Seed imports to U.S.

Angela and Dean angelasgarden1@bigpond.com
Thu, 25 Jan 2007 02:09:33 PST
I feel so sorry for you Americans, I definitely think some sort of combined 
front to the Quarantine department is called for!
Good luck!
Angela
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard" <xerics@cox.net>
To: "Pacific Bulb Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: [pbs] Seed imports to U.S.


> Don't send them stamps. I did that last year and the envelope with the
> stamps and instructions was mysteriously empty.
>
> I had to open a fed ex account.  All together  this is a completely
> unworkable system. Pretty much the way everything at the USDA is done. I
> don't have enough millions to influence anyone but I think we should start 
> a
> campaign among our public representatives to address these problems.
>
> The Plant Inspection people claim to have been working on this since I 
> first
> complained last summer.
>
> Richard Wagner
> Vista
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Lee Poulsen" <wpoulsen@pacbell.net>
> To: "PBS Society" <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 5:03 PM
> Subject: [pbs] Seed imports to U.S.
>
>
>>I just a phone call from USDA/APHIS down the street from the L.A.
>> Airport informing me that a package of seeds had arrived from Rachel
>> Saunders in South Africa, and that I could either take time off from
>> work to fight traffic and drive over there and pick it up in person. Or
>> I could open an account with Federal Express and then give them my
>> account number that they could charge to and they could ship it across
>> town via FedEx. Or I could mail them actual postage stamps of
>> sufficient value ($1.35) for the weight of the package to have the US
>> Postal Service deliver it to my home. The guy I spoke with says he has
>> called several superiors of his several times since this new method was
>> begun seeking instruction on what exactly to do. He also acknowledged
>> that the USDA and the USPS are having an argument over whether the USPS
>> has to continue shipment or if they can charge full postage rates
>> depending on what the final destination that the package was addressed
>> to is. (The permit says the shipper should not put our address on the
>> outside of the package, but when the Archibalds put both the green and
>> yellow label and my address on the outside of the package it was
>> delivered all the way to my house. I couldn't tell if USDA/APHIS had
>> opened it for inspection or not.)
>>
>> What this guy did say was that I could not send them money in any form
>> nor could they take a credit card number. I talked over various crazy
>> ideas with their dispatcher and she said that the program was so new
>> they hadn't really thought up any long term plans or solutions. I asked
>> her about sending her a supply of postage stamps that she could save
>> and use until they were all used up. She thought she could probably
>> keep them in a file for all packages I received and notify me when the
>> supply was gone. She suggested the idea that I send the postage stamps
>> along with the copy of my permit and the green and yellow label to the
>> overseas sender and then that person could include the postage stamps
>> inside the package together with the seeds. This of course would
>> require that I know how much the package was going to weigh beforehand,
>> or at least have an estimate of it.
>>
>> In any case, it is an added complication that I wish they had figured
>> out back when they were figuring out this new method of seed importing.
>> Question: In Australia, after they've checked over your incoming seed,
>> do you have to go pick them up at the inspection station? Or are you
>> required to send them or provide them with the means or money to ship
>> them from the station to your home? Or do they just put them back in
>> the mail and your postal service delivers them to the final destination
>> without any additional charges? It would be somewhat ironic if they
>> don't charge you for that service since they do charge you for just
>> about everything else including many services that we in the U.S. don't
>> have to pay for, and yet here in the U.S. they do want to charge
>> additional for delivering the seeds the final leg of their journey. (I
>> also found out that if I need to get a phytosanitary certificate to
>> mail plants overseas, for about US$40 total the inspector will drive
>> over to my house, inspect all the plants I want to send, make out the
>> certificate, and give it to me. I believe that is cheaper than what the
>> Australians have to pay.) Anyway, just wondering.
>>
>> --Lee Poulsen
>> Pasadena, California, USDA Zone 10a
>>
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