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From: Tom Elam <thomas.e.elam@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: The trip to France, Germany and Switzerland
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2024 08:48:50 -0400
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On 9/12/2024 1:07 PM, -hh wrote:
> On 9/12/24 10:34 AM, Alan wrote:
>> On 2024-09-12 05:16, -hh wrote:
>>> On 9/11/24 10:51 PM, Alan wrote:
>>>> On 2024-09-11 19:39, Tom Elam wrote:
>>>>> On 9/11/2024 5:17 PM, Alan wrote:
>>>>>> On 2024-09-10 15:54, Tom Elam wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Riquewihr is similar and was the either/or choice, as we also 
>>>>>>>>> visited Srasbourg too.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> There's a lot of such small towns w/wineries in the Alsace 
>>>>>>>>> region; I think we have a Karen Brown guidebook which has a 
>>>>>>>>> couple of self- driving routes that's on the "to do" list .. my 
>>>>>>>>> basic conclusion is that if one wants to get to such small 
>>>>>>>>> villages, it is better done with a rental car than by mass 
>>>>>>>>> transit as we had done.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Forgot to mention that I've looked into the "ship some home" too.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The problem I ran into are that State regulations on shipping of 
>>>>>>>> alcohol vary, and NJ is a "nope!" state.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> For hand-carrying, the last time that I can recall packing some 
>>>>>>>> 750ml wine bottles into checked baggage was from Budapest, and 
>>>>>>>> their security folk (at least I hope it was them!) either didn't 
>>>>>>>> have TSA keys, or didn't care:  they just cut all the locks off.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> -hh
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Indiana is OK since about 5 years back. We carry wine home in 
>>>>>>> checked bags from Europe every trip, never had an issue. The 
>>>>>>> record is 7 bottles spread across 3 check bags. We do not lock 
>>>>>>> our bags. You just reminded me why. Those are flimsy locks that 
>>>>>>> do no real good.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And you're paying the tax and duty on those bottles, I assume.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> :-)
>>>>> Yes, that's why shipping is so expensive.
>>>>
>>>> But you just talked about carrying wine home in your checked bags.
>>>>
>>>> That's not what anyone I know calls "shipping".
>>>
>>> Its another illustration of the trade-offs.
>>>
>>> Carrying them home falls under the US customs $800/person exemption, 
>>> if one is within the volume limits too.  Even so, the duty rates on 
>>> overages isn't onerous .. something like 50 cents per wine bottle.
>>>
>>> Shipping has no exemption provision (you're not traveling "with" it).
>>> Plus as I noted, it can be prohibited by State law...and it had been 
>>> prohibited to be shipped via USPS (Federal Postal laws), so one has 
>>> to look to the private services (FedEx/UPS/DHL) for transportation. 
>>
>> Is there not also a specific restriction about alcohol? There 
>> certainly is in Canada.
>>
>> :-)
> 
> Yes, which I allude to when I said "within volume limits too".  Looking 
> it up, the US customs duty-free allowance is 1L/person (every N days).
> 
> FYI, it doesn't differentiate by alcoholic content (like some other 
> countries have done), so 1L spirits = 1L beer = 1L wine.  Fortunately, 
> the US duty rates for overages are quite low (like ~50 cents per liter), 
> plus Customs tends to ignore minor overages rather than to go through 
> the paperwork hassle to collect all of two bucks.  Think my biggest 
> personal overage was my hand-carrying 5L of Beaujolais Nouveau on its 
> day of release in Paris back to the US, which I hand-carried onwards the 
> next day to Pirate's Point owner Gladys Howard as a surprise gift.
> 
> 
> -hh

Bingo, we declared our wine but Customs never asked for a payment.