US Customs Is Holding My Briar For Ransom

[zack24]

OK- maybe that's overstated a little, but I have $1,600 worth of the finest briar from the Calabria region that has been sitting in Customs since May 25. I know my guy sent it with the proper EU certificates.
Does any one have any insight on how to check a status? It seems like Customs is a black hole from which the package eventually emerges or if there's a problem, they'll notify you by mail.

 

[condorlover1]

The shipper should have an export certificate as anything from Greater Germany, I mean the EU has to have one. On the bottom of the certificate is a 12 digit number which should tell where it is in the EU postal system. I hope that is of some help otherwise contact the shipper and then work your way through the bureaucracy that seems to proliferate throughout Greater Germany!

 

[lockdown199]

I had a package held up by customs and as I was trying to figure out what was going on it just showed up. I also couldn't get any info just like you.

 

[cmdrmcbragg]

It went into the hole and shall emerge at a time as seen fit by federal agents.

 

[zack24]

@condorlover- Yep- I have the number. It tracked fine with EMS in Italy and I can now see that it's on the USPS radar, but it's showing stuck in Customs...

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Try having $40,000 in uncut Australian opal rough held up for nine months, and I didn't get notification and had no idea which country was holding it. Or if it was stolen in transit. And, I had rough rubies lost in the mail, probably stolen coming right out of Burma. This has happened to me quite a bit. I've only had this turn out to be the US customs fault once. My vendors had to provide all sorts of proof of compliance with international laws regarding mining and such. I now use a carrier company that drops my stones off in a Florida Customs office and I drive down and get them. Yeh, it's a pain in the neck, and drives up the cost of doing business, but... what do we do? I went through twelve years of gambling on shipping rocks like this, always feeling like I was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at the discretion of some half-wit agent in some country that I can't even communicate with.
I feel your pain.

 

[kanaka95]

Those bastards.

 

[zack24]

Finally cleared! A couple of days until happiness!
May 31, 2014 , 1:59 am

Processed through USPS Sort Facility
JAMAICA, NY 11430

 

[ejames]

I wonder if they have my Olive wood? 8O

 

[mso489]

zack24, that probably stressed you. However, you have the satisfaction of having time on your side. While

customs was diddling around the briar was ... AGING!

 

[mso489]

I used to work for a federal agency that did research, and we would occasionally attend meetings outside the

U.S. In order to ship our meeting publications, we would hire what was called (maybe) a customs broker.

This was an intermediary to get the publications through customs in time for the meeting. I think they were

paid some percent of the value of the shipment. It seemed like a shakedown, but otherwise the publications

would have disappeared into the miasma and never have been seen again.

 

[andrew]

Any shipment that exceeds 100$ is automatically sent for customs processing, the package is opened and inspected. So a total of 5 days in customs really isn't that bad.

 

[sfsteves]

hey, it's the government we're talking about, here ... the same folks who run the VA, the IRS, TSA. provide security for foreign embassies and soon to be administering health care ...