Shipping/Mailing alcohol from Japan to the U.S.

[canadadry]

i shipped a box with a small thing of whiskey today, and the people at the p.o. said that it wouldn't be a problem...if there was, i would just get taxed.

but ive been looking on websites and i think you are prohibited from mailing alcohol to the states.

can anyone confirm this?

what will happen to my package? will i ever get it back

please help!

thanks.

[canadadry]

oh i forgot to mention that i clearly wrote on the green customs paper that it was "gift whiskey" and i priced it at $6.

[Troo]

Technically it's illegal to mail liquor of over 0.5%ABV into the USA in this way, but if it's a small bottle it may be overlooked under the "collectible" loophole. Or just overlooked by people who don't care about such a small amount of alcohol.

Alas all you can do is cross your fingers and hope it gets there.

[canadadry]

i know you can only speculate, but do you think there is a good chance that even if they decide to confiscate the alcohol, that they'll tape the box back together and send the rest of the contents along? i would be really sad if everything got thrown away... it has a book inside! educational!

[godwine]

Originally Posted by canadadry

i know you can only speculate, but do you think there is a good chance that even if they decide to confiscate the alcohol, that they'll tape the box back together and send the rest of the contents along? i would be really sad if everything got thrown away... it has a book inside! educational!

My experieince is that the entire box will be returend to the originator's address. They will not open the box, confiscate one or two item and send the rest, never heard of this before...

[rison]

Originally Posted by godwine

My experieince is that the entire box will be returend to the originator's address. They will not open the box, confiscate one or two item and send the rest, never heard of this before...

Then they wouldnt know Aacohol was in it.

What will happen is they will certainly open the box confiscate the alcohol bottle if its over the required permit...then continue the passage of the remaining items to its destination and not back to you.

[MMM]

Rison, the box is labeled as containing alcohol. How familiar are you with the US Postal Service?

[godwine]

Originally Posted by rison

Then they wouldnt know Aacohol was in it.

What will happen is they will certainly open the box confiscate the alcohol bottle if its over the required permit...then continue the passage of the remaining items to its destination and not back to you.

Let me re-phrase it, as MMM pointed out, the box itself was labeled with "Alcohol" as a content. Even if its not labeled, they still may open it. What I said is that, they will not go through the trouble of opening the box for the purpose of removing the "offensive" item then delivery it... everything goes back in the box as is and get returned.

ONE funny thing though, a friend of mine shipped something from HK, some toy guns that the government didn't like, but he used his cousin's return address, so when the parcel was rejected, it went to his cousin who live 2 house down the same street as his Canadian address .. but I highly doubt that US postal will be this stupid

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by godwine

Let me re-phrase it, as MMM pointed out, the box itself was labeled with "Alcohol" as a content. Even if its not labeled, they still may open it. What I said is that, they will not go through the trouble of opening the box for the purpose of removing the "offensive" item then delivery it... everything goes back in the box as is and get returned.

ONE funny thing though, a friend of mine shipped something from HK, some toy guns that the government didn't like, but he used his cousin's return address, so when the parcel was rejected, it went to his cousin who live 2 house down the same street as his Canadian address .. but I highly doubt that US postal will be this stupid

This sounds right, but there is even another issue. I am not certain that there is a permissable amount of alcohol that is legal to ship without a permit specifically for shipping alcohol. Depending on the origin and specific destination, there could be additional fines for attempting this if/when you get caught.

[canadadry]

UPDATE!

This was awhile ago, but just thought I'd provide an update. The package was delivered in its entirety within the 2 week time frame it was supposed to arrive. So I guess there isn't a cut and dry rule for small amounts of gift alcohol (I was told that a lot depends on the discretion of the customs person checking the package).