[dvdvol] Customs declaration

[John Hagerson]

Don,

I have been completing customs forms for most of my overseas mailings.

The difficulty lies in the definition of "potentially dutiable contents"
which, I guess, varies from country to country. By putting the forms on the
mailing, you identify the contents for the inspectors. I had one helpful
mail clerk tell me, "Just write CD on the outside of the package and that is
sufficient." I had another one tell me, "CDs are merchandise and must be
declared as such on a customs form." I was also informed that Canada was
cracking down on incorrectly addressed mail. This was around Christmas and,
as I understand it, the US was dealing with extremely great volumes of mail
returned from Canada. Mailings to Canada were rejected if they lacked the
full name of the recipient or the sender (security concerns with all the
terrorism, don't you know) and if the address was not in all capital
letters. At my Post Office, one of the window clerks with whom I have
developed some rapport due to my regular visits and number of transactions
asked me why I thought Canada was being so hard nosed. I replied, "If I were
a cynic, I would think that maybe the Canada Post employees were feeling
overworked and were looking for any excuse not to do their jobs."

I have been checking the box declaring the contents as a gift, identifying
the contents as "1 CD-ROM data disc" and "1 DVD data disc" or as
appropriate, and declaring the value of the shipment to be $2. I have an
address stamp for my address, so I just need to write the destination
address and sign and date it twice. I'm printing mailing labels for the
destination and return addresses. I am identifying the shipper as "Project
Gutenberg Media Fulfillment," c/o my name and PO Box address.

I would presume that your packages were either delivered or they are en
route on their way back to you. I guess it's possible that some might be
confiscated somewhere, but I don't think that is happening.

On a related, but more general note, my personal productivity has fallen
markedly in the past two weeks or so. I have become engrossed in a
programming project at work, which, I hope (knock on wood) is nearing
successful completion. It should provide a big productivity win for my
department.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: dvdvol-bounces at lists.pglaf.org [mailto:dvdvol-bounces at lists.pglaf.org]
On Behalf Of Brandon Galbraith
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2005 8:03 PM
To: CD and DVD Volunteers
Subject: Re: [dvdvol] Customs declaration

Don,

There was a previous email about this on the list several months ago. 
Let me go dig it up. Short answer: You don't need the customs forms.

-brandon

Donald Arnold wrote:

>Is anyone else having to complete the customs forms?  I was told I had to
do
>one today on a package to Canada.  I have never been told anything about
>this before by the Postal Service people.  Now I am wondering if any of the
>DVDs or CDs that I mailed without Customs forms have reached their
>destinations.  I suppose I should fill them out regardless just to be on
the
>safe side.  Any thoughts or ideas from the group?
>
>Don Arnold
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>dvdvol mailing list
>dvdvol at lists.pglaf.org
>http://lists.pglaf.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/dvdvol
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