Miguelito
Feb 9, 2004, 9:06 AM
Post #1 of 1
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caught me; aye caramba. I used a customs broker in Pharr who pulled together the pedimento (customs form for la aduana) attaching it to my menaje de casa, and sent me on my way sans any inspections on the North side (this is where he screwed up because he has to vouch that everything I'm carrying is on the menaje and that he has inspected it). Using my own truck, I was directed to the line of big rigs crossing and caught the red light. I was then told I had to submit to a "pre-inspection". After sitting two hours on the unloading dock, I found a customs man who figured out there were 3 big rigs in front of me and assured me I was in the right place any my paperwork they had confiscated at la puente was still there and intact, not lost in the system somewhere as I feared. Finally a couple of men in uniform came over with clipboards, etc. and stood on the dock looking at the rear of my truck which was covered with stacks of boxes, all neatly tied down, etc., talked a bit and went away. Looking at my menaje they had absolutely no interest in checking anything at all; but WERE terribly interested in some 1x6 and 1x8 pine lumber I was carrying over for a friend who wanted to build some bookcases. I had 13 pieces of lumber in total, about 100 lineal feet with a value of some $70+ USD. It WAS listed on the menaje as "material for bookshelves". In addition, my broker had to have seen it as he leaned on my truck door giving me instructions on how to get to the bridge. Turns out he never even noticed it and that in order to legally bring it over I had to have a special permit. The tax guy actually called my broker and asked him about it. The broker claimed it wasn't on the truck when he inspected it and that I must have picked it up somewhere between his place and the border, the great distance of 1 mile and out in the sticks too. Anyway along about hour 3 the young guy, contractadore, who was a helper to the officials and who had perfect English came over and explained the problem. He said that after clearing the pre-inspection I had to go to the final inspection station (but I couldn't clear pre-inspection with the lumber) and that if I got a green light there then I was free to go on my way (if I caught another red light then I would have to entirely unload and get really inspected). What to do with the lumber? We unloaded it on the dock, I moved my truck to final inspection, got the green light, went back to pre-inspection, reloaded the lumber on the back of my truck, retied everything down and tarped it, and headed south. There's some logic in this somewhere but I'm still searching for it. Apparently it was too much trouble to question such a small amount of stuff and I was surrounded by more big rigs coming in for inspection all the time I was there. By the way, there was no actual "red/green light" at any point. It is a computer generated toss of the dice, apparently (though I have my doubts about that) that results in your docs being stamped one way or the other. Regards, Mike
Los que cantan oran dos veces! (Those who sing pray twice!)
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