Entered on 2002-01-18 at 8:50 a.m..
Package from home
Yesterday, 9 days after a my mom sent me a package that was supposed to get here in 2 days, arrived. I now have my scarf back, and a supply of jello pudding:) Of course the package didn't arrive on its own, nope. It needed lots of paperwork and encouragement to make it all the way to my door. I've learned a lot of valuable lessons from this little package, and thought I should share them below. If you ever send a package to anyone in Europe, these guidelines should be helpful.
Karen's Package Tips To Europe
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1. Never send any fruit, veggies, dairy or meat products, as these are considered food and will be confiscated by customs.
2. Since you are not sending food, do not label anything else you can possible eat as food. If you do this, customs will assume that you are shipping fruit, veggies, dair, or meat products in the box. Chocolate, canned goods, powdered mixes, or other prepared food products are NOT food.
3. When in doubt of whether something is food or will be illegal to ship into a country, do not list that item on the shipping label. It is also helpful not to list strange items like pudding on the shipping label if you believe that customs might not know what it is and become curious.
4. Do not claim that the contents are a gift, care package, or present if you are going to claim that the contents are worth more than 45 Euros. This will be aproximately $40.
5. Do not claim that contents of the package are the recipient's (the person you are shipping to) goods unless you attach the proper custom's form for importing your own goods into the country. In my case, this will prompt customs to call me and ask for a copy of my school acceptance letter.
6. You can only claim that goods in the package were owned by the recipient prior to leaving to live in the foreign country, if they are more than 6 months old, or at least could be that old. This means if you are going to claim that the stuff inside the box was mine before I left, do not send any new stuff still in it's original packaging.
To summarize:
When shipping goods to a person in Europe, mark the package as a gift and claim on the box that whatever goods are in there are worth less than $40, no matter what they are. On the shipping label list only the most important item(s) that could conceivably cost under $40.
Hopefully, by following these guidelines, your name will not sit alongside my mother's on UPS's rampaging customer list.