Idiot customs brokers

The traveling public frequently complains about the TSA. Fewer people complain about an even more officious bureaucracy because the vast majority of Americans never have to deal with them. I am talking about customs brokers.

I got a nastygram from FedEx this afternoon.

As the designated Customs Broker for Federal Express Corporation, we have processed your shipment through U.S. Customs at the Memphis International Clearance Facility. To properly process your shipment, we are in need of the following information.

The US Department of Commerce has determined that shipments of a particular category are being sold at less than fair value in the US and therefore are subject to additional duties. In order to determine of this applies to your shipment, additional information is required. Review the attached form and supply the certification as requested.

To ensure timely filing with U.S. Customs, we ask that you provide us with the above information via fax at (901-deleted) within 24 hours of receipt of this request. FAILURE TO PROVIDE THE REQUIRED CERTIFICATION WITHIN 24 HOURS WILL RESULT IN ASSESSMENT OF THE HIGHEST APPLICABLE DUTY RATE.

The customer made a mistake on their air waybill. They put the full value on it, even though they were returning it for factory repair. They had already paid for the widget. We weren't importing the widget, just repairing something we had already manufactured and shipped out 3 years ago. But the bigger problem that triggered this FedEx bureaucrat into action was that a certain key word was listed, and that key word cross-references the US Dept. of Commerce dumping clause.

Can these customs brokers not read? The pro forma invoice clearly specifies: "Equipment returning to manufacturer for routine calibration and repair."

Every day I run into this type of crap. With each incident my opinion that the federal agencies that are designed to help US companies export are doing just the opposite, and force companies like FedEx and UPS to maintain large staffs of people who don't really do anything productive. Billions of our tax dollars go to these federal agencies, and all I can see as someone working on the very front of the front lines in the US export business are a whole bunch of people being paid generous government salaries (and fat retirement benefits that most of us can only dream of) to accomplish... nothing. Why are my tax dollars spend on these people?

The whole system needs to be torn up. The Commerce Department should not be a jobs program for stupid people. Priority #1 should be US exports, not quotas and set asides and fat retirement pensions so that people can retire at 50.