i have been here in panama for 5+ years.
twice a year, i have ordered dehydrated pig ears from the states for the dogs...they love 'em & keeps them busy for several minutes; great distraction during the rainy season.
i have recently ordered a box. the package is in pc & they requested a couple of things via mailboxes, etc: the invoice (which they usually take off or out of the package?) & a copy of my passport to finish up processing & get it to boquete. panama has a law limiting what you can order into the country.
btw: i did talk to a pork butcher in david about obtaining pig ears here. he said sure, i'll give you a call when ready. this was one year ago or more.
another thing: this is not a rant, so snarky comments are not necessary. just passing along information & a situation that is new to me & to maybe garner knowledge from the community.
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Since 2008 I have imported many things to Panama. In that time period, I can attest that Panamanian Customs officials have made things much more difficult to import many items in to Panama from food to vehicles. The question is why? They probably would say it is to "protect our citizens" but I suspect it is to increase some customs officials income.
Importing to the USA is seriously more difficult than Panama and more expensive. Security now days happens in all countries. Terrorism isn't limited to the USA, Europe, or Canada.
I get one prescription that isn't available here. Not a narcotic or regulated medicine. It takes over a month to get here after leaving my private U.S. mailbox, but with a special tax on it just for medications. Weird, because the package is not opened. Maybe they X-Ray it?
how much do they tax you. is this a recent happening? we get our prescriptions online and sent through eshop. I wonder if we will need to go through this as well.
Eshop has waived some of the fee, they said they thought it was too high. Very nice of them. I think the fee was $5 per package. We use express scripts in the u.s. and sometimes they send 4 bottles in 4 different packages, and we pay $20. This is on top of the $7 package fee. That's an additional $48 on top of what we paid the pharmacy.. We contacted the company to at least put all in the same envelope. I guess the Panamanians just shake and hear pills, not how many. ;)
Yes I was recently informed by MBE, Etc. that it is prohibited to ship electronic cigarettes or any parts or anything to do with cigarettes. I have been getting them for over 3 yrs no problem. Now notified without any notice that I can't and they will ship to an address for me for $18.33 ..... which I don't understand because I pay no more than $5 for 1 to 2 day shipping. They say that I should never have received them. I finally was given a list in spanish and translated it in google translate....I am attaching it for your info. First they told me it was prohibited list from airlines, then from customs and someone else said it's Panama... so in any event they are enforcing it.
thank you susan for sharing this.
i do not see dog treats on this list, & that is what they are holding.
i have to ask MBE: why has mailboxes not notified all their customers of these new enforcements & delays.
that is irresponsible customer service from an organization which requires everything but our first born to have anything brought to boquete.
you're welcome.... my package just has a clear filter... no tobacco, no liquid nothing and they said no... maybe they think the dog treats are perishables or herbs.... you can try to ask here. I called mbe in Miami to reconfirm...
Question, was the item in its original packaging?
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