Never mind - False Alarm - Very Sorry

Update: Ok, now I feel totally stupid. It seems that he went to a contract station yesterday. So, actual government locations should be still fine. I should have known Very very sorry everyone. Ugh!! Where is Rapunzel's pan when we need it? It should be a "must have" item for every bridal registry :rofl:

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My husband went out today to ship one of my co-op pin packages to UK. They sent him back home to print the customs form on-line.

Good old USPS changed its rules again it seems. They no longer accept hand-written customs forms. Now all customs forms have to be prepared on-line and printed. We just did for one, and I found out that they ask more detailed contents descriptions as well as "under what tariff" the package is going .. LOL ..

Does anyone else have any experience like this?

Sorry this is not exactly pin discussion, but it is kind of related to some of us, since some pin trade/sell to countries other than US.

This is awesome for those of us who don't have printers. :cry:

I haven't had this happen yet but it's gonna suck because I don't have a printer.

They told him that this is a new rule :dunno: Funny thing is that just yesterday I walked in to the post office, and picked up 2 customs forms with my own hands. If those are no longer allowed, why put them into slots in the p.o. in the first place ? :/

Merryweather said:

They told him that this is a new rule :dunno: Funny thing is that just yesterday I walked in to the post office, and picked up 2 customs forms with my own hands. If those are no longer allowed, why put them into slots in the p.o. in the first place ? :/

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That makes no sense that they'd still offer custom forms and have that as a rule =\ I'm getting use to using online labels for international, but I don't feel it should be something that is forced. I mean, there should always be an option to be able to handle any transaction at the post office.

No idea but lately I have been going the way of online paying of the postage for international trades/sales and that customs form is wow...what exception, huh?!

I believe this is only the case in two situations:
1- You use an online service for printing your postage (for example, Click-n-ship or eBay/PayPal). I think printed Customs forms have been required (or at least preferred) for that service since 2012... You obviously have the means (since you printed the postage), so you can't really use that excuse...

2- If you are going anyplace that's not an official, government owned Post Office. Any 'shipping location' that is not a real post office won't have the means to enter in hand-written forms, they will require pre-filled printed documents...

But going to a real post office, they will still take hand written forms (I just did it yesterday, and will be doing it again tomorrow...) This is the latest information I can find on USPS's website. They can't _require_ people to do this as not everyone even has easy internet access (at least I hope they don't require it)... I know people who's only internet access is an iPhone (hell, my dad has no internet at home, not even a computer). If this was going to be a requirement, they need to have a computer and a printer set up in the PO... I suppose they could just tell you to go to Kinkos or something (which I kind of doubt since Kinkos are now Fed-Ex), but what about little towns without places like that?

I think the POs _prefer_ you to use the online one since they don't have to type in all your information themselves. But unless they are providing you a way to do it there, I don't see how they can require it... You should talk to a supervisor there and explain to them that you don't have the means to print it out yourself (if you aren't using online postage services...) and see what they say.

Granted, from a users point of view, it's a LOT faster to do it yourself than wait for them to type all the information in at the PO... If you have the means to do it online, even if you aren't creating your postage online, it's worth it. Especially if you are shipping a lot of items...

I only go to the post office to drop stuff off now. I love Stamps.com for overseas packages. No more waiting for clerks that are way to slow and just don't care. I have done 10 times the amount of overseas trades now that I can do it this way.

I still use the old ones....I am sure it will be ok

This weekend I noticed that you can ship international using paypal and the customs forms are included and ready to be filled as opposed to go to the Post Office to do it. It's easier to ship international but still pricey.

At one of our local post offices, they have computer kiosk that you can use to buy postage and fill out the customs form. They do charge you more for using it but it may be the required process in the future for all customs forms. There are always lol's (little old ladies) posting stuff with the old hand written forms at a smaller post office and I have never heard them instruct them to do it online.

Sure sucks that your hubby was turned away, I would have been pissed if it was me.

I shipped several times to the US, but I never used a customs form or anything on the envelope. Is this ok ? The post office said that I could use it but was not necessary.

I'm not sure about the value I have to put on it, if I would use it. (considering import fee's/costs)

rik1138 said:

2- If you are going anyplace that's not an official, government owned Post Office. Any 'shipping location' that is not a real post office won't have the means to enter in hand-written forms, they will require pre-filled printed documents...

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Ha ha .. this! He went to a contract station. It is not Fedex or UPS, but sometimes there are few contract stations that work exclusively for USPS, but not an official government location. I should have known.

So very sorry for the false alarm. It was mind baffling to me that the post office I use (a central station for our zip code) would still have the customs slips. Anywho, I know now what is going on.

Thank you everyone for chiming in, and one more time sorry for the false alarm.

Combatdre said:

This weekend I noticed that you can ship international using paypal and the customs forms are included and ready to be filled as opposed to go to the Post Office to do it. It's easier to ship international but still pricey.

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They only offer priority international via PayPal. USPS.com offers first class international

Closing thread per request