Bitcoin Forum

At 10:48 AM this morning of June 12th, one of our European representatives and the Managing Editor for Bitcoin Magazine, Mihai Alisie, arrived at the post office to claim 3 large and lately arrived shipments of the Bitcoin Magazine from customs.

Entering the offices and presenting his claim form, a middle-aged Customs Officer began to collect and sort the packages. Both nervous of the condition of the magazines and any taxes or restrictions on the shipment, our Mihai waited patiently as the customs officer sorted through his papers. One box was sealed in a thick plastic bagging indicating some damage. It was this box that the officer chose for Mihai to open.

Handing him a knife, he was instructed to cut the bag open. Clearing the plastic out of the way the officer then cut the box open himself to reveal the contents. Mihai grew more nervous, knowing that the front of the magazine would not only be the face of a guy fawkes mask, but of him behind the mask as well. As he cut the box open, sure enough, the officer noticed the notorious imagery and began a dialogue that will now go down in the history of Bitcoin Magazine.

“What is this?”, the Customs Officer asked.
“Magazines. They’re collectible.” Mihai responded, pointing to the QR code on the cover.

The officer began to cut the other boxes open as well. Upon cutting open all three boxes, the officer returned to the first box where he took out a magazine and started to look inside. Another younger Customs Officer having seen the cover, approached the first officer as he inquired, “What will you do with these? Are you planning on selling them?”.

“No, just sending them to people”. Mihai began to grow a bit nervous. Would his long awaited shipment be confiscated by customs for some technicality? Would be put on a terrorist watchlist in the country of Romania? Would he have to pay an insane amount of taxes just to keep the shipments to our loyal readers going? Mihai’s mind raced as he pondered the numerous possibilities, but he could never have been prepared for what came next.


Read the jaw-dropping conclusion to this true story at http://bitcoinmagazine.net/the-case-of-the-curious-customs-and-bitcoin-magazine/

So much drama!

I get shit stopped at the customs all the time and I never had to go there to collect it. I just email them what they ask and wait for the postman to bring it to my door.
This is the 21st century, you know?

But well, I can never give them a present when I do this, that's true lol I suppose they would have a problem if my packages arrived to my door with less stuff :P

... And so two more bitcoiners were born.

Good stuff.   8)

Those customs officers are probably reading this thread. Welcome, brothers. 8)

True Story... this could have not ended well at all.

Why? AFAIK all that customs could've done was ask for tax/import money, or is it forbidden to own/order magazines which talk about Bitcoin and have a guy wearing a mask on the cover?

I was just saying that they could have abused their power and made his life alot harder than it had to be.

Yah Im sure they were thinking about smacking them around and leaving them for dayz over some paper materials

I'm at the edge of my seat! heading over to read the rest! :o

  ;D

just one question,
How is protected names and addresses of customers on the magazine?

Shouldn't it say the name of the country this happened in somewhere early in the narration?  Customs varies greatly around the world.

Romania.

What surprises me most is that they're shipping the magazines to Romania to be resent to the European customers who paid for them. Great management, no doubt.

Before someone calls me crazy let me make a small comparison:

I ordered 21 Casascius coins from Mike around the same time Mike got his Bitcoin Magazine and they're were sent on May 29 and I got them on June 5.

Mike got his Magazine on May 25 on the US. European customers are still waiting for Mihai Alisie to ship them what they paid for.

Also, great job communicating with the European customers who were complaiting all this time about not getting the magazines.
Maybe some are 1st class customers and others are 2nd or 3rd class ones lol

 8)

You Bastard! You know damn well that after reading such a well written post I, and others, are going to click that damn link to your (insert curse word here) Bitcoin Magazine online site. Now, I have to read the rest of the story, then head back here to read the rest of the posts of this thread. Then comment. Can't you see that I'm a busy guy, worrying about RandFold's health and all, that I don't have time for this? At any rate, a damn good post, and can't wait to read the rest, bud. Later.

~Bruno~

Ah, I can see where your confusion is. Mihai's shipment is for -new- orders, not pre-orders. As in, we've been sending them out at a -large- loss of profit one-by-one directly from the printers up until now because Mihai didn't have his box yet. We believed it would arrive soon though by a tip-off from customs a few days ago and have only held EU orders since -then-. "Great management" was an accurate assessment imo.

Zzzz bastard. I saw this news article pop up on facebook and it looked like it was saying that customs were searching for actual bitcoins now or something. I thought they were working on capital controls -_-;

Ooh no, just some romanians who got a kick out of bitcoin magazine -_-

x2

Welcome to Portugal.

Well at least the cover didnt mention buying drugs at silk road  :)

Bitcoin Magazine's journalistic integrity time of death... Tuesday, June 12th 11:46 Central Time.

It's all hype and link bait from here guys!

I got a lot of flac initially about the current cover too. After today I have more proof of why it was perfect for the issue.  :D

The next one needs to have the V for Vendetta mask interposed with a skull. That would look more awesome.

WhoWhatWhenWhereWhyHow

Mihai is going back for photos and names, don't worry. Don't have it atm.

I just mean don't forget to at least include the name of the country, otherwise, your reader is confused most of the way trying to picture "customs" without a clue in the world where you're talking about.  UK?  South Korea? etc.

Oh gosh, he made you read further to find out something you wanted to know?

Gosh, Real Marketers don't do stuff like that, do they?

-MarkM- (maybe they do, read on to explore in more depth the fascinating contrast(s) between journalism and copywriting...)

I am planning logistics for issue #2. So you can blame me for "Great Management", whatever that means.

Coming back to states after a three week visit to India during the first week of '92, I found myself in line at customs in NYC with five large suitcases, each individually duct taped to the max, prepped such a way to survive the trip. While in line, I held two pieces of reading material: A leaflet outlining what I legally can and can't bring back to the States from India and a paperback book, of the which its title now eludes me. While waiting in the long line, I took it upon myself to read the leaflet to pass the time. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It seems that the main three things that you're not allowed to bring back to the US from India is exactly what I had in three of the five suitcases: mass quantities of silver; mass quantities of peacock feathers; and mass quantities of spices. After reading those lines, looking down the still line of people and seeing suitcases being opened and gone through, then slightly glancing at my suitcases, only one thought went through this half brain of mine--Midnight Express. My asshole still tightens up just thinking about certain scenes. At any rate, I finally reached the custom agent. A pleasant over-weight middle-aged woman. I just knew I was fucked when she asked what I was reading. I told her just this leaflet. She said no, the other one--the book. I held it up for her to see what I recall was a best seller at the time. And for the next five minutes we talked about the book and how she just read it, liked it, etc. Afterward, she asked me--wait for it--do you have any mass quantities of... or... or...? I lied to her and said no, and even asked if she wanted me to open all the suitcases for me to show her. She said no, then welcomed me back to the United States. I then went to my next connecting flight heading to O'hare without a worry in the world with my mass quantities of...

~Bruno~

In the thread title "interviewed" should be replaced by "interrogated".  ;)