The problem is that the post office staff have to check that stuff on the new list of banned items is not being sen, one problem that I have is that batteries are not allowed so I have to remove them from the item ( or say that there are no batteries in it)
They normally just show you a list and say '' is it anything on this list?'' so I just say '' No its just an old camera or whatever''
I really do not see a problem (you can always lie if you have to)
But for most stuff I now use CollectPlus anything up to 2 kg for £4.87 and it has full tracking and insurance to £50. CollectPlus uses corner shops to send the items from, the nearest one to me is just 50 yds from my front door.
You can even send items up to 10KG for under £10 far cheaper than the post office. The other parcel service I use is MyHermes they will collect from your door and it is only a bit more than CollectPlus but they do seem to be slow some things take up to 15days!.
There is no alternative to the post office for letters at least for private users as they have a monopoly on door to door delivery for letters. I suppose you could sent a letter as a parcel by collectPlus or myhermes.