Re: cross-border travel
Originally Posted by
dhergert
Again, CITES needs to work on clear and consistent international policies so that travelers can easily know what is safe to travel with, and what is not. And those policies need to be widely publicized through the travel networks.
Those of us here are pretty well educated and honestly pretty obsessed with our instruments, yet we're baffled by what is happening. Imagine how more casual people trying to travel must feel?
I agree with Don on this one. I bought a banjolin from a private US seller a couple of years ago. When I was trying to find out how much the duties would be, I found that the Canada Customs website didn't list "musical instruments" as a category. I tried another category, perhaps furniture, in order to estimate the duty, but when the instrument arrived, the customs charges were higher than I expected. I have no idea why. Furthermore, never having hunted elephants, I wonder if those pegs on this 1923 instrument are ivory. They made it across the border once, but if Customs had seized the instrument, either the seller or buyer would have taken a loss. Now, if I'm heading down to Vermont for a musical weekend with my buddies, will US Customs take the banjolin? And what about Canadian Customs when I come back? And why not just take the pegs? Of course, I can find out about the ivory, but the whole issue is confusing for those of us who aren't importers and exporters or who don't have shipping departments. And I won't even get into Canada Post and their rates set by both weight and dimensions. It's not unusual to see someone in the post office re-packaging their gifts to the grandchildren. And people wonder why there's so much online shopping these days -- Amazon will tell me the shipping rate, and I don't have to worry about having the right-sized box in my closet, or whether its cheaper to put two items in the same box or send them separately... I know, I'm ranting.
I didn't know when I made the original post that it would stir up so much discussion. Thanks to all.
Ranald
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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