En route carto delay due to FDA? (empties, asst other flavors)

[syntaxevasion]

Doubtful.

The cartos were supposed to have shipped yesterday. Lots of empties and some other things I've been out of stock on/running a bit low on.

I was informed that it has not in fact shipped yet and their explanation was

"this address was eyed by FDA" (their exact words, referring to my address)

This sounds like BULL#*@ to me and like an excuse, though maybe they know something I don't know (I wont totally discount the possibility). I pretty much called them out on it, but if anyone has ANY idea what they might be talking about please let me know.

In the meantime, if you care to read an interesting article, check out the following:

Do the Chinese Lie? That Depends… The Lingua Franca

It is a rather enlightening look into a small but important piece of Chinese culture, and explains what we have to deal with on a regular basis. It certainly makes business more of a game than we're used to in the West (for the most part).

Ben

[keveck]

Seems a little fishy to me.

How in the heck would the FDA "eye" a package from China before it even shipped?

[syntaxevasion]

I have no idea. Don't know if there is a list of "watched" addresses or what. I remember seeing a while back that there was a list of Chinese companies on the watch list but don't think this had anything to do with domestic companies... That's why I think it's just an excuse why they didn't get the order out on time as promised and it's just trickery from them to save face. /dunno

Ben

[Kimmy]

yeah if the FDA was "watching it" they would have seized it & sent you a letter.

[Xenite]

The only thing I have been hearing about is customs holding supplier shipments a lot longer then they used to. What they said seems really bizarre actually.

It's possible the FDA is looking into seizing shipments from suppliers though. Actually kind of worried about it, a lot of lobbyist money that would love to see e-cig's go bye bye. And I imagine they will start with the suppliers.

[Belletrist]

I'll ask some people who may know... that's an excellent article, though. Living in Korea, that was part of the culture that had me totally confused when I first arrived, it's very similar there.

[syntaxevasion]

thanks Belle.. I actually sent an email to one of my customers who has 6 years with FedEx doing imports.. he doesn't have any idea what they're talking about and recommended I try calling the customs directly..though i'm hesitant if asking them if I'm on a watch list as that might give them the idea to create one

Ben

[Adrenalynn]

It fails a simple critical reasoning. Or if you prefer: The logic check bounces due to insufficient balance...

First: It'd be in the domain of Customs, not the FDA. But we'll cut them some slack on that one.

Second: If such a list existed and became public knowledge then it could be circumvented at-will simply by changing the delivery address.

So if such a list exists (and it would have to), then it would be guarded at the highest levels of secrecy. (or it becomes worthless)

Therefore, assuming foreign nationals have ferreted-out said list, they would also protect its contents while carefully leveraging it only for high-value infiltrations.

No one would share it with a comparatively nothing company like Boge who would then reveal convenient portions of it to an even more comparatively nothing company [no offense intended there] that resides in the host country that it was originally pilfered from.

AND if they did - well, then you likely just committed an act of treason by first receiving it and then again by posting it.

The whole thing fails the "scratch-and-sniff test".

[syntaxevasion]

Agreed. Their explanation stinks.

[Adrenalynn]

I suppose there's another possibility outside of treason. And that is that you're now a national hero, having just [inadvertently] blown the lid off a monster espionage case. Hazaaah!

Hero or Villain. Depends how good your lawyer is and how bored DHS is right now...

Oh crud... I just realized, we're now all co-conspirators. Well, the weather in Gitmo is actually pretty nice right now. 87deg F, 67% humidity, mostly overcast. Sounds like a vacation. Who's bringin' the waterboards?