Your kinda lucky they didn't take it out to a remote field and blow it up fearing it was a bomb. Paranoia is rampant now. We just had case where a guy was killed for holding a cell phone calling it a gun. I am actually getting afraid to come near any law enforcement personnel. Recently at our local courthouse I had to remove my steel cap boots because they were setting off the metal detector and the operator would not accept my word and labels on them as the truth. I was surprised they didn't strip search me along with a cavity search because of the fuss I made about taking my boots off.
This why I insure most packages outbound here. They hate that as they know they are on the hook for the damages. I have only a had one $2000 package damaged and it looked like they took a steam roller to it. It was like pulling teeth without deadner to get reimbursed, but finally I got the full insured value. My boss at the time had threaten to fire me for insuring the package for so much but he was glad he didn't need to pay for the customer's equipment as it was sent to the warranty center after this happened.
Oh these inspectors are also thieves to (my opinion) as I've had packages opened even witinh the 48 state mainland here and arrived with parts missing, I got packages that only contain one gasket and the expensive one with the bearings where removed. Security tape broken. Package was shipped at 15lbs but so light I could easily palm it. Basically it was just the weight of the box itself. The shipper had to resend the parts and file a claim with the carrier. Good thing I would let the carrier leave without noting the problem and let them open the box in his presence.
I am with Norm here, if they add many more fees I will need to close up the shop and I am considering do it in 10 years anyway as it is getting to be too big of a hassle getting parts and abiding by all the regulations that they are constantly adding.
They just added import tariffs on steel and aluminum here, I have seen the 25% increase on the steel parts already. A Briggs gas tank I was selling last year for $96 is now $125. The consumers are stupid too as they think only the manufactures are going to pay these fees when it is the end user that will pay it ultimately.
