[Diny]

Sooner or later we have to convince ourselves that the sale of the house 'just might' go through. If it does (hope it does) there's some pretty major 'box filling' that needs to take place.

At the 11th hour we've decided to ship our belongings with Britannia instead of White & Co. They've given us a very good quote (3448) which includes all insurances. Whites increased their quote by 450 up to 3500 and this was not including any insurance. We have opted for the self pack service. In other words, they'll take care of all the big furniture and we'll pack everything else. Collected 50 flat pack cases from their depot yesterday and have already filled 5 of them !!!! Bedding and towels etc, nothing major.

Anyway ......... big digression happening here - back to the question.

Packing foodstuffs. I intend bringing over a good supply of my gravy granules (not just for me .... for Carol & Linda too), also some other dried herbs, spices etc. I know these are allowed. Has anybody else packed this kind of stuff, and if so, what did you write on the inventory? Did you stress that the goods were dried and unopened, some even vacuum packed. I don't want to alert MAF into doing a un-necessary inspection just because I wrote the wrong details down.

Any ideas?

Diny

[leslie]

mine will read:
dried/ unopened favorite foodstuff for personal consumption.

[Diny]

Thanks for that Leslie :nice1

Diny

[Jennie & Rob]

Hi Diny
I have been advised by four removal companies now that if you take foodstuff and it is listed (as it should be) - your stuff will take longer to be inspected. But - if you are taking anything like mowers (I seem to recall that on one of your emails) - they would have a good look anyway so this probably does not make any difference.
I was only going to take marmite but have now seen they sell it at Woolworths and I would have to declare it (think I may be embarrassed at the five jumbo jars I possess). I've tried but vegemite does not do it for me.
Good luck with the packing. :roll:
By the way - I was told anything I packed myself would not be covered by insurance. Is this true?
Jennie

[Diny]

Hi Jennie

Now then ..... to declare or not to declare .... that is the question.

As for Marmite. (Laying myself open for a barrage of flack here) but from experience I don't think NZ Marmite is anything like the stuff we get here. BUT ....... they do have 'My Mate' ... which IS like the Marmite we have here. I distinctly remember standing in Pak n Save in Kaitaia (sp) with my sister and commenting on the different types of Marmite/My Mate - I tell you what ...... we know how to live on the edge :nice1

As for items you pack yourself and insurance. It depends on what arrangement you have with the shipping company. If you have arranged for them to do it all and then you 'help out' by packing a few items, then NO - you're not insured if anything should happen to those items. But, if you have a 'self pack' arrangement, where you pack certain items yourself, in cartons provided by the company, then YES you are insured for these. Anyway, that's how I understand it to be, and that's certainly what it says here on the quote I have in front of me. I guess different companies will operate in different ways so it's a good idea to check first.

Diny

[AliJax]

ok to declare or not...off topic sorry...our experience with Whites (v.good - did all the packing no breaks or anything & we did sit back and watch)

Independant Insurance company - forget the name (linda insert name here) we're excelent! 1.5% of the total cost of goods beigin shipped.

The moving Company (which handled our stuff in Auckland - not so good, they kept on adding charges to do with MAF more than anything)

Then MAF - who wanted to look at the most rediculaous of things - like my recoed decks that we're marked up as toys, completley dissinterested in the cycles & garden tools more interested in the boxes which we'rnt marked up or as misc - not the best anyway.

But I can see things from their perspective - but why did'nt they check all the garden tools I cleaned with Jays as well as the footy boots, golf shoes, golf trolley, spade, fork, knife, spoon, rant rant rant (Blood Boiling Now!)

[Radders]

I put anything and everything I thought they would look at in the same boxes, rather than keep for example, herbs with kitchen stuff. So they only had to open a couple of boxes rather than 6 or 7.

[Moorf]

As for Marmite. (Laying myself open for a barrage of flack here) but from experience I don't think NZ Marmite is anything like the stuff we get here. BUT ....... they do have 'My Mate' ... which IS like the Marmite we have here.

Yup... spot on. :yes

[richsadams]

Hi All :cool

To declare or not to declare...just a quick two-cents worth...(they don't have pennies here, but you get the idea :laugh ).

By not declaring something (food stuffs or otherwise) you leave yourself open to the wrath of the MAF and/or NZ Customs. :booby If they do decide to inspect your belongings and find something that was not properly declared, they can opt to inspect everything in your shipment...and charge you accordingly. :eek

So you have to weigh that against importing a bit of food that you may or may not be able to find here in the future anyway :wah ...best to wean yourself now and get right onto some new NZ delicacies when you arrive! :mrgreen:

[Diny]

I think I'll combine a couple of the above suggestions. It's only abit of dried stuff I plan to bring so I'll state that it's dried, unopened goods for personal consumption, and it will all be in the same box.

[/quote]best to wean yourself now and get right onto some new NZ delicacies when you arrive!

Very true Rich, believe me, I'n not going to be one of those 'Brits Abroad' who refuses to try the local fayre ..... but from experience there's just one or two items which I know I'll be wanting. Old habits die hard I guess. I'll opt for weaning myself gently instead of going cold turkey :laugh

Diny

[jonSE]

Declare or not?

Declare would be my vote. we had a umber of bottles of wine and champagne that we couldn't manage to drink b4 we departed - declard the lot, (as gifts so we didn't know how much they were worth) No prob with customs. Further we should have been charged inport duty on the "value" of the one of the cars we brought. This is purchase price less a set percentage for depreciation measured since you bought the car (if owned for less than 1 yr before importing to NZ) plus cost of shipping and cost cost of shipping insurance. We only got charged on the depreciation element - go figure.

Re Maf - I would say be as honest as you can and be as helpful as you can. MAF screwd our paperwork up and confused the box No.s between conatiners, had the picked out bizarre stuff to inspect, and missed all the "risky stuff". We put all the boxes to one side that were on their list plus the boxes which we thought they should have been inspecting that they had missed for the 1st container. When the 2nd container arrived we did the same. I would like to think that the message got through as the inspection of both cars that were in the second container was perfunctory at best. The spider that has lives in the wing mirror of my car survived the trip and is now safe and well at the AA in Penrose awaiting to be declared safe to be on the road in NZ

Jon