Buttergate, seriously?
Today, Lynn and I went to the US to pick up an order and do a little retail therapy. We purchased several wonderful items, such as these totally awesome and pink shopping bags*
Lovely, aren't they?
To celebrate spring, we bought these raised garden kits.
We bought some milk - 5 gallons of it - I like the milk from the states because it comes in jugs.
And we bought some butter. Yes, people, we bought some butter. I like the US butter because it's the kind of butter that comes in a nice sealed box with a really cool USDA red seal on it with 4 parchment wrapped sticks inside each measuring exactly one half cup. So perfect for baking or fitting into those cute little butter dishes.
Apparently we bought (or declared) too much butter. You see, unbeknownst to us, Canadians are only allowed to bring back $20 total of dairy products. Lynn had brought back an exorbitant amount - $30! Milk, cream, and butter. $10 over her limit! It was time to call in Dudley Doright to right this wrong. How dare we try and bring back US butter! The shame! The indignity! The scandal!
Dudley didn't show up, but the nasty little agent confiscated 4 pounds of her individually wrapped butter anyway! It was either surrender the butter or pay a penalty of $28. The way the agent was behaving you'd think she thought Lynn was bringing back all kinds of illegal items like guns, knives, mace and over $10,000 in cash**.
Just for your edification, if you travel to the US and plan to stock up on groceries to bring back into Canada, you must abide by certain limits of 24 eggs, 20 kg of dairy products not worth more than $20 in value, 3 kg of margarine or butter substitutes, 20 kg of meat products, a maximum of one whole turkey or 10 kg of turkey products, maximum of 10 kg of chicken, maximum of 5 kg of edible meats, meat products from cattle, sheep, goat, bison, buffalo and a maximum of 250 g of caviar.
I guess it was a slow day at the border and they hadn't collected enough tax and duty. I sure hope our $15*** in taxes and 4 pounds of butter helped them reach their quota while it wasted about an hour of their (and our) time.
And we sincerely hope they enjoy the butter on their toast tomorrow.
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*When I previewed this post before publishing it, I noticed how well the bag coordinates with the blog background. That was truly a coincidence. Which has nothing to do with me liking pink.
**When the border guards ask me the question, "Do you have more than $10,000 in currency in the car?" I always want to answer, "Look at my car, do you really think I'd be driving it if I had $10,000 in it?"
***Just for the record, my agent was charming, delightful and totally puzzled with the way Lynn's agent was behaving. I declared twice as much as Lynn and paid $6 tax, Lynn paid $9. Go figure.
Lovely, aren't they?
To celebrate spring, we bought these raised garden kits.
We bought some milk - 5 gallons of it - I like the milk from the states because it comes in jugs.
And we bought some butter. Yes, people, we bought some butter. I like the US butter because it's the kind of butter that comes in a nice sealed box with a really cool USDA red seal on it with 4 parchment wrapped sticks inside each measuring exactly one half cup. So perfect for baking or fitting into those cute little butter dishes.
Apparently we bought (or declared) too much butter. You see, unbeknownst to us, Canadians are only allowed to bring back $20 total of dairy products. Lynn had brought back an exorbitant amount - $30! Milk, cream, and butter. $10 over her limit! It was time to call in Dudley Doright to right this wrong. How dare we try and bring back US butter! The shame! The indignity! The scandal!
Dudley didn't show up, but the nasty little agent confiscated 4 pounds of her individually wrapped butter anyway! It was either surrender the butter or pay a penalty of $28. The way the agent was behaving you'd think she thought Lynn was bringing back all kinds of illegal items like guns, knives, mace and over $10,000 in cash**.
Just for your edification, if you travel to the US and plan to stock up on groceries to bring back into Canada, you must abide by certain limits of 24 eggs, 20 kg of dairy products not worth more than $20 in value, 3 kg of margarine or butter substitutes, 20 kg of meat products, a maximum of one whole turkey or 10 kg of turkey products, maximum of 10 kg of chicken, maximum of 5 kg of edible meats, meat products from cattle, sheep, goat, bison, buffalo and a maximum of 250 g of caviar.
I guess it was a slow day at the border and they hadn't collected enough tax and duty. I sure hope our $15*** in taxes and 4 pounds of butter helped them reach their quota while it wasted about an hour of their (and our) time.
And we sincerely hope they enjoy the butter on their toast tomorrow.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*When I previewed this post before publishing it, I noticed how well the bag coordinates with the blog background. That was truly a coincidence. Which has nothing to do with me liking pink.
**When the border guards ask me the question, "Do you have more than $10,000 in currency in the car?" I always want to answer, "Look at my car, do you really think I'd be driving it if I had $10,000 in it?"
***Just for the record, my agent was charming, delightful and totally puzzled with the way Lynn's agent was behaving. I declared twice as much as Lynn and paid $6 tax, Lynn paid $9. Go figure.
Comments
I had a friend who forgot he had an orange in his lunch pail. You should have seen how customs reacted to that. They searched his truck like they expected to find it full of cocaine. I know it can bring in disease and destroy farming in Canada, but the Customs folks need to get some common sense.
Bring back the jugs!