“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

Tomorrow I leave for a business trip to India. As I was packing, a thought bubble popped into my brain. My entire professional career has been in international trade compliance and for the last nearly 15 years, I sorta feel like the business of international trade and I have grown up together.

Oh, the places we’ve been…factory visits, C-TPAT validations, conferences and foreign ports.  I don’t know if it was my own good fortune for seeing something in the world that so few realized  at just the right time or if it was fate that scooped up all my passions and fashioned this business just for me but I’ll never argue my choice of profession. Trade nerds around the world, yea, you know what I’m talking about.

So here starts another fun chapter in the Choose Your Own Adventure of trade compliance. I thought it fitting to use this moment as the moment to re-start my online canvas of creative musings and foster my personal challenge to continue seeing things in this world and following my unavoidable interest in human exchange. Let’s do it.

This is interesting to think about because in addition to there being more to enforce today, there is the element of speed to factor in. At last week’s AAEI conference, Commissioner Bersin talked about wanting to quickly strike up good relations with the trade. Recently he’s also talked about the “grand bargain” with the trade to expedite entries & clearances in exchange for more detailed information about shipments and trading partners. Couple that with the recent press on his committment to accelerate the processing of broker licenses and to “quickly find solutions to long-festering problems affecting the trade community” (quote per American Shipper**). This is a lot of talk about going fast. Fast. Nice. I like fast…sometimes.

Mento made an interesting comment in the JOC article. He said that he is “shocked at what a poor marketer Customs is” referring to the fact that CBP doesn’t go out and actively communicate their positives and how they can help companies further the compliance-as-competitive-advantage mantra we’ve all assumed. I agree with this — mostly. I will hand it to CBP though. I think they are doing a good job of TRYING to get the word out. The number of webinars, the  email communique and their website have become great assets to me and my team! I sit in on many of the webinars - most recently the June 2nd webinar on the new CPSC detention notices (which was just posted to their website today for anyone that missed it) and Tuesday’s “Avoiding CBP Penalties” which was hosted in conjunction with the JOC.

Speed. Overdrive. Giving CBP credit, I think they are finding their voice but, like me right now, they are just singing loudly and all over the place…in their car. Advice to fellow importers — seatbelts.

For all you trade peeps that want to know where your confiscated imports go when they can’t clear Fish & Wildlife prepare to be amazed! There is a 22k square foot warehouse in Denver that houses all the seized goods that were found to violate U.S. Fish & Wildlife regulations or that couldn’t be cleared due to document compliance issues. This place is run by a staff of only four humans and apparently business is…good?

Who but us would even think of this stuff…hunting trophies infested with foreign bugs and pests…fancy designer footwear made of cobra, python, ostrich, exotic lizard or even kangaroo (bet all those SATC types will be chomping at the bit like a Jimmy Choo sample sale in Soho)…weasle fur coats…toad-skin handbags…or greatest curiosity was mention of the beribboned walrus weiner – now…what on earth???

You might wonder what Fish & Wildlife does with all the cash they make from selling such treasures? Well, they “use the money to preach conservation.” The article states that the last time such a sale was held was in 1999 (via live auction) $500,000 was raised in the name of saving the animals. Oh, the irony.

If you’re looking to score some crazy endangered piece then think again. It IS illegal for the government to sell anything that even smacks of endangered species so all the REALLY bad stuff will be withheld from sale. Its for the best though. Some of this stuff sounds terribly degrading and such a waste of resources. Sad, really.

By now you are itching to know how you can find some pickled snake wine just in time for Father’s Day? The sale is happening as I key this post. This is an online auction situation and Fish & Wildlife posts new batches of items each week. http://www.lonestaronline.com/listings/categories/index.cfm?category=949023805

The WSJ article and photos from the wildlife respository can be found at WSJ.com/US.

Happy shopping,

Tradeguru