Re: NANFA-- U.S.Postal Service won't ship

Frauley/Elson (fraulels_at_minet.ca)
Fri, 02 Jun 2000 17:33:43 -0400

When I ship fish, I first have to drive south, and cross the border.
I've never tried with natives, as a result, but I send and receive
African killies a few times per year. So first, the border crowd get
excited about CITES. I tell them the latin name of the fish, sometimes
they ask ME if it's listed. They held me once until I pointed out that
if I were smuggling illegal fish, I'd lie about the latin name anyway.
It took half an hour for that to sink in, but they were keen summer
student types on that trip across.

After Customs, I go to the US post office. In Canada, it's illegal to
ship water, which cuts the fish possibilities a lot. I always say my
fish are plants, and pack the box so it'd take a bullet hole to make it
leak (and we have nominal gun control)and so the swishing is muffled.
When I ship in the US, it's hard to write 'live fish' on a box. It's too
honest.

The last time I tried, the woman at the counter picked up the box and
said "hey, these are fish!"
I confessed.
She said "Well dear, please write it on the box so we'll know to care of
them. They're living things."
She pulled out a marker and covered the whole thing with "Live fish",
then drew a fish on the side.

So gang, it's not all bad out there.
-Gary

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