Customs - Ouch!

[hoosierpipeguy]

A realistic picture.

Agents may be forum members too. I get suspicious when I see someone from "Canada" whose first post, or who has been a "member" for years and who has barely any posts—most of which are about duties, mind ye—post on the forums enquiring about ways around duties.

Yeah, they're likely dedicating an agent who costs them $100K per year to troll internet sites in order to bust some Cuban cigars or pipe tobacco instead of focusing on drugs, weapons, bombs, etc..

 

[cosmicfolklore]

No, but this would be a great place to see which retailers are sending packages across the boarder. Yes, so do fill out all of the appropriate paperwork and do not try to fool anyone when sending packages for tobaccos... but, that used to not be the case. People used to discuss openly who was covertly mailing packages, and it may explain why many do not any more.

Ha ha, but the OP did post the paperwork from customs on here...

 

[warren]

You honestly think customs is monitoring pipe and cigar forums looking for people

No I don't. Didn't say that. Governments have computers which, at the behest of many agencies, simply look for "words" and alert agencies that have an interest. Do not fool yourself. Countries look everywhere for their moneys, at little cost or effort, computers are perfect for this. The program finds a combination of words which may trigger monitoring a poster. No humans involved. At a certain threshold, including certain terms, customs would be notified. Whether customs follows up is entirely up to them.

A couple hundred dollars, pounds, Euros, etc. soon adds up when it comes to cigarettes.cigars.blends, booze, tusks, animal parts, contraband of all sorts, etc. There are thousands of items to be tracked, few humans involved in the tracking, just some quietly idling computers in well cooled rooms attended by a few techs. Porn sellers are located in this manner, illicit weapons sales are monitored similarly. The computers simply cruise the net, looking for "key" words. Find a word(s) and AI/app probes further. All very simple and easily accomplished at relatively little expense. After the hardware is purchased, coding is the most expensive tool. In some cases the owners of social internet services are co-opted to feed government. Intrusive government is here ... to stay.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

No I don't. Didn't say that. Governments have computers which, at the behest of many agencies, simply look for "words" and alert agencies that have an interest. Do not fool yourself. Countries look everywhere for their moneys, at little cost or effort, computers are perfect for this. The program finds a combination of words which may trigger monitoring a poster. No humans involved. At a certain threshold, including certain terms, customs would be notified. Whether customs follows up is entirely up to them.

A couple hundred dollars, pounds, Euros, etc. soon adds up when it comes to cigarettes.cigars.blends, booze, tusks, animal parts, contraband of all sorts, etc. There are thousands of items to be tracked, few humans involved in the tracking, just some quietly idling computers in well cooled rooms attended by a few techs. Porn sellers are located in this manner, illicit weapons sales are monitored similarly. The computers simply cruise the net, looking for "key" words. Find a word(s) and AI/app probes further. All very simple and easily accomplished at relatively little expense. After the hardware is purchased, coding is the most expensive tool. In some cases the owners of social internet services are co-opted to feed government. Intrusive government is here ... to stay.

I suppose if you want to believe that you may. Again, what are they going to do when they come up with Beowolf? And why would they miss multiple packages from Laudisi when those same computers you mention could simply tag those packages?

 

[warren]

Parse my posts closer please. Humans enter the equation when notified of certain key words being located. Your local customs agency isn't doing the monitoring. A human may ignore the alert or, at the least post the name of the address owner to local postal or customs offices. Then, maybe, I say maybe, a agent/clerk/etc. may log the name(s) in their mind and actively search items crossing their station for that name. Or, scanners may be "keyed" to look for the name. It might be the recipient or the vendor. Very little effort by employees is required. It's effortless, cheap, and sometimes, even efficient. The computers simply troll everything in the internet, constantly, cheaply and, depending on the coding, efficiently.

It's government efficiency ( an oxymoron if there ever was one) at it's intrusive best or, worse depending on your point of view. What ever it takes to put moneys back into government. After all, it is their money and not yours. At least that's is their contention. This is especially true when money is crossing international borders.

 

[warren]

Again, what are they going to do when they come up with Beowolf? And why would they miss multiple packages from Laudisi when those same computers you mention could simply tag those packages?

They probably have a threshold of activity. Which may be why so many parcels sneak through ... for awhile. Until the threshold is reached. I certainly can't speak for the efficiency of all the world's various customs operations. Just understand that the net is widely and endlessly monitored for an assortment of reasons.

Politicians, better than most, understand, a few dollars, Euros, etc here and there soon add up to billions.

 

[Deano]

A friend was wondering about a form he recieved to fill out for eligibility for medicaid to supplement his medicare. They wanted to know the worth of his house, car and all bank accounts. I found this amusing because they know exactly who has what here in the land of the free. As for the internet? Post at your own risk. Everything is monitored. If the fed wants they can pull up your phone text and call records. Privacy is an illusion.

 

[Servant King]

Ooof. Hope that parcel at least included some complimentary KY Jelly, so as to ease the...discomfort.

 

[olkofri]

Yeah, they're likely dedicating an agent who costs them $100K per year to troll internet sites in order to bust some Cuban cigars or pipe tobacco instead of focusing on drugs, weapons, bombs, etc..

Looking at all the BS they throw money at it's definitely plausible. After all, it's not their money, so why not?

 

[olkofri]

A friend was wondering about a form he recieved to fill out for eligibility for medicaid to supplement his medicare. They wanted to know the worth of his house, car and all bank accounts. I found this amusing because they know exactly who has what here in the land of the free. As for the internet? Post at your own risk. Everything is monitored. If the fed wants they can pull up your phone text and call records. Privacy is an illusion.

 

[rmbittner]

I live in the US, and am not ordering anything internationally, so I’m unaware of how customs works (apart from how you handle it when traveling internationally).

I would have been under the impression that every package is eligible for a customs charge, based on the contents and how the country in question regards those contents. If tobacco shipments are subject to custom charges and additional fees, then this charge shouldn’t have been unexpected, right? It sounds like your shipments were overlooked in the past, so it feels more punitive than it really is. Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

 

[Beowoulf]

Yes.

There are three options, actually:

1. To fill out the Return to CBSA field (you can see it on the pic there) and give the parcel back to the postman to be sent back to the CB$A for a reassessment, and hope they lower the duty fee when it, days to weeks later, comes back to you.
2. To reject paying the fees, which will eventually send the parcel back to the seller, who will be charged postage fees when he gets it back (maybe this will teach him to be so candid, LOL).
3. To accept it and get legally ravished by The System.

<-- is feeling ravished! LOL

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

They probably have a threshold of activity. Which may be why so many parcels sneak through ... for awhile. Until the threshold is reached. I certainly can't speak for the efficiency of all the world's various customs operations. Just understand that the net is widely and endlessly monitored for an assortment of reasons.

Politicians, better than most, understand, a few dollars, Euros, etc here and there soon add up to billions.

So they would put in the effort to monitor the internet but they wouldn't do something so simple as to monitor packages sent by Laudisi or tobacco pipes? Makes sense to me.

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

Looking at all the BS they throw money at it's definitely plausible. After all, it's not their money, so why not?

Why not? Because they have a budget for how many people they can hire.

 

[PA Piper Mike]

Damn....did they at least take you out to dinner before f**king you like that?

 

[rmbittner]

<-- is feeling ravished! LOL

My reply above does not convey how much I sympathize with your situation. That total cost would be extremely hard to take. Is it based on the total value of the contents? the weight? the category it falls into? Because I’m wondering if there are ways of ordering in the future that could help to mitigate the costs.

 

[geoffs]

I get suspicious when I see someone from "Canada" whose first post, or who has been a "member" for years and who has barely any posts—most of which are about duties, mind ye—post on the forums enquiring about ways around duties.

Don't be suspicious it's topic #1 for every pipe and cigar smoker in this country. Every time a nonsmoking friend or relative heads down south they know they are going to be my tobacco mule.

 

[warren]

It's much, much more than the item in the transaction. When a country's currency is leaving, there is a legitimate government concern. Sure those moneys will, most likely, return, in time. This discussion started over customs, tobacco products and a member outraged at being charged a legitimate government fee which should have been budgeted for at the start of the transactions. A minor irritant to most but, apparently a major pain for some.

If you import tobacco products be sure to include "customs" and applicable taxes, at least in your mind, when making a purchase. It'll save a lot of angst and anger. If one can't afford the additional fees/taxes" ... cross border transactions should be avoided.

So they would put in the effort to monitor the internet but they wouldn't do something so simple as to monitor packages sent by Laudisi or tobacco pipes? Makes sense to me.

Good to read that it makes sense. Why wouldn't they monitor such companies? Quite possibly they do. I suspect they monitor customers more as that is where the moneys are taken. But, there is no reason an e-receipt to you from Laudisi wouldn't trigger a computer program. Simple enough. The question/threshhold would likely be, is such a transaction reoccurring and/or, is the amount to be accessed enough to generate action on the part of the government?

 

[Beowoulf]

I would have been under the impression that every package is eligible for a customs charge, based on the contents and how the country in question regards those contents. If tobacco shipments are subject to custom charges and additional fees, then this charge shouldn’t have been unexpected, right? It sounds like your shipments were overlooked in the past, so it feels more punitive than it really is. Or am I misunderstanding the situation?

Here, let me WHINE some more.

I was only saying that I was unlucky this time. Over the years, I've ordered all kinds of stuff (tobacco included) from the States and have always squeaked by Customs. This $210 makes up for a few of those squeaks! And, I have two more packages of tobacco coming up from the States - one of them is quite large. Maybe I can pay $1,000 in customs, taxes and fees before all is done.

Let me think about this a little more and maybe I can find more things to WHINE about.

 

[olkofri]

Why not? Because they have a budget for how many people they can hire.

The first thing this administration did when coming into power was to hire AN ARMY of tax collectors/auditors/enforcers at the same time they started taxing like hell left and right. It was the year this same admin was reelected that a couple of tobacco suppliers got those cease-and-desist/start-declaring-everything—I know this for a fact, having Emailed one of those suppliers.

So yes, the budget for taxation officers is just part of their overhead. It's easily offset by all the money they collect rob from the rank-and-file Canadians through duties and fines.