Five Dollar User Fee?

[Guest tinger]

I'm new to selling on Ebay, and since I live in a border town in Canada, I thought I would mail the cds won by my American customers, from the States. I pull up to the customs booth, and instantly get attitude from the U.S. Customs officer. "Why are you mailing these cds over here?" was the first question. I tried explaining that I was going to the U.S. to shop anyways, and thought that it would be a good idea to send them out at the same time, since they would get to my customers sooner. Then the officer asked why the bubble mailers were sealed."How do I know that you don't have drugs in those envelopes?", he then asked. Thankfully, I forgot to seal one of the envelopes, so I handed that cd to him, upon which he studied it for about a minute. "Did you burn these cds?" was the next question. I explained that these were used cds that I had found in my pawnshop hunts, and that they doubles of cds that I already have. He then warned me that the next time I tried bring in sealed envelopes that he would rip open every package. As I cleared the booth, thankfull that they didn't force me at gun point to spread eagle on the hood of my car, I was waved over to secondary inspection. This time I had 2 gung ho customs officers walk over to my car. I was ordered to open the hood and trunk of my car, and to stand about 7 feet away, on an adjoining sidewalk. "Get your hands out of your pockets!" barked one of the officers. Finally fed up with the attitude, I barked back "Canadians don't carry guns on them!!". At this point, about 3 other customs officers turned around and looked at me. Pissed off at myself that I lost my cool, I then calmly said, "Look, Canada is your neighbour...why do you treat your neighbours this way?" To my shock, the officer who had ordered my hands out of my pockets apologized to me! After finishing their search of my car, I was told to go into the Customs office, and pay a five dollar user fee, just like a truck driver making a delivery into the States. Man, what a crappy experience!!

[gener8tr]

The U.S. Customs Agent must not enjoy Triumph nealy as much as I do?

[JLPRocks]

First of all......any type of 'inconvenience' you may have experienced only helps to ultimately protect those that it is intended. If you felt that you were being unjustly scrutinized then maybe you should allow the patrol to do their jobs without any lip....in my eyes his actions were not out of line. ANYTIME you are in the presence of any type of Officer of the Law you must act with respect....it's just common courtesy.

 

I fly all the time....get checked....wanded.....asked to take my shoes off....asked to open my carry on.....and I don't feel 'compromised'...or 'inconvenienced' because I understand that life is a bit different now...and it is necessary.....

 

As for the fee....I haven't heard of that one. That may be a bit odd.....and I haven't heard of that....

[Guest tinger]

First of all......any type of 'inconvenience' you may have experienced only helps to ultimately protect those that it is intended. If you felt that you were being unjustly scrutinized then maybe you should allow the patrol to do their jobs without any lip....in my eyes his actions were not out of line. ANYTIME you are in the presence of any type of Officer of the Law you must act with respect....it's just common courtesy.

 

I fly all the time....get checked....wanded.....asked to take my shoes off....asked to open my carry on.....and I don't feel 'compromised'...or 'inconvenienced' because I understand that life is a bit different now...and it is necessary.....

 

As for the fee....I haven't heard of that one. That may be a bit odd.....and I haven't heard of that....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

It wasn't so much the 'inconvenience', as it was the attitude...I've been crossing the border for about 25 years, and never has it been this bad. It's like they assume you're doing something illegal right off the bat. I didn't give any "tude" to these officers until I lost my cool. Christ, I'm a pasty white guy in his early 40's...what reason did they have to treat me the way they did? Just like cops, it's always the younger officers that are like this. Older law inforcement officers are are almost always cooler, because they seem to have more of a "been there, seen that" vibe. I was treating them with respect, until I lost my cool, and even then, the one officer that told me to get my hands out of my pocket must've realized that he went a little too far over the line, because he apologized. Not trying to be racist, but I would've understood if I looked like I came from some Middle Eastern country. If I was flying into the U.S., I would understand the high scrutiny in light of what happened on 911; I would be prepared for anything. But I was just taking a day trip into the States...

[JustJason]

No offense but a white pastie guy planted a bomb 10 years ago in the Murrah Building here in Oklahoma City. It took him less than an hour to plant it, let alone a whole day. I don't mean in any way that you had ill intentions, but we can't be too careful. We don't live in the same United States that we did even 5 years ago. That being said, some officials/officers may go too far. Hope the rest of your visit to the states was enjoyable.

[KING]

I agree with ya dude, i've gotten plenty of prick attidude from the border patrol going into and out of canada. It's like they have "real cop" envy,lol. Lets face it, most (but not all) law enforcement people were bullied at school or home or never got laid when they were teens, and it gives them a sense of power over other people and they like that. Just because someone wears a badge and a weapon does'nt mean they deserve respect, they have to earn it like everyone else. me and my 2 brothers were made to take our cowboy boots off once because they "just knew" we "white boys" had drugs stuffed down in them,lol, and they just couldnt figure out what the small bottle of "white" body lotion "really was". Oh and i have'nt been to canada since 2001 so all the bad experiences i had was before 911 so that excuse can't be used. authority

[JustJason]

I never mentioned 911

[Guest tinger]

King, sorry to hear about your bad experience...guess it goes to show that it can happen on both sides of the border. Btw, it wasn't a Triumph cd that the guard looked at, it was the self titled House Of Lords cd! Maybe he hated Hair Metal, or Gene Simmons, lol!

[hardrock80srule]

There should have never been an attitude from either side. Sounds pretty unproffessional to me. I dont remember just becuase we have had bad things happen that we are suppose to harrass every foreigner coming to our country. Should have been a standard simple POLITE procedure that you should have went through.

I can see where this conversation could lead to a war of words so I will be nice. Im sure customs on both sides have standard procedures and Im sure that being inpolite is not in the handbook.

[stormspell]

I'm new to selling on Ebay, and since I live in a border town in Canada, I thought I would mail the cds won by my American customers, from the States. I pull up to the customs booth, and instantly get attitude from the U.S. Customs officer. "Why are you mailing these cds over here?" was the first question. I tried explaining that  I was going to the U.S. to shop anyways, and thought that it would be a good idea to send them out at the same time, since they would get to my customers sooner. Then the officer asked why the bubble mailers were sealed."How do I know that you don't have drugs in those envelopes?", he then asked. Thankfully, I forgot to seal one of the envelopes, so I handed that cd to him, upon which he studied it for about a minute. "Did you burn these cds?" was the next question. I explained that these were used cds that I had found in my pawnshop hunts, and that they doubles of cds that I already have. He then warned me that the next time I tried bring in sealed envelopes that he would rip open every package. As I cleared the booth, thankfull that they didn't force me at gun point to spread eagle on the hood of my car, I was waved over to secondary inspection. This time I had 2 gung ho customs officers walk over to my car. I was ordered to open the hood and trunk of my car, and to stand about 7 feet away, on an adjoining sidewalk. "Get your hands out of your pockets!" barked one of the officers. Finally fed up with the attitude, I barked back "Canadians don't carry guns on them!!". At this point, about 3 other customs officers turned around and looked at me. Pissed off at myself that I lost my cool, I then calmly said, "Look, Canada is your neighbour...why do you treat your neighbours this way?" To my shock,  the officer who had ordered my hands out of my pockets apologized to me! After finishing their search of my car, I was told to go into the Customs office, and pay a five dollar user fee, just like a truck driver making a delivery into the States. Man, what a crappy experience!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks to a certain president very soon you may not be able to cross the border for whatever reason

[metalmaniac777]

Now for the law enforcement point of view...

 

Law enforcement agents are paid to protect, and that means you sacrifice a little privacy in the name of society's safety. "Why are you mailing this package over here?" is a perfectly legitimate question for a US Customs Agent to ask. Now, I don't know what his tone was, but the question itself hardly qualifies as "attitude."

 

Law enforcement is an unappreciated, underpaid job. People want to bitch when someone like the Custom Agents in question pull them over and thoroughly search them, but had someone with a bomb actually slipped through the screening process and managed to blow up a building, those same people would be bitching that the Customs Agents hadn't done their job. As a Federal law enforcement agent myself, I can testify to the fact that we live with the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" point of view all the time.

 

Listen, I work with 300 fellow officers, and yeah, I'll admit some of them could brush up on their people skills. But on the flipside, we constantly deal with the assholes of the world and the truth of the matter is, even law enforcement officials are human. I don't care who you are, if you spend enough time getting attitude slapped in your face, eventually you'll give some back. Most of the time you're just doing the job you're paid to do and you get static from the very people you're trying to protect.

 

Sorry, Ting, but I have friends in Customs and having you stand 7 ft. away from your car with your hands out of your pockets is simply standard procedure for a vehicle search. Hands outside the pockets means you're not reaching for a weapon and 7 ft. means (theoretically) that the officers will have time to react should you attempt to assault them. And your "Canadians don't carry guns!" remark was, quite frankly, laughable. What, you have honorable criminals in Canada who abide by all the gun laws? Like the officers should have instantly trusted you simply because you were Canadian? Please...

 

Folks, while I'm sure it happens on rare occasions, I have never seen a law enforcement offical who was being treated courteously by the public react with anything other than polite courtesy in return. Don't cop a 'tude and then get pissed off when an officer gives you some in return. It's called reaping what you sow.

 

As always, just my two cents' worth.

 

Keep the faith.

Mark

[Evil Rick]

Thanks to a certain president very soon you may not be able to cross the border for whatever reason 

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[stormspell]

Thanks to a certain president very soon you may not be able to cross the border for whatever reason 

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Hey, it wasnt me who recently proposed having passports for crossing to Canada and even mentioned maintaining a guarded border... What's next, building a wall?

 

I'm cutting it here coz it's a topic we can go till no end. Peace.

[MButt]

Maybe a wall isn't a bad idea, like the one they had in Germany, but maybe on this wall, add a door! So folks can enter and leave of their own free will, LEGALLY!

not running through the sage brush and jumping in a van!

 

(I am closer to mexico than canada so I am refering to the mexican border, but border control is needed in my view.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to a certain president very soon you may not be able to cross the border for whatever reason 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hey, it wasnt me who recently proposed having passports for crossing to Canada and even mentioned maintaining a guarded border... What's next, building a wall?

 

I'm cutting it here coz it's a topic we can go till no end. Peace.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[gener8tr]

Maybe a wall isn't a bad idea, like the one they had in Germany, but maybe on this wall, add a door! So folks can enter and leave of their own free will, LEGALLY!

not running through the sage brush and jumping in a van!

 

I loved Germany when they had that Wall. Those "Target" pressing CD's from West Germany circa 1983 / 1985 are awesome!!!

 

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