Lessons in Shipping

I went to the Post Office on Friday to ship two packages for GCS. It was quite an ordeal, and in spite of the fact that there was no line, it wound up taking over an hour. I arrived with open boxes for the Customs inspection (since the boxes were being shipped internationally), which was actually really easy. Then I pulled out my roll of tape to close up the boxes, but the lady on the counter told me that I needed to wrap the box in brown paper because it was so heavy (23 lbs). So I went over and bought a sheet of paper for each package. While I was buying the paper, another customer grabbed my roll of tape and applied it liberally to close her package. Then the Customs woman told me that I needed another to close it properly (effectively, I had to wrap it like a gift). As I tried to do this, I ran out of tape, so I had to go to the stationery store (which instead markets itself as a stationary store--lest one confuse that building with one of those stores that moves around) nearby and bought some tape. Then I returned, and the woman at the counter told me that my wrapping was inadequate and took the tape and applied it liberally to the package. After that, it was just a matter of addressing the boxes, filling out the customs forms, putting the box on the scale, and waiting as she counted at all the money in the payment (the cost of shipping was around $130, which required 39 bills).

After that adventure, I went to the bus station to ask about the cost of shipping a box to Mombasa on the bus. I described the size and weight of the box in question, and they said that it would cost 30,000 shillings ($20). An interesting price considering that if I were traveling as a passenger, I would pay 22,000 shillings for the seat and a spot for the same package. I don't think that the price was on account of my skin color. Rather, I think it was a testament to the fees that have to be paid to the officials at the border. Of course, on paper, it's free to move goods across the border. Someone should pass that information on to the border officials.