FedEx.....

I am going to Argentina and Brazil next month, and for those who haven't read the Wiz's blog on Iguazu falls, you need a visa to enter the Brazilian side. Apparently the USA has decided all Brazilians need a visa to enter the USA, so Brazil has retaliated by making it expensive and cumbersome for an American to get a Brazilian visa. So.... you need to hire a company to present your documents to the Brazilian embassy in NYC, pay the $140 fee to Brazil, pay an additional $20 fee if you are not personally there, no credit cards, no cash, only a cashier's check, photos of yourself, a utility bill with address, a photocopy of your driver's license, and your PASSPORT nust be HAND delivered to the Brazilian embassy. So you have to get all this stuff to a company that will do it for you. They charge $60 per passport plus a shipping and handling fee of $50, which includes the Fed Ex fee for round trip document mailing. So around $270 to get this visa. By the way, no visa is required for Argentina.
Anyway, I live in an apartment complex with each apartment having its own door to the outside, and we have an office which is staffed from 8am to 6pm 7 days a week. I asked my office manager there what happens if I am not home when a FedEx package arrives, they said they keep them in the office and will notify me by text and email. Presumably my passports (for me and my travelling companion) were sent by FedEx to me on Friday, so I figured I'd get it on Saturday or Monday, as I wasn't sure if FedEx delivered on Saturday. When it didn't arrive on Monday I called FedEx and they assured me it was delivered, and the driver apparently made a note 'left at door at 9am on FRIDAY'. I told them I was HOME at 9am on Friday, and no one rang the door or knocked, and that there is no envelope by my apartment, nor in the office. Yesterday, they said the driver would retrace her steps because 'perhaps' she left it in front of another apartment. I had searched all the nearby areas around my apartment, and other than leaves and snow the only thing I found was a UPS package slip. (Allegedly), during her 'retracing', she found my envelope behind my air conditioning unit, where it must have 'blown'. That is where I found the UPS packing slip, so I know i was lied to. Despite my unparalleled joy at not having to go through the 'new passport, new visa' rigamarole, my view of FedEx has taken a nosedive.
The supervisor i spoke to said the driver 'is supposed to' ring the bell but doesn't 'have to'. And if the customer has not paid extra for a signature (I didn't because i foolishly thought they would leave the package at the office, and I trust the office), then they can leave your package 'in the vicinity' of your apartment/house. I don't think I'm going to take this any further with FedEx, but thank you, forum members, for letting me blow off steam!!!!

You're welcome.

I can share many stories about Canada Post too that's similar.

In Canada, we are treated to "supermailboxes" which essentially is a centralized mailbox. With our house we get a key, and we all walk to the mailbox. If the mail is too big for the box, there are special boxes within the supermailbox that hold larger items which you open with a key that is in the smaller mailbox. When the parcel is bigger than that, the mailperson is responsible for delivering it to your door.

So, my wife has an on-line business and she gets deliveries all of the time. However, the mail person refuses to deliver it to our house. On the tracking information, it shows, "attempted delivery" four or five times during the day, but we are home all of the time, and there is no attempted delivery. Once the mail person attempts delivery, she can leave the package at the local post office (which in Canada is at a drug store) and she leaves a slip where we have to go pick it up.

So, my wife complained to Canada Post, and their response was to make excuses for the mail lady: "the package is too heavy -- she doesn't have to deliver packages over 50 pounds". None of the packages are over 50 pounds. "there's customs due - we can't deliver packages when customs is due". False. You can pay for items delivered to the postal lady, and some of the packages have nothing due. "You weren't home", uh - yeah we were. So, my wife says, "look, we've paid $xx per package to have these delivered to our house. Do your job."

In the end, we forced our mail person to deliver the packages, and she was none too happy to see us. In Canada, postal workers are unionized, and I don't why unionized people who get paid far more than their private counterparts are unhappy to do their jobs.

In the US, you're lucky. You have free pickup services, free boxes, service on Saturday. I know cutbacks are coming, but geez.

Quote: SOOPOO

Apparently the USA has decided all Brazilians need a visa to enter the USA,

America did not suddenly decide that. The US has required foreign visitors to obtain visas for a long time. It does waiver visas for some countries, and some people may obtain a waiver as well. I've had a visa for the US sinsce I was 3 years old. What changed recently is that permanent visas were revoked. now they are issued for ten years and must be renewed afterwards (and this was before 9/11)

Quote:

So.... you need to hire a company to present your documents to the Brazilian embassy in NYC, pay the $140 fee to Brazil, pay an additional $20 fee if you are not personally there, no credit cards, no cash, only a cashier's check, photos of yourself, a utility bill with address, a photocopy of your driver's license, and your PASSPORT nust be HAND delivered to the Brazilian embassy. So you have to get all this stuff to a company that will do it for you. They charge $60 per passport plus a shipping and handling fee of $50, which includes the Fed Ex fee for round trip document mailing.

I have to fill an online form in english. that's fine for me, but not for people who don't speak English. Next you have to make an appointment to deliver your documents and the the bar code printout you get after filling the online form, and pay a $140 US fee. Next you deliver the docuemtns, along with proof of payment, and are given an appointment for a "consular interview," or perhaps are told when you¿ll get that appointment. Not all applicants get an interview. Among other things, you do have to leave your passport at the visa office.

Eventually your passport, hopefully with the visa attached, will be delivered to a DHL office where you ahve to pick it up. If you don't get a visa for any reason, the fee is non-refundable.

I could hire a company to run interference for me. Some people do. But it's wasted money, as you still ahve to deliver the docuemtns in person and attend the interview. When you deliver the passport and waste paper, they also take your fingerprints and photo.

My guess is that's why Brazil is doing payback :)

Have a nice trip.

Yes, Nareed, Brazil admits that what they are doing is payback. I didn't need visas for the great majority of countries I have visited. It will be interesting to see if Brazil still tries this when the world cup is there. I don't think it's in their best interests to set up roadblocks to the dozens of American soccer fans who might want to go there.....

Don't expect Brazil to mellow about anything for awhile. Those US sky marshals who were arrested in Brazil for taking the wrong politicians drunken wife into custody caused quite a stir. It may get worse, but it won't be getting any better.

In many countries corruption is endemic. If you don't "dash" the postman you don't get ANY mail delivered. One man from the USA was about to start a business in Nigeria but when the bank teller demanded a bribe to give the depositor his own money, the American decided to go back home.

One tourist in Greece had mailed a package to himself and was wildly pointing to it in the post office but they wouldn't give it to him. Later it was explained that his wild gesticulations only emphasized the fact that his hands were empty. Not a good way to get a General Delivery package from a Greek post office.

Contrast this with the practice of hikers in this country to simply send packages to themselves to a variety of accommodation addresses near hiking trails and then just walk to a drug store or real estate agent and pick up their package. No surcharges, no fees.

Quote: SOOPOO

Yes, Nareed, Brazil admits that what they are doing is payback. I didn't need visas for the great majority of countries I have visited.

If America lost her morbid fear of immigration... Instead it has given it to Canada, which now requires visas for Mexican travelers...

Quote:

It will be interesting to see if Brazil still tries this when the world cup is there. I don't think it's in their best interests to set up roadblocks to the dozens of American soccer fans who might want to go there.....

They might lose thousands of dollars! :)

On the other hand, Rio will be hosting the Summer Games in the near future.

Visas for Mexicans visiting Canada have been in place since July, 2009.

According to

Quote: CBC News

Mexico is now the No. 1 source of refugee claims, with the number almost tripling to more than 9,400 since 2005, the immigration department said in a release Monday. The figure represents one-quarter of all claims made.

Canadians have their own problems. The United Arab Emirates slapped visa entries onto Canadians when Canada refused to allow Emirates landing rights to its airplanes in Toronto.

I sold a $50 item to a guy in Brazil a few years ago and he
sent me a check and it didn't make it, then a bank money
order and it didn't make it either. He finally got PayPal. He
said anything to the US (or from) is opened by a postal employee
and stolen if it has any value. Great country.

I read somewhere of a mail order house in USA that when mailing an order to Mexico would only mail one shoe at a time.