International Shipping Vent....

[TheReader]

Last year, one of DH's employees back in Brazil had a new baby. So, we went out and bought gifts for baby, big sister, the other employee's kid(s), etc. and packaged it all up, sent it on its way. We are well versed in how to do this b/c of our time living there, so we sent it following all the sure-fire "will reach its destination" methods we learned back then. 

And then we waited and waited and waited. 

And eventually it got to the Customs checkpoint there. 

And never moved again. 

Until, it arrived back on our doorstep today, marked "RTS -- Return -- Unclaimed."  (which is crazy, because they never got word of it there, so....?) 

Now, DH knowing international mail for what it is, never even told the employees that this was coming, so in one regard, that's good. They have no idea they should be disappointed by this, at least. 

 But we mailed this off mid-October 2020........it took 3 weeks to get to the right state in Brazil........and now, here it is back. 

I don't even have a clue what to do with the stuff inside at this point. We're unlikely to be able to return items purchased so long ago, and we certainly aren't going to pay $75 *again* to try and send these (or replacement) items *back* into the unknown.  (it was baby clothes/items, some toys, etc.). 

So disappointed. 

[Bootsie]

I am sure that is disappointing.  And, even if you could resend them, baby items may not be relevant months later.  

It sounds as if it is really more of a customs issue than a shipping issue.  Getting packages through customs can be a mess.  I do not have any experience with Brazilian customs but I have had in other countries and I would think that Brazil is no better (especially in the midst of a pandemic.)

[TheReader]

2 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

I am sure that is disappointing.  And, even if you could resend them, baby items may not be relevant months later.  

It sounds as if it is really more of a customs issue than a shipping issue.  Getting packages through customs can be a mess.  I do not have any experience with Brazilian customs but I have had in other countries and I would think that Brazil is no better (especially in the midst of a pandemic.)

You are right, it's more  a Customs-in-the-middle-of-a-Pandemic thing.....very true. (Long for a title, but true 😉 ) 

And yes, even if resent, the same items for a newborn would be irrelevant now that baby would be several months old. It's just a bummer. 

[Ausmumof3]

ugh how annoying.  Can you sell the baby clothes as new with tags and at least get some part of the money back?  

[TheReader]

14 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

ugh how annoying.  Can you sell the baby clothes as new with tags and at least get some part of the money back?  

maybe so; I'll have to check what's even in there. I haven't opened the box up yet to investigate.....

[Kareni]

You have my sympathies. Over the past year, we've had several pieces of mail going into the ether rather than to our daughter in South Korea. Nothing has been returned to date.

A possible silver lining .... Do you know anyone who is expecting a baby? If so, your shopping is done.

Regards,

Kareni

[TheReader]

43 minutes ago, Kareni said:

You have my sympathies. Over the past year, we've had several pieces of mail going into the ether rather than to our daughter in South Korea. Nothing has been returned to date.

A possible silver lining .... Do you know anyone who is expecting a baby? If so, your shopping is done.

Regards,

Kareni

So, re: the bold, the coolest story came from this. 

I posted the photos on my neighborhood FB group (of the baby clothes); free to anyone who needs it.  A sweet neighbor replied almost right away, someone at her school is having a boy, could she get it. Sure. 

Well, the whole story.....? This mom just found out *today* (same day the box arrived back to us) that she's having a boy. But more than that, she only found out 2 weeks ago that she's pregnant......and since her school year ends in 8 days,  her team of teachers is scrambling to get her baby shower together by Friday. My friend happened to have tomorrow off, so she can take her dad to the doctor, and so was going to cram in a shopping trip to pick up their gift for this co-teacher. 

So, this box of things we shopped for, right when this little person was beginning (unbeknownst to his mom), arrived back on our doorstep the day his mom-to-be found out she's having a boy, the day before the mom-to-be's friend was going to try and frantically squeeze in a shopping trip. Anyway, maybe that's just me reading more into it than is there, but it made me smile, the circuitous journey of these items to get where they apparently need to go. 

[lulalu]

We had almost the same thing happen last fall with our school stuff. Sat in customs for two months and we couldn't get to it. Then it shipped back to Rainbow Resource. 

It was so annoying. The pandemic has done a lot to shipping and customs we have found out. 

[Lanny]

We are in Colombia and use a Receiver/Forwarder in Miami FL USA.  CoordinadoraUSA which is a division (?) of Coordinadora here in Colombia.  The items usually go into Colombian Customs on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning and are out of Customs late that afternoon. Then, they go in an overnight truck from Bogota to Cali and then in a delivery truck to our house.  Customs in Brazil is probably not as friendly to the customers?  (Using the Post Office is another matter and I don't do that).

Hopefully you can donate the items to a charity or something.