When I finally got registered and waded through the morass of beaurocratia that were the choices (down to the manufacturing type of the food container) when I wen to print out my prior declaration…
It wouldn’t export to .pdf. “Website temporarily unavailable”.
The screaming began again.
My husband UPS’d the package on Monday.
UPS said the FDA changed the rules, and individuals sending food to other individuals was fine.
NOW I find out.
I need eggnog, stat.
No, it was probably written by a degree-wielding programmer, whose first language is Java, second language is C++, and third language is English.
And the error message should appear by the PHONE NUMBER, not by the PASSWORD.
Argh.
If that’s the case, it would be nice if they informed Canada Post as well - they wouldn’t let me send some chocolate without the FDA stuff. If I’d been thinking, I should’ve just gone to a different outlet and lied, but I was sick and I think my spirit had been broken by twice waiting in line for ages at that location (first time, I got to the front and discovered they only took cash, then after getting sufficient cash, got turned away for not having the prior notification), so I went through the whole rigamarole. I don’t think the FDA could have made the system more unclear if they tried.
Welcome to the wonderful world of bureaucracy. Its actually like that everywhere. American bureaucrats aren’t actually worse than others, but they might be more annoying about it.
I was only informed of this new regulation when I was actually at the post office, sending a can of Second Cup cranberry cider mix to a fellow doper. I’m not sure if it was illegal, but I panicked - so I just sent it. I labelled it truthfully. It arrived safely.
See, what I don’t get is why commercially packaged stuff needs “prior approval” while homemade stuff is okay. Frankly, if were to want to export controlled substances into the US (which I don’t, obviously), I’m not going to open a sealed package and hope no one notices, I would put it in cookies.
See my post #14 above. As far as I can tell from the official websites, the rule still exists, they’re just not enforcing it. And they’re publicly stating that they’re not enforcing it. I just don’t get it.
Evidence of properly working bureaucracy.