How to get the Surefire 07 catalog in a third world country (Fun story)

[luigi]

First of all you need a good soul to send you the catalogs, I was lucky to get them from Mike at OpticsHQ, he shipped them very quickly to me.

Side Note: For some reason, packages shipped from great vendors like OHQ arrive a lot faster than packages shipped from other vendors using exactly the same method. I wonder why...

So the catalogs arrived very quickly to my country.... but as soon as they enter the 3W Postal Service the tracking disappears. I think the USPS tracking should have a label saying "delivered to the bad guys, good luck".

2 weeks after the packge reached the country you start to wonder what are they doing with the catalogs but one day I came home and found a slip of paper from the postman at my home saying they tried to deliver me a package but I wasn't home so the package is at the post office.
They are supossed to visit you twice but they only do 1 round and mark the paper as "2nd visit" (third world trick)

I go to the post office and pick up a number I got 08 and they were in 60 so 48 people were ahead of me. After 1 hour waiting (fast!) they call my number, search for my package and give me a small envelope. Certainly not the catalogs.

The envelope contains another slip of paper this time from customs saying I have a "package from USA" (very descriptive) that needs to clear customs.

Now it is very very important to buy the newspaper or a book!

So I got the newspaper and a crosswords magazine and headed for the customs. Another number this time 62, only 2 employees were working so they call "04". I wait for about an hour and they call my number. Great!

I show them the slip of paper I got at the post office and they give me another slip of paper with number 719812, they explain you have to now wait for the package to be brought from the deposit and inspected. So the waiting was just to exchange one paper for the other. (Is this for real?)

After about 2 extra hours waiting they call "719812" and I go to the office were packages are inspected.

I wait in line 15 minutes, a breeze compared to the previous lines.

They open my envelope, and ask me "what is this?"
I tell them "A catalog" with a puzzled look.
The guy flips some pages and says "It's ok you can take it"

And that is how you get the SF catalog

Luigi

 

[FredericoFreire]

:hahaha:I think that you're talking about the place that I live!

 

[beer2beer]

I totally agree with Fred, lol.

 

[RA40]

That's an adventure for sure.

I've requested SF catalogs for the past 3-4 years and have yet to receive one. :sigh:

 

[jds009]

Wow...sounds like loads of fun...where are you? it says florida...

 

[PEU]

The adventures of living in South America

I know the drill that Luigi described, I go to the same place on a regular basis, once you go there many times you know when is OK to wait or is better to leave and return at another time...

My philosophy for dealing with this place and its long waits is the same as the banner at the entrance of hell: abandon any hope whoever enters here so I go there with my radio/mp3 player and something to read, I use only one earplug to be able to hear the called numbers in the loudspeaker

But nevertheless, I love living here


Pablo

 

[Daniel_sk]

I thought our customs office is the worst .

 

[Eugene]

2 weeks after the packge reached the country you start to wonder what are they doing with the catalogs but one day I came home and found a slip of paper from the postman at my home saying they tried to deliver me a package but I wasn't home so the package is at the post office.
They are supossed to visit you twice but they only do 1 round and mark the paper as "2nd visit" (third world trick)

Thats not just a third world trick, the USPS and UPS do that too. I stood in my doorway one day and watched the UPS truck drive by and then saw the note that no one was home later that night.

 

[bitslammer]

Hmm I went on a business trip from US to Sao Paulo Brazil, to Santiago Chile, to Buenos Aries. Oddly when it went to customs and immigration it went from most to least difficult in order of my trip.

Brazil - Required a visa because technically I was performing some work. I think this is done mainly to guard against loss of local jobs. Also for safe measure I got a Yellow Fever shot. Might not have needed it but could not be sure since I did venture out to a few other locations adn wasn't sure if the OTHER countries would have wanted me to have one after being on those parts of BR.

Chile - Not too bad. Just remember to have the $100 cash on hand for the "Reciprocity Fee" they charge to US travelers. IF you don't expect a run around involving leaving you passport an using an ATM or credit card for cash advance and then going back. Didn't happen to me because I always read up on the State Dept. website before going somewhere.

Argentina - Super easy. Walk right in, get passport stamped, be told to enjoy your stay. Just beware not to try and get a cab late at night when Riverplate plays Boca Juniors and expect people to be running around everywhere in the streets shooting off fireworks. Also beware of their fine Malbec wine. It can be troublingly addictive.