Received 2 parcels in 2 weeks being opened already before I got them. I didnt receive a courtesy note/sticker that someone inspected them. Nothing missing.
How many parcels get opened before you get them?
Last week
Toll satchel just taped. Brown box also taped after someones’ inspection.
Torch box ripped(so was the 2nd box(not pictured) ). Also part of the foam protection was outside the torch carton.
Today
This box is not the original as it has 2 Australian labels addressed to me. Original box was mailed from U.S. and will have a U.S. sender(or agent)
Contents are sparkplug leads/high tension wire from a U.S. manufacturer for my V8 car.
I think I’m on the watch list (for too much torch/parts deliveries)
Around one out of 5 parcels are opened by the customs here. Mainly padded envelopes, it seems. Especially if the package doesn’t declare contents and value on the outside.
When I got my Ti light from Sinner in Dubai, it was sent DHL Express 72 Hour. The original soft packaging had been opened, all the contents gone through then re-wrapped and taped and the original bag was stuffed in a new bag with a label that said it was not the original packaging. Then that new package also got opened at some point.
By the time it got to me the package was a taped over mess.
But inside was a small pack of parts…brass tail cap with a threaded insert holding the clicky, bezel, lens, o-ring, and a spare switch. The Titanium light is one solid piece head to tail, short of an explosion there’s not much they could do to hurt that one! All the pieces were present, the packaging was just a mess. And this was sent through a courier, using DHL.
Do they have a list? Will numerous or repetitive orders cause a flag? If they do that here, I’m surely on such a list!
Hmm…
I think I have had one package that looked as if it had been opened.
Taped shut again and had some customs sticker iirc…
I guess they have to check certain packages, with all this global terror hype nowadays…
The Post office in the USA reserves the right to open ANY parcel. In the USA I am convinced that customs opens very few packages, but most of the ones they do open are sent to specific zip codes. This is actually quite easy for them to do this. Once the Post Office encodes the zip code on a Bar code, the sorting machines can be easily programmed to kick out specific zip codes for further inspection. A parcel opened by US Customs and Border Protection will be clearly marked that it has been opened for inspection (alternatively, you may get greetings from Customs and Border Protection that your package has been seized).
The chances of being opened for random inspection appear to be related to the package origin. I.E. shipmens from Central and South America get much more scrutiny than shipments from Western Europe or the South Pacific. Basically it is very hard to get products that are banned in the USA into Western European or South Pacific Countires to start with, so the perceived risk is quite low.
Every package I got with DHL express was opened and packaged into a DHL bag. For examle my XTAR products, which I got for a review: Packed in a box with XTAR tape, which was oepned and everything packed into a DHL bag.
Usually packages (not express) with HongKong/China/Malaysia/Singapore/Sweden/Swiss Post aren't opened, if I get them directly. If the customs service will check a package (for example every knife wihich ordered from Fasttech and send out with Malaysia Post), I will get a letter and have to send the invoice. If the value is under 26€ they will send it to me, after they checked the products (the package is tapes with specila customs service tape).
