Shrimply the best

Birthday cakes, graduation certificates, wedding rings and now live crustaceans – the weekly list of customer compliments we receive often reads like a tally of the weird and wonderful things the public entrust to us.

But the parcel that ‘Anthony,’ a customer in Pendle, Lancashire, received recently – labelled ‘live fish’ and containing no less than 5kg of live shrimp – took Pendle postman, Adam Linley, by surprise.

Anthony is an aquarium devotee and the shrimp were going to form the centrepiece of his new collection. ‘You need them to establish a breeding colony before you introduce fish,’ he explained. ‘Otherwise all the fish will eat them. Usually it takes them a few weeks to start breeding, but in this case, they started the next day. I don’t know whether it was a good breeder or Royal Mail’s magic touch!’

Anthony noted that lots of breeders of aquatic pets use our next-day delivery service – knowing it’s often more reliable and efficient than our rivals. ‘It was good of the postman to read the signs saying, “Handle with care,”’ he said. ‘Other couriers might not!’

Anthony was pleased to report the shrimp are ‘all alive and doing well’ and thanked Adam via an ops compliment for handling his Special Delivery so carefully. ‘He deserves credit,’ he said. ‘So please pass on my respect.’

At least this fishy tale didn’t have a sticky ending.