Current mood:	stressed
Current music:	Betty Lavette

HM Customs and CD imports
Last week I had to trudge over the the parcel office to collect my little parcel sent from Dead Dog records in California http://www.deadog.com/ because of my owing £7.50 (£3.00 to HM Customs and £4.00 'handling charge' to the Post Office Ltd.)

Of course everyone will say "what are you on about??" but this is actually the first time I have been 'nobbled' for what is a commonplace activity, buying cds from overseas where the product is either unavailable or more expensive in UK.

The guy in the parcel office was very nice in pointing out to me that the Mount Pleasant Post Office has recently set up a new department designed specifically to capure any imports of cds (not necessarily books) and slap a little charge to get some revenue in. I have no problem in paying my dues but its worth knowing that if the consignment is over £18, then the tax and handling charge will be applied. My order was worth $35 so I got caught. He said, split up you r order into individual parcels (however you may pay more for postage) it may work out better.

To add to all this, it was held up by 2 weeks while HM Customs were working out how much to charge me!

What used to be one in twenty parcels getting caught, now Mount Pleasant will catch most CDs especially from the States, he said.

If this is all so obvious to you then good on you ... if not then it may save you a few quid.