Remember the care package?

You know - the one that was being held hostage by customs.  Well, I have to admit defeat.  I've been beaten by the customs agent.  Definitely disappointing.

A somewhat long story short:  because of the declared value, it has to go through several additional steps to actually get the package.  The attorneys at the company had been trying to get an appointment to start the process.  Because they had so little luck, I went out to customs with Burnee to try and get the package. 

What we learned there after standing in 5 lines over the course of 3 hours (I could see the package but wasn't allowed to touch it) was that because of the declared value on the package: UPS has the provide the manifest, each item has to be inspected and the cost evaluated, then the tax is assessed on the value around 15% - 25% of the total value.  Then the custom charges kick in which are based on the amount of shipping, the value that they assess it to be and the difference that might be with what was declared, etc. etc. 

Because it’s Naadam (big national holiday here) we can’t even begin the first of the 7 steps (I didn’t outline them all here – and I got confused not sure it’s actually 7 at this point) – until July 18^th or 19^th when the proper custom official returns from holiday.  It can take several weeks to go through all the steps at which time – I’ll likely be back in the US and because it has my name on it – no one else on the team could pick it up.  So…  I asked them to ship it back. Ok – not so short but I feel a bit better after the rant.   And - a complete bummer that we didn't get to enjoy it.