Geekzone: technology news, blogs, forums
Guest
Welcome Guest.
You haven't logged in yet. If you don't have an account you can register now.


Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

#255522 15-Aug-2019 22:04
Send private message

I think that is quite ridiculous. She declared and them shows them the stuff! Story below.

 

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/115015520/traveler-ticked-box-on-arrival-card-still-fined-for-not-declaring-honey


View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic
 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
marpada
475 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #2300065 15-Aug-2019 22:11
Send private message

Oldest trick in the book. Remember to always tick all the boxes on your customs declaration.




Batman

Mad Scientist
29760 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
Lifetime subscriber

  #2300071 15-Aug-2019 22:31
Send private message

marpada:

 

Oldest trick in the book. Remember to always tick all the boxes on your customs declaration.

 

 

she ticked, then told them she had stuff, showed them everything she had, and got given a fine


marpada
475 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #2300075 15-Aug-2019 22:42
Send private message

Maybe she did, I wasn't there and the story is very light on the details from the other side. Just saying that if you want to sneak something in tick all the boxes and if they catch just say 'But I declared it on the form!'.




Malboo
57 posts

Master Geek


  #2300076 15-Aug-2019 22:50
Send private message

She did tick all the boxes and posted a pic of her declaration form 

 

 

 

 


marpada
475 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #2300078 15-Aug-2019 22:55
Send private message

So ticking all the boxes is the Get out of Jail card, that's why every traveller should do it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


Bung
6477 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #2300081 15-Aug-2019 23:45
Send private message

Maybe it could be the form of questioning. If the product that she had contained honey as an ingredient that is not the same as a jar of honey. She apparently declared the herbal remedy and produced it but MPI expected her to have already declared the honey in it.

sbiddle
30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod
Trusted
Biddle Corp
Lifetime subscriber

  #2300143 16-Aug-2019 06:39
Send private message

Seems very much like a she said, he said article. Having been though customs literally hundreds of times and declaring food much of the time I actually side with customs on this based on the information in that story.

 

Ticking your form is simply telling the officer you have one of more of those items. It's then up to you to tell them what they are, and what they contain. She did fail to declare she had honey.

 

 


 
 
 

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.
SaltyNZ
8218 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted
2degrees
Lifetime subscriber

  #2300150 16-Aug-2019 07:31
Send private message

sbiddle:

 

Seems very much like a she said, he said article. Having been though customs literally hundreds of times and declaring food much of the time I actually side with customs on this based on the information in that story.

 

 

 

 

They're not infallible, though. I went to Turkey earlier this year with three colleagues. On the last day, me and one of the other colleagues bought some Turkish tea. This particular tea was a mix of fruits and berries. I'm not a tea drinker, but my daughter loves herbal teas and the sample I tried was delicious so I bought some for her. I knew there was a risk it wouldn't be allowed in after all but that was OK. I only spent about $10 on it so it was a risk I was prepared to take.

 

On arrival in Auckland I declared it and the officer examined it. He pointed at a bit and asked what it was. I said I believed it was orange peel. He said that orange peel was a biosecurity risk and they would have to confiscate it. Oh well, no harm done; as I said I knew that was a potential outcome.

 

Texted my colleagues my sad tale of woe only to find out that my other colleague with the same tea declared it and was allowed to bring it in with no problems at all. What happened here? Did the officer I dealt with cost my daughter a lovely treat? Did the other one miss a vital biosecurity risk to NZ? I don't know. But one of them was wrong.

 

So personally I'm going to side with the traveller on this one - she clearly marked all the right boxes on the card; she was not trying to hide anything. Customs have responsibility here too.





iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

 

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.


floydbloke
3522 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

  #2300153 16-Aug-2019 07:45
Send private message

SaltyNZ:

 

They're not infallible, though..

 

On arrival in Auckland I declared it and the officer examined it. He pointed at a bit and asked what it was. I said I believed it was orange peel. He said that orange peel was a biosecurity risk and they would have to confiscate it. Oh well, no harm done; as I said I knew that was a potential outcome.

 

Texted my colleagues my sad tale of woe only to find out that my other colleague with the same tea declared it and was allowed to bring it in with no problems at all. What happened here? Did the officer I dealt with cost my daughter a lovely treat? Did the other one miss a vital biosecurity risk to NZ? I don't know. But one of them was wrong.

 

..

 

 

As you say they're not infallible.  They're human beings on the end doing a job who have to make judgement calls.

 

SaltyNZ:

 

...

 

So personally I'm going to side with the traveller on this one - she clearly marked all the right boxes on the card; she was not trying to hide anything. Customs have responsibility here too.

 

 

Call me a cynic, but the way I interpret the story I'd speculate that the woman involved did declare food on the form but tried to hide that it included honey, and the media is jumping on the opportunity to have a dig at a government agency.





Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?


Bung
6477 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

  #2300175 16-Aug-2019 08:47
Send private message

Why assume it was in a food item? Honey could be an ingredient in a lot of things you wouldn't stick on your toast. If the question was anything with honey in it she may have responded differently. I suppose it depends on whether she brought the herbal remedy to MPI's attention or not.

floydbloke
3522 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

  #2300180 16-Aug-2019 08:59
Send private message

Bung: Why assume it was in a food item? Honey could be an ingredient in a lot of things you wouldn't stick on your toast. If the question was anything with honey in it she may have responded differently. I suppose it depends on whether she brought the herbal remedy to MPI's attention or not.

 

If you're referring to my post above, I was generalising.  The form has checkboxes for food and for animal products and explicitly mentions honey. Fact is she wanted to bring honey in which is a no-no.  Its purpose is irrelevant, the speculative discussion here is on whether the fine she received was justified or not.  I suspect none of us will ever know the full story of what went on.





Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?


iamsammajor
370 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

  #2300183 16-Aug-2019 09:16
Send private message

i thought if I declare all the cases on the form that deems appropriate then it is up to MPI to tell what is good to go and what is not. i thought thats their job?


kiwiharry
1030 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified
Subscriber

  #2300185 16-Aug-2019 09:25
Send private message

Purely based on that Stuff article, it stated:
However, she opened her luggage and showed the next officer the contents of her herbal medicine, which contained the honey.

From this it appears she wasn't trying to hide the honey. She ticked the box in the section for honey and willingly showed them what she had. MPI didn't find it as a result of a search of her bags, so maybe a warning should have been given if they wanted to be that pedantic.

I think the fine is unjustified.




If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably shouldn't laugh at others.


floydbloke
3522 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

  #2300186 16-Aug-2019 09:26
Send private message

iamsammajor:

 

i thought if I declare all the cases on the form that deems appropriate then it is up to MPI to tell what is good to go and what is not. i thought thats their job?

 

 

Surely the form is just part of the the vetting process.  I would think the next part is where the MPI agent asks what food items and animal products the passenger is carrying.  It is then up to the passenger to list all the items they're bringing in.  Ignorance is no excuse.  if they 'forget' to declare one item they have with them, and it is later found in their luggage to be a prohibited item, they deserve to be fined in my opinion.  If the passenger is not sure they should respond to that question along the lines of "I can't remember it all, why don't you take a look in my bags and tell me what is and isn't allowed."





Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?


wellygary
8312 posts

Uber Geek


  #2300187 16-Aug-2019 09:29
Send private message

kiwiharry: Purely based on that Stuff article, it stated:
However, she opened her luggage and showed the next officer the contents of her herbal medicine, which contained the honey.

From this it appears she wasn't trying to hide the honey. She ticked the box in the section for honey and willingly showed them what she had. MPI didn't find it as a result of a search of her bags, so maybe a warning should have been given if they wanted to be that pedantic.

I think the fine is unjustified.

 

But earlier in the article we are told

 

"for not declaring a jar of honey,"

 

Herbal medicines don't contain jars of honey ....


 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
View this topic in a long page with up to 500 replies per page Create new topic





News and reviews »

Air New Zealand Starts AI adoption with OpenAI
Posted 24-Jul-2025 16:00


eero Pro 7 Review
Posted 23-Jul-2025 12:07


BeeStation Plus Review
Posted 21-Jul-2025 14:21


eero Unveils New Wi-Fi 7 Products in New Zealand
Posted 21-Jul-2025 00:01


WiZ Introduces HDMI Sync Box and other Light Devices
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:32


RedShield Enhances DDoS and Bot Attack Protection
Posted 20-Jul-2025 17:26


Seagate Ships 30TB Drives
Posted 17-Jul-2025 11:24


Oclean AirPump A10 Water Flosser Review
Posted 13-Jul-2025 11:05


Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 Brings New Edge-To-Edge FlexWindow
Posted 10-Jul-2025 02:01


Epson Launches New AM-C550Z WorkForce Enterprise printer
Posted 9-Jul-2025 18:22


Samsung Releases Smart Monitor M9
Posted 9-Jul-2025 17:46


Nearly Half of Older Kiwis Still Write their Passwords on Paper
Posted 9-Jul-2025 08:42


D-Link 4G+ Cat6 Wi-Fi 6 DWR-933M Mobile Hotspot Review
Posted 1-Jul-2025 11:34


Oppo A5 Series Launches With New Levels of Durability
Posted 30-Jun-2025 10:15









Geekzone Live »

Try automatic live updates from Geekzone directly in your browser, without refreshing the page, with Geekzone Live now.



Are you subscribed to our RSS feed? You can download the latest headlines and summaries from our stories directly to your computer or smartphone by using a feed reader.