Christmas in June

Sara and I got a nice treat yesterday, our pallet of goods that we shipped out from California arrived. We received a call from the shipping agent that it was arriving on Saturday, but the customs office is only open on weekdays.

Thus we called and talked to the shipping agent on Monday. They said that they were open until 5pm. We headed over there after work on Monday. Turns out the shipping agent is open until 5pm, but the customs office and port are only open to 3:30pm. Thanks for the heads up on that one...

Tuesday morning I dropped Sara and our carpool off at work and headed over to the port. First I needed to get our paperwork from our shipping agent. To get them to give me the paperwork, I needed to pay $78.46. They only take check or cash, so a quick trip to the bank and I was paid up. Sigh. They turned over a few pages of paperwork.

Now, with our Bill of Lading and shipping agent invoice in hand I went into the port. I was directed over to the large warehouse. After trying a few different offices, I eventually found the one I was supposed to start at. They reviewed my forms and said go to the office at the back of the warehouse. Again, the offices were unlabeled at the back of the warehouse and after trying a few, a customs inspector pointed me towards the correct office. Double Sigh. They reviewed my paper work, signed one corner and then sent me to the guys with the forklift, to retrieve my pallet.

Turns out, my pallet was still packed in a shipping container. The container was still stacked somewhere on the pier. The suggested I come back at lunch and they would have my pallet waiting in the warehouse. Triple Sigh.

Since our computer server was down at work (Sigh^4), taking a long lunch to deal with shipping issues, wasn't as much of a wasted day as I would have initially thought. I began by taking my paperwork to the warehouse foreman. He confirmed my stuff had been unloaded and I was shown the pallet by the customs inspector. He cursorily looked at my still wrapped pallet, asked me if I had any firearms and then signed off on the inspection.

I then had to go back to the first office, show them the signed off inspection, pay $5 and they gave me a clearance form. I then had to take the clearance form to the port authority and they signed the clearance form. Sigh x 5. Then I took that stack of paperwork back to the warehouse foreman and he forklifted the pallet over to my car. I then unwrapped the pallet with the assistance of a USDA inspector who had attended my barbecue a few weeks ago and loaded my boxes, coolers and bikes into the car. A trip home and all the items were loaded into our living room. Now we just need to unpack...