I few weeks ago, I shipped off some tile samples from the NK Arts Nungi ceramics studio to the states.
The process was a real pain in the butt, as the post office would not take it without it being sealed and approved by the customs office.
At that time, after being sent to 3 different customs offices, I found the customs office on Gomidas that deals with artwork. Once I found that office, I stood in line with artist that were taking their goods out of the country and in short, I was there for 4 hours to get the tile samples approved.
Then once I had the tile sample box sealed by customs, I took it to the post office and had to fill out a bunch of forms to have it shipped, which took me over an hour to do.
The samples arrived in the states 11 days later in great shape with no damage to the tiles.
Today, I once again prepared myself for a full day of customs and post office, as I had to again ship off samples to the states for a show in New York to introduce our tiles.
I got to the customs office a little bit late and the sign on the door indicated that the hours to request and receive the services I needed had passed and I would have to return in the morning.
I really didn’t have a problem with this, as I have 15 days to get the samples to New York, so I asked if there was a place I could leave the 24 pound box so I would not have to carry it up to the 3rd floor tomorrow?
The worker told me that we should ask the director and proceeded to take me to her office. She had remembered me from the last time and instructed the worker to prepare my package today while I wait.
To say the least, I was very happy and within a half-hour, I had a ready to ship package, which they even gave me some cotton packing material to fill in the empty space.
I thanked them for their help and headed down to the post office.
This time the post office seemed more organized and since there was no line to wait in, they weighed the package and within 15 minutes I was done.
What I am learning is that in Armenia, red-tape is only as red as one makes it.
The process was a real pain in the butt, as the post office would not take it without it being sealed and approved by the customs office.
At that time, after being sent to 3 different customs offices, I found the customs office on Gomidas that deals with artwork. Once I found that office, I stood in line with artist that were taking their goods out of the country and in short, I was there for 4 hours to get the tile samples approved.
Then once I had the tile sample box sealed by customs, I took it to the post office and had to fill out a bunch of forms to have it shipped, which took me over an hour to do.
The samples arrived in the states 11 days later in great shape with no damage to the tiles.
Today, I once again prepared myself for a full day of customs and post office, as I had to again ship off samples to the states for a show in New York to introduce our tiles.
I got to the customs office a little bit late and the sign on the door indicated that the hours to request and receive the services I needed had passed and I would have to return in the morning.
I really didn’t have a problem with this, as I have 15 days to get the samples to New York, so I asked if there was a place I could leave the 24 pound box so I would not have to carry it up to the 3rd floor tomorrow?
The worker told me that we should ask the director and proceeded to take me to her office. She had remembered me from the last time and instructed the worker to prepare my package today while I wait.
To say the least, I was very happy and within a half-hour, I had a ready to ship package, which they even gave me some cotton packing material to fill in the empty space.
I thanked them for their help and headed down to the post office.
This time the post office seemed more organized and since there was no line to wait in, they weighed the package and within 15 minutes I was done.
What I am learning is that in Armenia, red-tape is only as red as one makes it.
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