The Customer’s Always Right, International Trade Laws Be Hecked!

Working in the shipping dock of a software/hardware supplier, we’ve gotten some odd requests from the sales folks. This one, however, takes the cake.

Sales: “Hey, [My Name], I’ve got kind of a wonky request on this one.”

Me: *Jokingly* “Oh, you always have a wonky request! What’s up?”

Sales: “This customer wants us to ship [two products] but only put the value at a total of $100.”

Me: “Well, we don’t do declared value unless it’s over $5000, and they’re each like, what, 1500, 2000?”

Sales: “No, not the declared value, the commercial value.”

Me: “You mean the value on the commercial invoice? For Customs?”

Sales: “Yeah, they don’t want to pay the duties and taxes.”

Me: “Okay, well, no, we can’t do that.”

Sales: “Come on, man, you know we always have to go above and beyond for the customer!”

Me: “‘Above and beyond’ does not include ‘break international trade laws’! But hey, tell you what. Get [Boss] or [Vice President Of Operations] to give me the okay themselves, I’ll print the paperwork and you can sign it.”

Surprise, surprise, he never got that okay.