Thomas Henden made Norway sound more like India when it came to
charging him duty on his rolls.

The British Customs have behaved more or less the same all the time
I've been buying American rolls, which is 30 years now starting with
the chaotic Aeolian-American Corp despatch department.

If there are more than 16 rolls in a package, they usually bang you for
the lot -- 17.5% value-added tax and 6% duty.  With shipping costs it
makes the rolls cost as much in pounds as they started out in dollars.
You pay the Post Office on delivery, plus a fee for handling the
customs payment.  (Paying tax on tax is normal here.  The British
complain about bribery abroad, but we just have fixed imposts instead.)

If there are 16 or fewer, they wave the package through.  I think this
is an empirical value, possibly based on weight or size, derived from
the number of packages coming through and the number of staff available
to do the paperwork.  Concentrate on the juicy-looking ones, boys !
(Maybe they get commission ?)

Anyway, on rare occasions they have a lot of trainees in who want
their pound of flesh (or something) and everything gets charged.  After
a month or so, small packets start slipping through free again.  And
conversely, there are periods when quite large packages escape the
charge.

I try and train my suppliers to ship small, but they always forget
sooner or later, or think I'm paranoid and am making it all up.

Dan Wilson, London