finding a solution, so she played along and went back home to collect Chaya's formal registration documents.

"At that point I could not stop laughing. I thought it was a bit surreal with the requirement for Chaya's signature," she said.

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The notification slip and Chaya's signature. Photo: Marie Palmgren

The staff were not such sticklers for rules that they were unable to accommodate Chaya's inability to hold a pen and write her signature, so an ink pad was brought out to take the dog's paw print.

"The cashier was completely serious, so I only laughed out loud once I was in the car on my way home," said Palmgren, whose story is now making the rounds on social media in Sweden.


Chaya eventually playing with her present from the UK: a water sprinkler for dogs. Photo: Marie Palmgren

Postnord said it is not usually the case that pets are allowed to sign for their own parcels.

"Only natural and legal persons may sign when collecting mail shipments. We're going to take a closer look at this next week. As far as I know nothing similar has happened before," Henrik Ishihara, a spokesperson for the Scandinavian postal company, told the Aftonbladet daily.

*Or something like that.

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Anonymous 2018/08/13 17:58
I know it too well, I feel for Marie... My name on my Swedish ID is Marija with a J but all the business communication etc. I get from UK comes addressed to Maria: so I was collecting 2 packages on the same day, one addressed to Marija and other one to Maria and guess which one they wouldn't let me collect at my local ICA Post Office outlet!!!! The time wasted arguing my case (while the queue was building up), frustrating and shockingly bizarre, given that they actually know me at this place (I have been collecting my stuff here for over a decade)... Nothing can bring you so close to tears (or getting arrested, as in my case!) like Swedish Postal Bureaucracy!

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