From the desk of a customs broker

[Marie13]

I have TONS of stories like this.

Misadventures from the desk of a customs broker:

I have a reefer container of frozen food from India. CBP in NY: we want you to take it to X whse for intensive exam (that’s where the container is fully unloaded) Me: this is a reefer. Can’t go that whse. CBP: it WILL go to that whse. Me: it’s a REEFER. You want to clean up the spoiled food at the whse?

10 minutes later the shipment is released. No further mention of exam. Where does CBP get these idiots? TSA rejects?

 

[Marie13]

From last Monday:

Monday morning work fun: customer imports stuffed toys. Container gets flagged for CBP/CPSC combined compliance exam. We needed testing reports from the mfg. We get them today along with FDA documents. Why would FDA be involved with stuffed animals? Because shipment contains lollipops that are packed with the stuffed animals. Importing food and not declaring it? BIG FDA fine for this importer. Docs don’t say anything about the candy. There’s no hiding it because the container is going to be stripped and inspected. Importer’d bad luck that it happened to be these ones flagged for exam.

 

[Marie13]

From several weeks ago:

Canadian customer in Toronto. They import Indian food items. They bring them via New York as the ocean freight rates are much cheaper than via Montreal or Halifax. The containers move up to Niagara Falls border crossing in-bond as they are not entering US commerce and a US customs entry is not being done. Well, after doing this for years, one of the containers gets flagged for intensive exam. Has to be moved to a warehouse and totally stripped. It’s held for two weeks. We’re getting no answer from CBP. We were told they were waiting for an FDA determination, which makes no sense for something not staying in the US. Customer is screaming at me as they have more than $10K in chassis rental charges, container per diem, etc. Turns out CBP found 20 cartons of Vicks Vapo Rub that were not listed on the ppwk. Took me days of yelling at CBP that this stuff wasn’t staying in the US to get an answer. The Indian shipper decided to throw the Vicks into the container for samples as they had been discussing with Canadian consignee about testing the market. CBP was concerned about trademark infringement, counterfeit and/or gray market goods. We finally got it released yesterday. I also ended up having to redo the in-bond as they have a 30 day lifespan. Between vessel delay and CBP hold, we had hit the wall.

 

[Johnoly]

.. Turns out CBP found 20 cartons of Vicks Vapo Rub that were not listed on the ppwk.

My stuff goes thru a consolidation at the departure point. But in my database I know the EXACT weights of each box down to the tenth of a pound. Once it gets thru check in at the dock, I get a proforma bill of lading which has the consolidator's weigh in numbers. I always go back and match, because I caught it before. Just like you said...someone wants to throw something 'extra' on to my load and I make them pull the shipment even if I have to miss the departure cut-off. The pain and harm to your reputation from the CBP will get you years of delayed future shipments. Don't mess with CBP !!

 

[Marie13]

My stuff goes thru a consolidation at the departure point. But in my database I know the EXACT weights of each box down to the tenth of a pound. Once it gets thru check in at the dock, I get a proforma bill of lading which has the consolidator's weigh in numbers. I always go back and match, because I caught it before. Just like you said...someone wants to throw something 'extra' on to my load and I make them pull the shipment even if I have to miss the departure cut-off. The pain and harm to your reputation from the CBP will get you years of delayed future shipments. Don't mess with CBP !!

I was yelling at them for two weeks that this stuff wasn’t staying in the US. I had to contact FDA and FDA didn’t want anything to do with it since it wasn’t entering US commerce. FDA even told CBP to leave FDA out of it.

 

[Johnoly]

I was yelling at them..

It sucks but it's painful. One instance from me was the supplier added wrapped christmas gifts (figurines, shirts, etc). I caught the slight weights difference. Told the consolidator to remove everything and throw it in the trash. None of it was listed on the manifest/packing lists. Word goes back to the customer that I'm the christmas scrooge who wrecked the holidays. But CBP said I did exactly the right thing and would have held the shipment for weeks and weeks.

 

[Marie13]

It sucks but it's painful. One instance from me was the supplier added wrapped christmas gifts (figurines, shirts, etc). I caught the slight weights difference. Told the consolidator to remove everything and throw it in the trash. None of it was listed on the manifest/packing lists. Word goes back to the customer that I'm the christmas scrooge who wrecked the holidays. But CBP said I did exactly the right thing and would have held the shipment for weeks and weeks.

They just don’t get it. If they had shipped the Christmas stuff separately via FedEx/UPS/DHL, it would have cleared quickly and everyone would have gotten their gifts.

 

[Marie13]

More misadventures from the desk of a customs broker. Have a customer that brings in consumer goods. They have brought in metal retail displays before that are duty free. They’ve switched to wood displays. 3ish% duty. When they found that out, they wanted me to use the metal classification for the wood displays. I kept telling them that was a bad idea. Finally I had to use the word “fraud” as that’s what it’s called in the Customs regulations. They did not like that. Told them the story of the former customer who got hit with a $1 million fine for doing the same thing. That finally shut them up.

 

[BlueTrin]

I bought my Santi drysuit and undergarment while traveling in Europe because, all totaled, it was half the price of buying it here in the US! The exchange rate was good, and the base price was lower even apart from the exchange rate. Add to that the VAT refund I received when I left Europe, and the price was half what it would have cost me from a US dealer.

When I returned to the US, I duly declared my purchase at Customs. The Customs agent seemed surprised at my honesty. I got the impression that many people buy stuff abroad and don't bother to declare it. The agent asked me what the thing was that I had bought, searched on her computer for a few minutes, factored in the $800 exemption, and then told me what I owed. It wasn't that much--under 100 USD--so I had clearly come out ahead. But now, for the coup de grace, when I tried to pay, their payment system wouldn't take my credit card due to some malfunction on their end, and the agent said, "Never mind. Thanks for your honesty. Have a nice day."

I am a bit surprised by your honesty too.

Good on you