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 > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php