gnome@oliveb.UUCP (Gary Traveis) (07/22/83)
This message is a semi-flame about traveling to Canada.
Beware Canadian Customs!
(at least in Vancouver airport)
I had always been told that "If you're going to Canada,
all you have to worry about is coming back through American Customs".
This is not necessarily the case.
I was on my way up to Vancouver with a camera, flash, VCR, video camera,
and charger when, just to avoid a hassle, I stopped by US Customs at
SFO (San Francisco Intr.) to pre-register the equipment for my return
to the US a week later. The process took about five minutes and I was
merrily on my way! The flight took two hours... Getting the equipment
through Canadian customs took two and one-half hours!
They had to --
1) Look up the "appropriate classification" as to how
the equipment was to be used.
2) Write down (from the US Customs sheet) all the model
and serial numbers onto their forms.
3) Look up, on a unit-by-unit basis, each tariff rate
covering each individual piece of equipment.
4) Get an estimated value (price) for each unit.
(This caused lots of problems because I had insured
the whole lot for $1600 - replacement cost. So,
after totaling up my estimated worth figures, the
hoser-of-a-customs-agent said "But this doesn't add
up to $1600!" I had to argue with her for 20 minutes
until she finally got her supervisor in on it. He
agreed that my figures for present value (not the
insured value) were right.
5) Then, they proceeded to charge me $180 in taxes just
in case sell my two year old equipment in Vancouver
and send their whole economy into a tailspin.
The $180 had to paid in advance, or they would keep
the equipment until I was ready to leave the country.
This used up all of my emergency money and made it rather difficult to
do much of anything outside of the convention that I went there to
attend. Anyway, it took almost as long to back out through their
customs. They had to check all the serial numbers and then escourt
me (and my equipment) over to the departure area. All of this to
prevent me from passing this mega-buck VCR kit to a waiting accomplice
in the ticketting area who would undoubtedly take hostages just to
get it out of the airport without paying taxes. As I approached the
departure area, I asked "So, when do I get my money back?" he said
that they'll send me cheque within about 30 days. Great.
Total Customs time for this trip - five hours!
Conclusion: If you go to Vancouver, bring clothes and an Instamatic!
Anything else, and you'd best be prepared to PAY!
And what happened when I got back to the US? They looked at my slip
with the equipment list and said "Ok, have a nice day".
By that time, though, it was too late.