Are there more people than me, in other countries than Norway who
has encountered similar difficulties taking piano rolls and equipment
through the customs?

This story is rather detailed, to show that the customs shows _no
willingness at all_ to help people taking their goods through the
customs, and why smuggling drugs into piano rolls really is no good
idea.

Some weeks ago I ordered two piano rolls, shipped surface to Norway,
and they arrived this week.  Earlier, I sometimes did not pay tax (there
is 22% tax on most goods and items in Norway), seemingly because the
customs doesn't have time to check all packages, even though they stamp
"tax free" in Norwegian on the package.  Most times however, they charge
22% tax.

Piano rolls, thus, are expensive for us Norwegians, since the 22%
comes on top of the tax you pay additional _and_ the postage, which is
expensive overseas.  Even for private gifts the tax must be paid if the
value exceeds 250 NOK / ca. $ 30.

The package is usually either delivered to the nearest post office,
or to the door if it was sent by UPS or FedEx.  This is however
generally undesirable since they are more expensive, and they come
at random times at your door when you're at work.  If they don't find
you at home, they put a label on your door (telling thieves that no one
is at home...) telling when they will try again.

Enough about that, this is what happened last time when I received
two rolls from Artcraft:

First, I got a note in my mailbox that the customs needed my permission
to open the package for checking (strange, when you are at the airport,
they don't need any permission to open your luggage) and that the
package was missing documentation of the price.  They asked me to send
such documentation, of course.

I contacted Douglas Henderson (hadn't he packed the rolls properly?),
and asked what he had done.  One moment, I forgot that some weeks ago
I had got the invoice via airmail, however luckily I hadn't thrown it
away.  Douglas explained that the customs declaration form glued to the
package, may have fallen off, since they had changed the form to a
larger size, which had to be wrapped around the small package.

He arranged for scanning the form (his copy) and e-mailing it to me
so I could print it out, and he also sent the copy by mail.

I called the customs, and they explicitly told me that no documentation
was following the package (I then had faxed my permission to open the
package) and so that was why they would have to check.  I then received
the e-mailed copy of the customs declaration form from Douglas, and
found the invoice in my papers and faxed it too.

This was not good enough for the customs, since the amount was unclear
on the electronically mailed customs declaration form.  (As it later
was revealed, they already had the SAME form)

They didn't accept the invoice, even though what they asked for in the
first letter, was a receipt showing the amount.  But, maybe all the mess
was because of the missing customs declaration form?  I decided to
visit the customs office to try to get my package.  I also brought with
me a price list from Artcraft.

In the capital of Norway, Oslo, in opposition to many places in the
USA, cars are not ultimately needed to get around to do things; I live
200m from the post office, and taxes up to this date was paid on the
office.  This time, I would have to pay NOK 75 /ca $10 extra to have
the package sent from the customs office to my post office, since they
"had to check the package extra because of the missing customs
declaration form".

Okay, after a longer bike ride -- altogether 3 hours through a
polluted industrial area (the clerk on the customs didn't know very
well to reach the customs office via public transport) -- I arrived.
I had first to stand in one queue to deliver my papers, in another
queue to fetch the package, then go back to the first queue to tell
them that they've found the package, then to another queue and back to
the first one again.

The customs clerk seemed nice, and asked what was inside, and I
explained what it was, and he had serious trouble putting the
perforated music roll into any category for registering.  I had to go
to technical details (which was the easiest part of the deal); I tried
to explain that it was sort of a recorded piano music.  (Now I know
Douglas Henderson will argue, since his Duo-Art rolls are 'arrange-
ments', not reproducing.  :-) )  Then he asked, "But they are of
paper, with holes in it, aren't they?"  I had to explain that and
how the holes triggered the vacuum mechanism in the piano.

I was the whole time nervous that he would put the rolls into some more
expensive category, or wondering if he would try to put them into the
category of "printed matter", which I believe is tax-free in Norway.
I feel it was certainly not of technical interest (*) -- the clerk
asked all these questions.  Do they make such "interviews" so they
don't have to call for the drug sniffing dog all the time they get
suspicious about a package...?

(*) I tested the customs clerk's technical interest by handing him
  Artcraft's brochure from 1994, and told him, "Just for fun you can
  get this one and see what's offered."  He had this smiling face,
  not taking me seriously, and didn't pick up the brochure...

And -- guess what.  The so-called 'missing customs declaration form'
really was there, however, he carefully examined the invoice too (now
it was of interest!), AND asked for the Mastercard receipt, which I
have heard, one should not give away, since it contains your card
number and expiration date.

The clerk also complained that no postage amount was written on the
customs declaration form, and I had to remind him that it surely
shows up on the package itself.

Then I was told to wait, and after about 10 minutes, I was told to go
to the payment queue, which led to an ordinary post office.  There I
had to pay another 2 to 2-1/2 dollar fee for paying the bill.

And the customs to pay?  About 11 dollars!  So the state actually
didn't earn anything on this deal, only the frustration and anger of
one of its citizens!

One suggestion could be that one agrees with the roll dealer to split
up the order into single rolls, thus getting under the limit for paying
tax.  The dealer would have a little extra cost for packing the rolls
into single packets, but this would be little extra to pay compared to
the extra effort to get the rolls through the customs, and it ensures
that the rolls are being delivered near you.

Are there other suggestions how to handle these situations, and how to
cheat the customs, so they don't get suspicious that you're smuggling
something, and give you an unpleasant day?

(Don't bring illegal drugs here: the customs officers are obviously
trained in the former DDR, or are psychopaths that the psychiatrists has
managed to train to function in the society.)

Sincerely
Thomas Henden, Norway


PS!  Extra!!!  I reopened the package and played the rolls, and
I didn't understand why the roll leader on one of the rolls had some
wrinkles.  (That modern player piano paper is very thin and easily gets
discoloured if it is wrinkled.)

I then understood that it was the same roll as the customs clerk must
have opened.  The newspaper wrapped around the box was removed, so they
probably partly unwound the paper roll.

What if they suspected drugs were inside the core and, with no access
to a drug dog, thwy wanted to unwind all the paper to check for drugs
inside the core?

Thomas