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Thread: Can't import "hand me down" clothes??

  1. #1
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    Default Can't import "hand me down" clothes??

    My dear friend in Southern California just emailed me a photo of a new Pumpkin Patch in the mall in LA. She also casually mentioned to me that she is prevented from shipping hand me down clothes from her older kids to my kids by the NZ shipping rules. The shipping company told her this.

    Really???

    Anyone know where that rule is?

    Can this be real?

    What is the purpose of this rule???

  2. #2
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    How the heck can any organization dictate what you put inside a private parcel? And how would they know that any clothes sent aren't e.g. what you happened to leave behind when you were at her house, and she's sending you your own property?

    According to NZ customs, here's what you may not bring in.

    Prohibited imports
    For a complete list of prohibited goods see Fact Sheet 5. The following are examples of goods that are prohibited. They should not be imported:
    Objectionable (indecent) articles such as videotapes, films, records, CD-ROMs, and publications
    Motor vehicles with an odometer reading that does not correctly record the distance the vehicle has been driven, and motor vehicles without an odometer
    Certain types of weapons such as flick knives, butterfly knives, swordsticks, knuckle-dusters, and any weapon designed or disguised to give the appearance of another article
    Cannabis utensils such as bongs, hash and head pipes, hubble-bubbles, hookahs, and roach clips with a pincer or tweezer action
    Ivory in any form, including jewellery, and carvings
    Tortoise or sea turtle shell jewellery, and ornaments
    Meat or other food derived from whales, dolphins, rare cranes, and pheasants, or sea turtles
    Medicines using musk, or rhinoceros or tiger derivatives such as ground horn or bone
    Carvings or other things made from whalebone or bone from many other marine mammals
    Cat skins or coats
    Trophies of sea turtles, all big cats, rare reptiles, cranes, pheasants, bears, antelope, and deer
    Live species, including pet eagles, hawks, owls and parrots, many cacti, orchids, cycads, cyclamens, and carnivorous plants.
    http://www.customs.govt.nz/NR/exeres...ed#paraTitle03

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post
    My dear friend in Southern California just emailed me a photo of a new Pumpkin Patch in the mall in LA. She also casually mentioned to me that she is prevented from shipping hand me down clothes from her older kids to my kids by the NZ shipping rules. The shipping company told her this.

    Really???

    Anyone know where that rule is?

    Can this be real?

    What is the purpose of this rule???
    Sounds like BS to me.

    Just tell her to write "clothes" on the customs label and attribute a nominal value and there should be no issues at all. My mother has mailed me stuff from the UK before with no issues.

  4. #4

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    We don't know the full story here. Perhaps this family in the States are part of some obscure southern californian tribe and their clothes consist of leopard skin pants with ivory fastenings, bear skin jackets decorated with sea turtle shell, and hats made out of folded up pornographic magazines, topped off with a live eagle on the shoulder.

  5. #5
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    yeah, that sounds like nonsense. we sent 5 big boxes of stuff via airfreight and had no problems whatsover... 1 box had used clothes, dvds, games, books and 4 boxes had my beer collection (priorities!)... if that wasn't an issue then i don't think some clothes would be

    Quote Originally Posted by bluesky View Post
    We don't know the full story here. Perhaps this family in the States are part of some obscure southern californian tribe and their clothes consist of leopard skin pants with ivory fastenings, bear skin jackets decorated with sea turtle shell, and hats made out of folded up pornographic magazines, topped off with a live eagle on the shoulder.
    lol!

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by bluesky View Post
    We don't know the full story here. Perhaps this family in the States are part of some obscure southern californian tribe and their clothes consist of leopard skin pants with ivory fastenings, bear skin jackets decorated with sea turtle shell, and hats made out of folded up pornographic magazines, topped off with a live eagle on the shoulder.
    I just sent her an email asking if this is what she had in mind. No replies yet

  7. #7
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    That's insane! We sent a few boxes via USPS before we left in Nov 2009 to be waiting for us when we got here that were crammed full of used clothing and we had no issues whatsoever. Something definitely sounds off! Good luck sorting it out!

  8. #8
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    Here is her reply:

    Here is how the restriction is spelled out. It makes a lot more sense then what the hurried USPS rep told me. She told me that if it didn't have new tags on it that they could deny it. Basically the USPS recommends not sending used clothes because NZ is worried about bugs or infectious diseases. Sadly I think of when the Indians were given the small pox blankets.

    "Used clothing and used bedding must be for personal use of persons in New Zealand, or with permission of the New Zealand Minister of Customs. Worn out clothing not for personal use must be clean and disinfected, or it will be done at the addressee’s expense. "
    And who sends dirty clothes in the mail....really?

    And tell the funny guy that Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner call the US home....and its NZ rules not the US that I can't send you dirty clothes. As if.

  9. #9
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    What that's saying is that you can have second hand clothes for your use, but not to sell on. So you couldn't have a charity collection in the US being sent to NZ for sale at thrift shops, unless you provide evidence of disinfecting those goods. So someome misread it at the couriers and went a bit 'jobsworth'.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by GrumpyGoat View Post

    And tell the funny guy that Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner call the US home....
    BTW, the "funny guy" is you bluesky.

    I guess she was admitting that it was possible that americans would send hats made of pornography. It happens.

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