🤦🏻 Bit of a learning curve this afternoon.
I always caution that mail in Colombia sucks. Because it does! Ground mail doesn't work, & express services cost a lot because of border fees.
Usually I'm paying those if shipping out (e.g. 60 bucks for a one-page legal doc to Canada).
Today I just paid the equivalent of a month's rent in border fees for a package in. Rough learning curve.
So, pro tip: keep your estimated value of an item LOW. Border fees are calculated on its basis.
Just to reassure folks: The sender is AMAZING and has covered these costs. I had a wee heart attack in the moment, but this was also an incredible opportunity to remind folks that our "global" economy has a lot of extremely rigid national limits. I talk about some of them in the podcast series I was recording over the last month - but in general, just remember to take nothing for granted. Our institutions are all ever so much frailer than we realize.