Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!laidbak!att!pacbell!ames!ucsd!sdics!norman
From: norman@sdics.ucsd.EDU (Donald A. Norman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac going to England?
Message-ID: <548@sdics.ucsd.EDU>
Date: 3 Jun 88 16:48:54 GMT
Article-I.D.: sdics.548
References: <17000101@clio> <491@sequent.cs.qmc.ac.uk>
Reply-To: norman@sdics.UUCP (Donald A. Norman)
Organization: UC San Diego Institute for Cognitive Science
Lines: 43
Summary: beware of customs


There is one severe problem with customs in getting a macintosh (or
any computer) into the U.K.  You are supposed to post a bond to
guarantee that you will take it out again -- the bond is on the order
of magnitude of 500 pounds.

I found that the machine worked just fine once I got it there - that
and the imagewriter.  Yes, I bought a transformer (in England) -- make
sure it is a real transformer, not a cheap, solid state converter.
The problem is the plugs: best solution: buy an outlet strip in the
U.S. (I took one with various protections): then you can plug the Mac
and imagewriter into the outlet strip, cut the plug off the outlet
strip and wire that into the transformer.  When you leave, just leave
the outlet strip behind.

BUT:  customs.  I vowed I would never do it again.  That I would lease
a machine in England.  (That was before the dollar slid in value --
maybe today I couldn't afford to do that).   I never paid the bond,
but was hounded by customs my entire stay and for 2 months after I
returned.

Some friends simply carried their machines through customs at the
airport and were never stopped, so they escaped.   Some were stopped
and had to pay, on the spot.  My machine was shipped by mail, which is
how I got it, but was also how customs learned about it, and they came
after me starting a month after I got the machine.

There are bonding companies in the US where if you pay then $100 or
so, they post a guarantee to UK customs for the bond.  This is
probably the best route to go, if you can find out who they are.  I
have no leads, except that MacWorld ran an article about 1 - 2 years
ago giving the name on one of them.

don norman


Donald A. Norman
Institute for Cognitive Science C-015
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, California 92093
INTERNET: danorman@ucsd.edu	INTERNET: norman@ics.ucsd.edu  
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