Leigh and Johann have been diligently working on processing our group order since Tues of last week. They hope everything will be dug, washed, and suitably dry by the end of the month and will be shipped around April 1. I have spoken with the supervisory inspectors in both Jamaica, NY (JFK) and Linden, NJ (Newark) and they assured me that they have no problem doing what we did last time in ATL, viz., inspecting and shipping directly to Bridget, rather than to me, using the UPS labels we will have enclosed in the orders. I specifically asked the lady in Linden what the work load is like at her station vs JFK and she said she wasn't sure about JFK but generally at her station plants are in and out typically in two days. That was our experience at ATL as well. The article cites a 35% reduction in inspection staff, and laughably describes what's left as a "skeleton crew". But doing the math, adding 35% to the 2-day turnaround time doesn't strike me as a crisis in the offing. Lastly, it is important to note that to the dormant bulb, a week or two in a clean cardboard box, mostly at room temperature, is a walk in the park compared to baking in the ground during the dry season in the Kalahari. Bottom line is that I don't think the sky is falling and Uncle Sam can get all the liposuction treatments possible and life will go on. Our order this time totals well over $6000 and 41 member orders. We expect things to go smoothly. Please keep Bridget in your thoughts and prayers as she braces for the arrival and distribution phase of the project. As to the issue of tariffs, this remains up in the air at the moment. Live plants are not subject to duties, yet the customs broker working for DHL wrongly charged duties last time. I had to jump in and pay them to avoid having everything sent back, and managed to claw the money back a few months later. Worst case would be that our order arrives at customs and we have to pay something (a maximum of 20%, which appears to be what South Africa charges on American imports). Even with a 20% add-on the total will still be far less than our early estimate in which we told everyone to plan on a grand total of twice the catalog price of the bulbs. Last time it worked out to more like 125% of the catalog price. So we'll see but most members will, I think, come away satisfied with the value proposition. In any case, I will be monitoring the shipment on a daily basis so we can respond to whatever comes up without causing delays. Bob infested by maple pollen in Zone 7 _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net https://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> PBS Forum https://…