[Nhcoll-l] new US Customs regulations?

[Laura Eklund]

We have also used the "USPS Customs Forms tool" to complete the online form
without an account.  The one issue we have encountered is the system's
inability to read non-English letters (à, é, ñ, ß, etc.).  However instead
of giving instructions to remove the accents it says "An unexpected error
has occurred. Please try refreshing the page."  It took us a while to
figure out that the "error" was the use of accents - ironic given that the
form is specifically for shipping internationally.


*Laura Eklund, MA JD*Collections Manager
Department of Anthropology
California Academy of Sciences
T 415.379.5383
leklund at calacademy.org

www.calacademy.org
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118

The entire Anthropology collection database is available online:
http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/collections/index.asp


On Mon, Mar 2, 2020 at 7:25 AM Tocci (Lewis-Gentry), Genevieve E. <
glewis-g at oeb.harvard.edu> wrote:

> Good morning all,
>
>
>
> We have been exclusively filling out the USPS customs forms online for
> about a year. Our local post office sent us several notifications in
> warning that only the online forms would be accepted, and we are in a big
> enough metro area that they were very strict from the beginning.
>
>
>
> The nice thing is that while a bit more work than the paper forms it is
> easy to do online and print and no online account is necessary if you
> select the “USPS Customs forms tool” on the top of the customs forms page
> https://www.usps.com/international/customs-forms.htm
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Genevieve
>
>
>
> =================================================
> Genevieve E. Tocci (she, her, hers)
> Senior Curatorial Technician
> Harvard University Herbaria
> 22 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138  U.S.A.
> Phone: 617-495-1057  Fax: 617-495-9484
> glewis-g at oeb.harvard.edu
>
>
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> * On Behalf Of *Doug
> Yanega
> *Sent:* Friday, February 28, 2020 1:30 PM
> *To:* nhcoll <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
> *Subject:* [Nhcoll-l] new US Customs regulations?
>
>
>
> Hi, all. We have been having some serious problems trying to send
> specimens to overseas destinations in the past two months, and I'm
> wondering whether anyone else is having similar difficulties, and/or knows
> exactly how to comply with the new policies.
>
> We have gotten packages returned with comments that we were using outdated
> forms, and we went to the Post Office and got what were ostensibly the new
> forms. Just today we got back a package with what we had thought was a
> correct form, but it had been stamped to indicate that they will not accept
> forms that are handwritten, and instead ONLY digital Customs forms will be
> accepted.
>
> It's possible that these rejected shipments reflect some genuine changes
> in the regulations, but these days it seems like it could just as easily be
> that the personnel processing our shipments are mistakenly rejecting the
> shipments because THEY are confused.
>
> If the former, we would expect that we are not the only US institution
> having difficulty shipping internationally. So, I have two essential
> questions:
>
> (1) Has anyone else experienced similar rejections of shipments recently?
>
> (2) Is anyone aware *definitively* of the correct new forms and
> procedures, * especially* if the forms must be filled out online?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> --
>
> Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum
>
> Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega
>
> phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
>
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>
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
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