Comments on: Michelle Obama Held at US Customs!

By: jailbreakcollective

jailbreakcollective — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:18:01 +0000

We appreciate your advice. We weren't whining. It's simply an unfortunate situation and we were poking a bit of fun at our conundrum. Cynicism and satire aren't always bad things. The process sucks sometimes…

By: Bob Dugger

Bob Dugger — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:49:32 +0000

Further to my earlier response to this post, I stand corrected: an entry was filed for your shipment on the 13th; however, CBP has not finished processing of the entry, presumably due to the exam on the entire container. Of the 18 shipments in the container, 13 have been released, and 2 have been filed but not released (incl. yours). The exam on the container as a whole is not necessarily indicative of any issues with your shipment. As I said, this is routine, especially for consolidation containers.

By: Bob Dugger

Bob Dugger — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:40:36 +0000

No, I have no vested interest. I am a US Customs broker, and I know how this works. A container# was given, and using that informaiton, I can determine quite a bit about your shipment (it is 209 cartons – there is no freight release and no Customs entry filed.) Given the parameters of the shipment, this is strictly routine business and frankly, given the arrival date of the vessel, you could not have made your target date anyway. What I do have an interest in is (a) not slowing down commercial operations, which I am involved in, with unnecessary communications, and (b) helping people understand how importing works. There is simply nothing out of the ordinary here, and the original post I found on this on swampland made it sound like you were whining about the situation. As I said in my Facebook comment, if you would like to work with a good US Customs broker for future business, please contact me.

By: jailbreakcollective

jailbreakcollective — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:16:15 +0000

I'm sorry sir…do you have some sort of vested interest in our situation? Why are you commenting negatively on this? Don't you have something better to do with your time?

By: Bob Dugger

Bob Dugger — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:56:20 +0000

Mr. Feinberg is making a fuss over nothing except being unprepared. The shipment in question is part of a consolidated container, currently at a CBP authorized exam facility called Price Transfer. The examination is routine for security (formally called AT-CET, for Anti-Terrorism/Contraband Enforcement Team.)

Public email to the Trade Interface Unit will not be acknowledged by CBP, and only hampers legitimate business and trade.

Finally, no Customs entry has been filed for this shipment, suggesting that Mr. Feinberg may not have contracted a Customs broker to handle this for him, or his broker is not acting in a timely fashion.

Please, let us not propogate whining.

By: britethorn

britethorn — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:02:59 +0000

Just wait till President Obama hears about this!!