If you're planning to volunteer in Ghana, this article might help you when you receive care packages from home. If you are planning to volunteer, you might want to read about our volunteer abroad in Africa program.
When someone sends you a package from home, there are a few things to be aware of. When it arrives you’ll receive a postal notice in the PO Box. You take the notice inside the post office where they will retrieve the parcel for you. Then, you have to take the parcel and notice to the customs desk in the post office. There, a customs officer will inspect the value of the parcel, as stated on the customs declaration that was applied by the sender, and ask you to open it. They’ll search through the parcel. They’ll then apply a rate of duty to the package. After they write the duty amount on the form you must sign the form and pay the duty. If you don’t sign this or pay, you won’t receive your package. Since customs will almost always calculate duty amount based on the external value on the coupon stuck on the outside of the package by the sender, it’s worth asking package senders to write as low a value as possible to help reduce your duty costs when you come to take your package. Don’t fall into the trap of signing the duty forms before the officer fills in the amount of duty to be paid. Wait until the assessment is done and then sign the form. I hope this helps anyone receiving packages from home in Ghana.
When someone sends you a package from home, there are a few things to be aware of. When it arrives you’ll receive a postal notice in the PO Box. You take the notice inside the post office where they will retrieve the parcel for you. Then, you have to take the parcel and notice to the customs desk in the post office. There, a customs officer will inspect the value of the parcel, as stated on the customs declaration that was applied by the sender, and ask you to open it. They’ll search through the parcel. They’ll then apply a rate of duty to the package. After they write the duty amount on the form you must sign the form and pay the duty. If you don’t sign this or pay, you won’t receive your package. Since customs will almost always calculate duty amount based on the external value on the coupon stuck on the outside of the package by the sender, it’s worth asking package senders to write as low a value as possible to help reduce your duty costs when you come to take your package. Don’t fall into the trap of signing the duty forms before the officer fills in the amount of duty to be paid. Wait until the assessment is done and then sign the form. I hope this helps anyone receiving packages from home in Ghana.
There goes Ghana Post Office revenue.
ReplyDeleteUseful info though
Fair comment and thank you. I wanted to avoid specifics but I realized that the advice doesn’t make much sense without understanding what you may encounter in practice. So here it is: When I first arrived I heard stories from other volunteers who left packages at the post office because the value applied was more than the value of the package itself. As a result, we were given the advice to make the value as low as possible so, at least, we had some hope of not being over-charged. The first time I went to pick up two packages at once, the first thing the man asked me when I handed over my two notices was, “Will you leave it if the money is too high?” Great. Do you say yes so he will make it too high and you leave your package there? Or no, so he’ll over-charge? I said yes. He the asked me to sign the blank document before he filled in the amount. I refused. Looking fairly pissed off, he pulled a machete from beneath the counter, threw it across the table and told me to open the box. I took my time opening it. My Mum had put a lot of thought into what she sent and I decided I wouldn’t leave it so I was nervous. I mean, the machete made me nervous but I was doubly nervous after seeing inside. Then he looked at the label on the other package. It said “CDs”. I’d asked my friend for one burnt CD of my favourite tracks. It felt like a whole stack of CDs, but the officer didn’t open it, he just wrote 200,000 on the duty form. That’s about 40 Cedis today! I realized he thought it was a CD player so I said clearly that it was not a CD player, but just CDs. He threw the machete again. So I opened it and, to my joy, there were burnt music CDs. He revised the amount of duty on that to a reasonable level and then wrote what I felt was OK for the package from home. I dreaded going to pick up packages after that and every time it was the same act, although I never had the machete treatment after that first time. When I came back to work in 2007 I’d had to send one carry on bag by post at the last minute from Singapore because I had too much luggage. It was full of my books and some small clothing items. When the customs officer opened the box he broke my bag, the handle fell off, and then he tried to charge me 100 Cedis for my own personal effects—you don’t pay duty on your personal luggage or items of non-commercial value at the airport. I had to argue that this was my own property and not of commercial value. I can’t actually remember that final amount but I wasn’t going to leave it there so I had to pay. That was Cape. Kumasi weren’t too bad; at least they weren’t hostile. Bolga were fine and straight forward. I never received two packages that Mum sent in recent years to Cape Coast, and plenty of other volunteers never received theirs either. My Mum has stopped sending packages. I’m sure that office is making money, but I don’t know whether Ghana actually benefits. Anyway, don’t take any rubbish and stand your ground when picking up packages from home. And be frugal with the assessment of the value. Has anyone else experienced this? I’d be curious to know how other offices are.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget, if there's 'goodies' in that package, the customs officer will no doubt ask for their 'dash'... This be Ghana afterall.
ReplyDeleteHey Pale Observer, absolutely. The volunteers gave their 'dash' and it sweetened the atmosphere--chocolates were a hit. I didn't know that when I was a customs virgin though!
ReplyDeleteI've had similar experiences with customs @ the post office so I can relate.
ReplyDeleteFor me, stating the value of the item comes handy if the package doesn't make it to it's destination & I need to file a claim.
Hopefully, their revenue will go up (somehow & soon) so the officers will get paid well and wont have to ask for dashes, and parcels will quit vanishing.
Hi Mike, Thanks for your wise words. I hope too re the revenue. It's funny how I've had virtually no issues with any other office in Ghana, just that one. Ghanaians, incidentally, also get the same treatment--at least the few who stood before me in queues so it's not just an obruni thing. All part of life in Ghana.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had read this before I sent my fiance his birthday present but he never told me that he would also have to pay to receive his gift - he payed almost $40US (converted) - he knew I would feel bad knowing he had to pay that. I didn't find out until I sent him a package last week. I am assuming that he signed the duty forms before they filled in the price because he said they kept saying "oh you have to pay this fee & oh now you have to pay this other fee as well." My fiance is from Tema so it happens there. Thank you for the advice - I told him this time not to sign anything until after the amount is filled in.
ReplyDeletei had a parkage frm uk and whn i went to the kumasi post!adum brnch. I was very happy becos it was a customized gold necklace and a mobile phone. Bt to my amazement the parcel was opend before me. When the custom askd me to open it. The tin was already opend and the items in them were stolen.
ReplyDeleteI regularly send packages to Accra, Ghana. Today, my cousin received the package I sent, a laptop computer. The customs "official" tried charging him $450 USD (FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY!) dollars. My cousin talked him down to $150, only a bit less than the laptop is worth. I spent $122 USD to send it. The US Postal Service told me their would be NO CHARGES in Ghana (uh, right.....), and the USPS tells me this is illegal activity anywhere in the world. Totally ridiculous. Is there anything one can do? Anyone we can tell?
ReplyDeleteWe experienced a similar situation when we lived in Argentina. Also we told people to never send cash. My father sent my little girls $10 for their birthdays, but we never got it.
ReplyDelete