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The case in brief:
Norsk
All air parcel mail sent with USPS from the US to Europe, including Norway,
have since January 2002 been distributed by a private logistics firm called General
Logistics Systems (GLS).
In other words, packages sent by ordinary mail are no longer sent from the US Postal Service USPS to the
respective Norwegian postal service. So far so good. Since november 2002 the customs clearance of these packages has
been handled by a company named Nordisk Express, dept. GLS (NE). Previously, this was done by hte Norwegian postal service, Posten.
The delivery of cleared packages is done by NSB Expressgods. Also, so far so good.
Privatization is great, one would think. More competition and a free market yields better service...or not?
NE charges a 186 kroner or 26 dollar administrative fee for doing the paperwork involved in customs clearance.
No objections to that; if the items sent are in fact dutiable. The amount may be disputable, but that is not the issue to be discussed here.
Packages that are non-dutiable, i.e. packages with a commercial value of less than 200 kroner or gifts valued at less than 500 kroner
are not charged with import duties or sales tax, but are still assessed a 186 kroner administrative fee by NE. These packages do not need to go through customs and should thus be sent to the receiver with no additional charges, something that is clearly stated in USPS terms and conditions for
international parcel shipments and global duties. In addition to charging this fee, NE requires that the fee be paid before a delivery will be made, otherwise tha package will be returned to the sender incurring charges to the sender.
The Norwegian Consumer Council has urged people to complain to USPS. The reason may not be clear, but it is after all USPS who engaged in a contract with GLS and subsequently NE.
Thus USPS should be made aware of the consequences their contract with GLS has had for Norwegian consumers who receive packages from the US.
This website came about fueled by my own frustration over this issue, what I have been able to gather from personal contacts with others, and finally from the numerous newspaper articles and Internet postings on this issue.
No authority seems to be willing to act upon this, so we the people must do it ourselves. We cannot allow ourselves to be overrun without speaking out.
With privatization on the rise, we may soon experience that we will have to pay NE for packages sent from anywhere to Norway, and who would want that?
For this reason I created the online petition below to the US Postmaster General, and I hope that many of you will join in and sign.
P.S. As of today, NE also handles incoming mail from Canada and the UK; here too the fee is charged. Currently this petition is aimed at parcel mail from the US; a petition to address the issues involving mail from Canada and the UK is already planned and will be presented here shortly
To: U.S. Postmaster General
Dear Postmaster General,
Since November 2002, we who live in Norway are charged
186 Norwegian kroner or approximately 26 US dollars handling
fee for every package sent via USPS from the US by Nordisk
Express, the company you have chosen to process the packages
and to provide documentation to the Norwegian Customs Service.
This 186 kroner (or 26 US dollar) handling fee is arbitrary
and illegitimate.
We deem it totally unreasonable and unethical that we must
pay an illegitimate fee of 26 US dollars handling fee to
get our gifts and our packages.
As we see it, the sender has paid the USPS for the postage
that covers all the costs incurred until delivery. Consequently,
charging a 186 kroner or 26 US dollars handling fee to the
recipient is totally unacceptable, especially when the package
contains a gift of no commercial value without the need
for customs processing.
As far as we have been able to gather, the USPS is one
of the very few foreign postal services that does not deal
directly with the Norwegian postal service, and thus creates
such irritation and financial loss among package recipients
in Norway.
We write this complaint to make you aware of the unreasonable
and unethical practice imposed on us by Nordisk Express,
the USPS package handling partner in Norway.
We kindly ask you to take the necessary steps to stop this
arbitrary 186 kroner (or 26 dollar) charge immediately or
choose a different partner that can deliver our packages
without imposing an illegitimate handling fee and/or other
hidden fees in case Nordisk Express fails to stop its unethical
practice.
Thank you for your kind attention to this petition.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
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Norsk oversettelse -- Norwegian translation
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Kjære Postmaster General,
Siden november 2002 må vi som bor i Norge og som
mottar pakker fra USA betale 186 kroner eller 26 dollar
i behandlingsgebyr til Nordisk Express for hver pakke sendt
fra USA med USPS. Nordisk Express er det firmaet som dere
bruker til å behandle pakkene og legge fram tolldeklarasjon
for de norske tollmyndighetene. Dette gebyret på 186
kroner (eller 26 dollar) er vilkårlig og illegitimt.
Vi mener at det er fullstendig urimelig og uetisk at vi
må betale et illegitimt gebyr på 26 dollar for
å motta gavene og pakkene våre.
Slik vi ser det, så har avsender betalt porto til
USPS, og dette burde dekke alle kostnader frem til levering.
Derfor er det helt uakseptabelt at mottaker skal belastes
et behandlingsgebyr på 26 dollar, særlig når
pakken ikke inneholder gjenstander med kommersiell verdi,
og derfor ikke behøver å tollbehandles.
Så langt vi har klart å bringe på det
rene, så er USPS en av de ytterst få utenlandske
posttjenester som ikke benytter seg av det norske postverket,
og dermed skaper enorm misnøye og økonomiske
tap blant pakkemottakere i Norge.
Vi skriver dette brevet for å gjøre dem oppmerksom
den urimelige og uetiske fremgangsmåten til Nordisk
Express, deres partner hva pakker sendt med USPS angår.
Vi ber dem om å ta de nødvendige skritt for
stanse dette vilkårlige gebyret på 186 kroner
(eller 26 dollar), eller velge en annen pakkeforsendelsespartner
som kan levere pakkene våre uten å kreve inn
dette urimelige gebyret og/eller andre skjulte gebyrer i
tilfelle Nordisk Express ikke slutter med sin uetiske praksis.
Tusen takk for de leser denne oppfordringen.
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