CROSSING THE BORDER

We ate a leisurely breakfast at Los Cocos (not as expensive as I expected)

and arrived at the Mexican Customs at 9:00. It wasn't open -- women

explained that he "wasn't tardy" -- and he opened promptly at 9:30, took our

money (420 Pesos) and we were outta Mexico. At Belize Immigration, Mr.

Leslie and Miss Quan stamped our passports and directed us to the Customs

Barn.

What a mess! Ten officials took FOUR HOURS to process my vehicle and its

contents. Steve Kuylen, my friend & customs broker, has five young men

working the barn, and they DO hustle when it's necessary. First, one agent

took a leisurely stroll out to my vehicle. He was sure I would have to pay

duty on my musical instruments, and I was sure I would not. I was right,

which didn't improve his disposition much, but duty could have been as much

as 25% of my valuation -- which they accepted. I also had to pay duty on

two instruments (acoustic guitar & banjo) which I previously had in Belize.

If you leave with anything of value, and mean to bring it back, you need to

declare that to Customs before you leave.

My son brought two accordions into Belize, and this was duly noted in his

passport.

Then the same agent took about an hour to appraise my truck at $500BZ. I

think my valuation on the truck suffered because I humiliated the appraising

agent, but somehow, it didnt cost too much. Sales tax, now 10%, was $50BZ.

Duty, now a little more than 10% on a 4-cyl truck, was $54BZ. $104 BZ for

the truck. Sales Tax (10% on my musical instruments) about $150BZ. So,

about $125 US. Not bad.

A word about bureaucracy. Yesterday was a very slow day at the customs

barn. Officials spent a lot of time sitting around on their butts. I

watched one attractive young women sitting (actually lolling) in front of a

computer. She used it once, for about 5 minutes in the four hours I watched

her. I counted five computers in the barn, and there never were more than

two in use. A reliable witness tells me that the system does no checking of

figures or calculations. Simply captures info and prints it out. Steve had

to type up the customs declaration, and print SIX COPIES. Then, customs

took his forms and re-entered all the data into their computer. And

finally, after an hour, they printed out my forms, and I got to pay. I'm

sure the Minister in charge of customs says proudly "We're computerized" but

I will say from 40 years of experience, that they could have used an IBM

MTST (Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter) and gotten everything done a lot

faster.

A FREE RECOMMENDATION

I have spent fifty years of my life analyzing systems and making

recommendations, and I know that advice is usually worth what you pay for

it, but here's what I think. The GOB is in terrible debt, and they are

going to have to lay off half or two thirds of their current employees. I

would think that prospect would make a few people hustle, but so far, I

haven't seen any evidence of that. So:

1) Tell everyone regardless of rank or seniority, that you are going to lay

off half the staff based on hustle.

2) Observe a really busy customs operation, and calculate a meaningful

measurement; probably Duty Dollars per employee per unit of time.

3) Look at the productivity of the various customs operations at the

borders and docks.

4) Adjust the people accordingly.

5) See what you're doing with six copies, and get rid of most of them.

CD's, now-a-days, cost less than paper.

Actually, I rather imagine that some customs officials, somewhere (not

necessarily at Santa Elena) are involved in illegal smuggling operations.

Those people should be fired and jailed. We don't need to pay smugglers as

GOB employees. Of course, I have no evidence of any such operations, so

this is just an unfounded suspicion.

I have worked on many banking systems in my day, and here's what a prudent

bank does with its IT employees. It says:

1) We will give you a free checking account in our bank.

2) You must close all other accounts in other banks.

3) We will deposit your paycheck in your account automatically.

4) We will monitor your account for any unusual activity; i.e. strange

deposits.

5) Dishonesty is grounds for instant dismissal and possible criminal

prosecution.

If this sounds harsh, just think of it as a condition for employment.

Working for Customs is a good job.

Richard A. Zahniser MBA, MCP, CCP, CDP

See my resume here. 

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