package problems

Included on this page are the emails that have come in about the problems with Nordisk Ekspress and some responses.

It pays to complain!

It seems that all the complaints delivered to the various public offices worked!

Hi,
I just got this note from the USPS.
I guess it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

Vidar H.

Dear Mr. H.:
 
Effective February 28, 2003, the Postal Service's European delivery agent, General Logistics Systems (GLS), will no longer deliver airmail parcel post in Norway.  Rather, the postal administration of Norway (Norway Post) will deliver airmail parcel post for the Postal Service in Norway.  Additionally, airmail parcel post may be addressed to post office box addresses in Norway.
 
More detailed information will be issued in all the official manuals and publications, and in the online versions.  Just wanted to give you a heads up since this was just announced yesterday.
Regards,
 
Bill Wilderson
Global Package Services
International Business
U.S. Postal Service

Hi

I am not a member of your group, but in my problems with Nordisk Express, I came across your website.

I have, as many others have, also written to everyone I can and have passed around the GLS/Nordisk Express petition to all my friends.

I have recently received this response from the USPS:

Dear Ms. K.:
Effective February 28, 2003, the Postal Service's European delivery agent, General Logistics Systems (GLS), will no longer deliver airmail parcel post in Norway. Rather, the postal administration of Norway (Norway Post) will deliver airmail parcel post for the Postal Service in Norway. Additionally, airmail parcel post may be addressed to post office box addresses in Norway.

More detailed information will be issued in all the official manuals and publications, and in the online versions. Just wanted to give you a heads up since this was just announced yesterday.

Bill Wilderson
Global Package Services
International Business
U.S. Postal Service

I thought you might want to post this on your website so that everyone will know that things will be going back to normal soon.

We are all, I’m sure, feeling relieved and no longer afraid of getting mail sent to us.

Thanks for your informative website,

Sonja K., Oslo

And for those still having trouble with Nordisk Ekspress...
The U.S. Postal service contracted delivery to the Royal Mail which subsuquently subcontracted to another firm, who then subcontracted delivery to Nordisk Ekspress. The contract states that the firm that makes the deliveries can charge for customs due and they can charge for an administrative fee of EUR 17 (NOK 125,65 as of 22.01.03). This means that they are overcharging! If you want to make a complaint to USPS the person to contact is:

Ms Jane Dyer
International Business
1735 North Lynn Street, Suite 2012
Arlington, VA 22209

Many of our club members have had problems with the "new" method of getting packages from abroad. No longer do your parcels come to your local postoffice without first going through the clutches of the company Nordisk Ekspress, the customs handling agent for any packages that come into Norway via the US postal service. Any package that is not a gift and is over NOK 200 (gifts have a limit of NOK 500) has to be declared and customs and m.v.a. have to be paid. Several of our members have had the headache that they are being charged for parcels that are clearly marked gifts. One member contacted the postmaster at the Embassy APO and the following advice was given to her.

When things are sent from the US by the US postal service, the sender is paying for delivery to the addressee. There should be no extra charges or agents in between. On US postal service's website. USPS.com, if you click "contact us" at the bottom of the home page, then on "international service", you can send them an e-mail and complain.

So if you want to help bombard the USPS with complaints - please do!!! Whether or not you've had problems yourself yet. This solution is unacceptable, and people need to let the USPS know.

Hint for online shopping for videos and DVD's:
If you want to buy online, but don't want to pay customs, buy one movie at a time as long as the total cost, including postage does not come to more than NOK 200. Amazon always has specials and if ordering from England, VAT is deducted, you can actually buy a DVD for approximately NOK 100, delivered right to your mailbox!

I still have mail coming in about the package problem and from nonmembers too!

Hi,
I am forwarding this series of correspondence with the USPS regarding our parcel problem. It may be of some consolation that surface mail packages are not subject to the GLS proceedures and fees. I have had good luck with surface mail to Norway...I've received packages in 2 1/2 weeks previously.

Mr. Wilderson writes that he expects some changes in the next week or so, and he will update me. When I hear from him again, I will let you know what he says.

I hope this is of some help to my fellow Americans in Norway!

Sincerely,
Laurie V.
Grimstad

"Wilderson, Bill - Rosslyn, VA" <BWILDERS@email.usps.gov> wrote:

Dear Ms. Valborgland:

I am responding to your message to Ms. Jane Dyer. Thank you for your eMail of February 10 regarding charges for packages in Norway. We are aware of the issues with the delivery of parcels in Norway mailed from the United States and apologize for the inconvenience and difficulties you have experienced.

As background, the Postal Service utilizes foreign postal administrations or private delivery agents for the delivery of Global Express Mail and Global Airmail Parcel Post. For example, Japan Post is the delivery agent for both services in Japan, Purolator Ltd is the delivery agent for Global Express Mail in Canada while Canada Post Corp. delivers Global Airmail Parcel Post. On October 30, 2001, the Postal Service signed an agreement with the Royal Mail Group, formerly the British Post Office, for it to deliver Global Express Mail to 6 countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden) and Global Air Parcel Post to 23 countries in Europe, including Norway. Royal Mail’s Pan-European parcel company, General Logistics Systems (GLS), is the delivery agent. The Postal Service entered into this agreement to improve the delivery performance of parcels mailed from the United States.

All items entering a foreign country are subject to customs inspection and the assessment of duties and taxes in accordance with that country's national laws. Customs duties and taxes are assessed, generally, if the merchandise is dutiable and the value of the item is above the threshold set by the country's laws. If duties and taxes are assessed on an item mailed via the Postal Service, they are collected from the recipient. In addition, for most countries, there is an administrative fee that is collected from the recipient to cover the costs of clearing the item through customs and collecting duties and taxes. As is indicated on our Web Site (http://www.usps.com/global/duties.htm) the administrative fee for items mailed to Norway is ˆ17, which equals the fee the Norwegian Post Office would charge for similar services.

Responses to common questions we've received:

1) Packages mailed from the US to Norway would only be returned without notifying the person who should receive the package, or giving a reason for the return in the event that an invoice is not included with the package, and there is no other way for Norwegian Customs to verify the value of the contents or otherwise clear the package through customs. Otherwise, the package should be delivered.

2) People receiving packages sent as gifts and with low value (200 Kroner or under) can only be charged an administrative fee of ˆ17. No other or extra administrative fee will be charged by GLS or its partner in Norway.

3) Packages that have cleared customs should then be delivered. GLS changed delivery partners in Norway in November, 2002. We are aware that GLS’s new delivery partner in Norway has had operational problems in delivering packages to certain addresses, particularly in the Oslo area because letter boxes cannot be accessed at most locations. We have been informed that these problems should have been resolved by the end of January.

4) GLS’s operational procedure for delivering parcels in Norway is to send a postcard to the recipient to either set up an appointment time and day for delivery or allow them to pick up or collect it. This process was not precisely followed in November and December, however it is now. If delivery cannot be made for any reason, GLS is supposed to leave a notice of delivery attempt and working phone number for recipients to arrange for convenient time and date for delivery. GLS has assured us that they have resolved the problems with the recipient calling to arrange a pickup.

Thanks again for bringing these issues to our attention. I want to assure you that the USPS is working to correct any systematic problems and provide the service our customers deserve in the United States and abroad. With all this said we are exploring some options given the concerns raised by the senders and recipients of Global Airmail packages in Norway.

Regards,

Bill Wilderson

Global Package Services

United States Postal Service

Nordis express CEO Ragnar Hagen complains about not getting the same trade terms as the post, hence the infamous 186 kr. On the other hand, when receiving packages sent with UPS/FedEx/DHL or TNT, no such fees are added.
Nor does it take 4 weeks to get the package through.
UPS charges kr 100 in a commision for paying out the VAT on your behalf, so thet you can get the package before it has cleared customs. Now, Nordisk express are on equal terms with UPS and the others, yet NE charges kr 186 and takes forever to get you the package.
If its possible for UPS it should be possible for Nordisk Express, don't you think?

btw isn't nordisk express a contradiction in terms??

Kjell A.
Oslo, Norway
www.eureka-rc.com
e-mail fly@eureka-rc.com

Norwegian authorities decline to intervene against Nordisk Express, which
continues to charge a NOK 186 fee for toll-free gift packages sent from
the US. The Consumer Council is now asking that people direct their
complaints to the United States Postal Service (USPS).

To make this as easy as possible I have created an online petition. If you
would like to support the campaign, click here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/USPS/petition.html

People should complain to The United States Postal Service (USPS), urges
Legal Adviser Jon-Andreas Lange. This will make them aware of the extent
of the problem. To read the Consumer Council article, click here:
http://forbrukerportalen.no/Artikler/fr/2002/1040131075.58
For Aftenposten article, click here:
http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article.jhtml?articleID=466515

Thank you for joining our campaign and thank you for forwarding this email
to your friends. Only by standing together we can eliminate this
unacceptable fee.

Regards
An annoyed consumer

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ingen myndighet vil gripe inn overfor Nordisk Express, som fortsatt krever
186 kroner i gebyr for tollfrie gavesendinger fra USA. Forbrukerrådet ber
nå folk klage til det amerikanske postverket (USPS).

For gjøre dette så enkelt som mulig for deg har jeg laget en
underskriftskampanje på internett. Hvis du vil være med og støtte
kampanjen, klikk her: http://www.petitiononline.com/USPS/petition.html

Folk bør klage til det amerikanske postverket (USPS), oppfordrer juridisk
rådgiver Jon-Andreas Lange i Forbrukerrådet. Bare slik kan man der bli
oppmerksom på omfanget av problemet. Her kan du lese Forbrukerrådets
artikkel, klikk her:
http://forbrukerportalen.no/Artikler/fr/2002/1040131075.58

Tusen takk for at du er med og tusen takk for at du videresender denne
mailen til vennene dine. Bare slik kan vi få slutt på dette helt urimelige
gebyret.

Med hilsen
En irritert forbruker

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Petition letter/ Opprop
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dear Postmaster General,

Since November 2002, we who live in Norway are charged 186 Norwegian
kroner or approximately 26 US dollars handling fee for every package sent
via USPS from the US by Nordisk Express, the company you have chosen to
process the packages and to provide documentation to the Norwegian Customs
Service. This 186 kroner (or 26 US dollar) handling fee is arbitrary and
illegitimate.

We deem it totally unreasonable and unethical that we must pay an
illegitimate fee of 26 US dollars handling fee to get our gifts and our
packages.

As we see it, the sender has paid the USPS for the postage that covers all
the costs incurred until delivery. Consequently, charging a 186 kroner or
26 US dollars handling fee to the recipient is totally unacceptable,
especially when the package contains a gift of no commercial value without
the need for customs processing.

As far as we have been able to gather, the USPS is one of the very few
foreign postal services that does not deal directly with the Norwegian
postal service, and thus creates such irritation and financial loss among
package recipients in Norway.

We write this complaint to make you aware of the unreasonable and
unethical practice imposed on us by Nordisk Express, the USPS package
handling partner in Norway.

We kindly ask you to take the necessary steps to stop this arbitrary 186
kroner (or 26 dollar) charge immediately or choose a different partner
that can deliver our packages without imposing an illegitimate handling
fee and/or other hidden fees in case Nordisk Express fails to stop its
unethical practice.

Thank you for your kind attention to this petition.

+++++++ Norsk oversettelse -- Norwegian translation ++++++++++++++++++

Kjære Postmaster General,

Siden november 2002 må vi som bor i Norge og som mottar pakker fra USA
betale 186 kroner eller 26 dollar i behandlingsgebyr til Nordisk Express
for hver pakke sendt fra USA med USPS. Nordisk Express er det firmaet som
dere bruker til å behandle pakkene og legge fram tolldeklarasjon for de
norske tollmyndighetene. Dette gebyret på 186 kroner (eller 26 dollar) er
vilkårlig og illegitimt.

Vi mener at det er fullstendig urimelig og uetisk at vi må betale et
illegitimt gebyr på 26 dollar for å motta gavene og pakkene våre.

Slik vi ser det, så har avsender betalt porto til USPS, og dette burde
dekke alle kostnader frem til levering. Derfor er det helt uakseptabelt at
mottaker skal belastes et behandlingsgebyr på 26 dollar, særlig når pakken
ikke inneholder gjenstander med kommersiell verdi, og derfor ikke behøver
å tollbehandles.

Så langt vi har klart å bringe på det rene, så er USPS en av de ytterst få
utenlandske posttjenester som ikke benytter seg av det norske postverket,
og dermed skaper enorm misnøye og økonomiske tap blant pakkemottakere i
Norge.

Vi skriver dette brevet for å gjøre dem oppmerksom den urimelige og
uetiske fremgangsmåten til Nordisk Express, deres partner hva pakker sendt
med USPS angår.

Vi ber dem om å ta de nødvendige skritt for stanse dette vilkårlige
gebyret på 186 kroner (eller 26 dollar), eller velge en annen
pakkeforsendelsespartner som kan levere pakkene våre uten å kreve inn
dette urimelige gebyret og/eller andre skjulte gebyrer i tilfelle Nordisk
Express ikke slutter med sin uetiske praksis.

Tusen takk for de leser denne oppfordringen.

Letter to Ms. Jane Dyer:

For your information:

I am an American living temporarily in Norway. I am from Austin Texas. I am including some links here to various websites discussing the problem of the US Postal Service's contracts with the Norwegian delivery company, Express Gods. It is all over the news here in Norway...

Does anyone at the Postal Service have any clue that packages are not getting to their PAID FOR destinations? That because the USPS has decided to cut some costs and have contracted a cut rate company to handle US postal parcel delivery here in Norway, that thousands of US Citizens are being basically cut off from families and loved ones? Packages that are paid in full for delivery are never getting here and we are being charged exorbitant and illegal fees for delivery of the packages (including gifts which are by law duty and fee free) that do get here. If the parcel does arrive it can take from 2 to 6 months for an air mail package to get here!

Do you know how frustrated and angry we are here that we cannot get Christmas presents from our families, birthday presents from friends, and in some cases, items that are just plain necessary to our existences that are not available here?????? American people pay their money in good faith, expecting the parcel or gift to get to the intended recipient in the promised 7-10 days. The American public is being cheated out of their money and is the victim of a fraud by the USPS. Services paid for are not being rendered. The contract with ExpressGods must be revoked and the USPS should renegotiate the contract with the Norwegian Postal Service itself, who handled the mail and packages before with no problems.

Will anything be done about this? I am cc'ing my congressional representative, Lloyd Doggett, and my Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison, from my home state of Texas. (Yes I own property in Texas and I still vote). I have also cc'd the President's Commission on the US Postal Service and the Norwegian press. I demand that something happens soon to get his deplorable situation straightened out! There are many of us who are very angry and upset about this situation....can you help us please?????

The links, so you can see what we are up against:

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=479619
Newspaper article about the situation here in Norway..

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=479665
Letters to the editor written by Americans who have been upset by this situation.

http://forbrukerportalen.no/Artikler/fr/2002/1040131075.58
The official line....also called passing the buck.

I request a response about this situation from the USPS as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Karla K P

And the response ...

Dear Ms. P:
Thank you for your email regarding service in Norway. We are aware of the issues with the delivery of parcels in Norway mailed from the United States. We apologize for the inconvenience and difficulties you have had with the delivery of your parcels and our expectations are that they will be resolved by the end of this month.

As background, the Postal Service utilizes foreign postal administrations or private delivery agents for the delivery of Global Express Mail and Global Airmail Parcel Post. For example, Japan Post is the delivery agent for both services in Japan, Purolator Ltd is the delivery agent for Global Express Mail in Canada while Canada Post Corp. delivers Global Airmail Parcel Post. Royal Mail’s Pan-European parcel company, General Logistics Systems (GLS), is the delivery agent for Global Airmail Parcel Post in 23 countries in Europe and for Global Express Mail in 6 countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden) in Europe.

On October 30, 2001, the Postal Service signed an agreement with the Royal Mail Group, formerly the British Post Office, for it to deliver Global Express Mail and Global Air Parcel Post to 23 countries in Europe, including Norway. The Postal Service entered into this agreement to improve the delivery performance of parcels mailed from the United States.

All items entering a foreign country are subject to customs inspection and the assessment of duties and taxes in accordance with that country's national laws. Customs duties and taxes are assessed, generally, if the merchandise is dutiable and the value of the item is above the threshold set by the country's laws. If duties and taxes are assessed on an item mailed via the Postal Service, they are collected from the recipient. In addition, for most countries, there is an administrative fee that is collected from the recipient to cover the costs of clearing the item through customs and collecting duties and taxes. As is indicated on our Web Site (http://www.usps.com/global/customs.htm) the administrative fees for items mailed to Norway is €17, which equals the fee the Norwegian Post Office would charge for similar services.

Regarding your message and questions we've received:

1) Packages mailed from the US to Norway would only be returned without notifying the person who should receive the package, or giving a reason for the return in the event that an invoice is not included with the package and there is no other way for Norwegian Customs to verify the value of the contents or otherwise clear the package through customs. Otherwise, the package should be delivered.

2) People receiving packages sent as gifts and with low value (200 Kroner or under) can only be charged an administrative fee of €17. No other or extra administrative fee will be charged by GLS or its partner in Norway.

3) Packages that have cleared customs should then be delivered. GLS changed delivery partners in Norway in November, 2002. We are aware that GLS’s new delivery partner in Norway has had operational problems in delivering packages to certain addresses, particularly in the Oslo area because letter boxes cannot be accessed at most locations. We have been informed that these problems will be resolved by the end of January. The process that will now be followed will be that recipients, such as yourself, will receive a postcard informing them that they can either pick up or collect the parcel at a specific location that is named or they can call the customer service staff to set up a mutually convenient date and time for delivery.

4) GLS’s operational procedure for delivering parcels in Norway is to send a postcard to the recipient to either set up an appointment time and day or allow them to pick up or collect it. This process was not precisely followed in November and December, however it is now. If delivery cannot be made for any reason, GLS is supposed to leave a notice of delivery attempt and working phone number for recipients to arrange for convenient time and date for delivery. GLS has assured us that they have resolved the problems customers have had in calling to arrange a pickup.

Thanks again for bringing these issues to our attention. I want to assure you that the USPS and GLS are working together to provide the service you deserve.

Sincerely,
Jane Dyer Manager,
Global Package Services

From Laurie V.(not a member)
Grimstad

Are we not Americans????? How about a class action lawsuit!!!!!

Seriously though.....from what I've read on your website (I wish I could join your organization....I live in Grimstad- a little far from Oslo) if we are charged a handling fee for a package that does not have to be declared to Customs and therefore should not have to clear Customs and is not subject to duty, there seems to me that there is definately some illegality going on. Has anyone looked into some type of legal action?

I recently got notice from The Package Kidnappers that they had a package of mine that was mailed out from the US by via airmail over 3 months ago! My mom had already begun the process to collect the insurance, since we were sure that it was either lost or stolen. Needless to say, its ridiculous that a parcel that should arrive in 7-10 days should take 3 months because of this 'clearing proceedure'.

Please let me know if anyone has looked into the legal aspects of this practice.

God Jul!!

Dear Madam:

I found your wonderful website while trying to find some information on
Nordisk Express AS (because of its complete incompetence to actually deliver
a package in a timely fashion and the extortion of fees for packages on which
no duty is due). I was glad to find out that I was not alone in my
frustration but sorry that such a ridiculous state of affairs exists.
I digress. My mother, who is Norwegian, moved back to Norway after thirty
years in New York. She is glad to be back among old friends and family, but
misses the states a great deal. I think she misses most the easygoing style
of american people. Norwegians are not always so friendly. Is membership in
the AWOSLO available to norwegians who have lived in the states?
Could you let me know so that I could perhaps encourage her to check you out? Thanks for your attention to my request.

Sincerely, Becky A

From Jouni R.

About your item "Holiday Mail Problems" on the front page on your website:

I've had a rather long e-mail correspondence with Nordisk Ekspress lately, and seeing your suggestion to complain to the USPS, I went ahead and sent them a fairly long message (a copy of which is included below.)

The main point was that besides being bad for us who are on the receiving end of shipments from the States, it's also bad for the USPS (loss of revenue) and for U.S. exports (loss of sales.) Especially the last point should be of interest to the U.S. embassy, if any of you have contacts there...

Also, you might like to know that Stavanger Aftenblad has started writing about this:
http://aftenbladet.no/nyheter/article.jhtml?articleID=145996
http://aftenbladet.no/nyheter/leder/article.jhtml?articleID=146188
http://aftenbladet.no/nyheter/okonomi/article.jhtml?articleID=145993
http://aftenbladet.no/nyheter/article.jhtml?articleID=145994
http://aftenbladet.no/nyheter/article.jhtml?articleID=145995

Best regards,
Jouni R.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This was sent to the USPS today:


You have a serious problem with package shipments to Norway:

These days, Consignia, GLS and finally Nordisk Ekspress handles packages from the States to Norway. Previously, Nor-Cargo was the local handler, but they abruptly withdrew from the contract after getting into hot water in the media. And now Nordisk Ekspress is starting to get the same treatment.

The problem is that Norwegian customs law allows for 3 categories of tax and duty free shipments: 1) Those with a value of less than NOK 200 (approx USD 27), 2) gifts of less than NOK 500 (USD 68) and 3) books, regardless of value. The Norwegian Postal service, who previously handled these packages, and still handles all packages from the rest of the world, does not charge any customs handling fee for tax and duty free shipments - i.e. of these three categories. However, Nordisk Express does. (As Nor-Cargo did.) They charge NOK 150 plus 24% VAT (USD 25) for every shipment, regardless of value or content. They justify this (in a quite arrogant and hostile manner) by demanding that they should be allowed to charge for the paper work, since they have to ask Norwegian Customs about every single shipment.

This gets very unfair and ugly when the shipment is of only low value, and especially if it is a gift. One can very well end up paying a larger handling fee than the value of the item. Norwegian media are starting to look into this (again, after blowing Nor-Cargo out of the water) and Nordisk Ekspress is going to get into a lot of trouble. At least one newspaper has already printed several articles about this.

Not only will Nordisk Ekspress (for whom this GLS package handling is only a small part of their total business) suffer by aquiring an image of a greedy corporation preying on plain folks, but they are also in defiance of government policy. Politicians are already looking into the legality of charging handling fees for these items, especially as the regulations were put in place precisely for making it possible to buy small mail order (and web order) items without undue hassle or expense, to receive gifts without ditto, and to encourage spending on books.

Nordisk Ekspress' defense is that their contract with GLS expressly says that they may charge a handling fee. It doesn't, however, say that they must charge such a fee, so this is a matter of choice for them: Is the revenue from the fees worth more to them than the blackening of their name and trademark - or not...? (Nor-Cargo decided it was not, and duly withdrew.)

There is also another problem - for the USPS and for US export industry in general: As people wake up to the fact that everything is costing them an additional $25, they will of course order less from the States than before, shifting their business to European or other vendors. They will also discourage friends and relatives in the U.S. from sending small packages, such as Christmas or birthday gifts. So not only will there be, after a while, a decline in small-item exports from the States to Norway, but there will also be a (larger) decline in the USPS revenue!

The question for you must be whether you really want to suffer this loss of revenue - if it is worth the reduced expense of sending everything to Consignia instead of having to sort out what's to be sent to Norway (because that must be why you did this in the first place - to save on expenses, right?) Or if you should already now face up to that this really wasn't a good idea, because of the unintended consequences due to Norwegian customs law, and put the package business back into the hands of the Norwegian Postal Service, who does not charge these fees...

An option might of course be to look into whether the Postal Service here is getting different treatment from Customs - if they, for example, are allowed to sort between shipments that are liable for tax and duty and those that aren't, on their own - without asking Customs. Perhaps the Customs service only does spot checks, and/or reviews the paperwork afterwards?

If so, maybe Nordisk Ekspress - or their successor, perhaps - might get the same treatment? It should be possible, since Customs doesn't actually look at the shipments (except, I presume, for spot checks) - they only receive the paperwork. And that might just as well be handled afterwards, if Customs feels that they can trust Nordisk Ekspress to do things right. An agreement about this might for instance include the clause that Nordisk Ekspress would be liable for any taxes and/or duties that weren't properly collected - that would be incentive to do the job well...

Such a deal with Customs will probably take some time to work out, and in the meantime public outcry is building. Every day Nordisk Ekspress (and the USPS) is getting more and more disgruntled customers. It's just a matter of time before this issue gets onto the consumers' TV programs, and/or is written about (again, but now not about Nor-Cargo) in the national consumers' advocate magazine. The right thing to do, strictly from a public relations point of view, would be to declare an immediate moratorium on handling fees for non-tax-and-dutiable items, so that the problem is stopped in it's tracks before it gets out of hand, and gives both Nordisk Ekspress and you in the USPS some breathing space in which to decide what to do about this...

From Megan F.

Hi. I noticed your information about the recent mail hassle. I have also had the unfortunate encounter with Nordisk Ekpress. I think that we also need to start sending messages to all the tv stations and newspapers. As well as the Norwegian Post. kundeservice@posten.no, as I have spoken with Nordisk Ekspress and the man said that we should start complaining to them and the Norwegian Treasury Department (I have not found out to contact them yet). It is great complaining to the USPS, however, I don't think that will amount to much. If people do go through that USPS website, it is best to email through 'Consumer Questions - We Want to Know.'
Also, perhaps we should get something in the newsletter as well