COMMENT: Dear Martin,
your public and private blog is the first I read every morning, it is my briefing.
I received this email today (31.03.2020) from a friend living in Switzerland about sending me a package via normal mail …
“this morning, I wanted to ship xxxxx and xxxxx to Greece, and as long as there is the virus blockade, there is no shipping possible.
Besides, at the post office, they gave me a flyer because of new, world-wide regulations of World Postal Union and International Post Corporation that letters up to 2 kg have to be digitally registered beforehand, since Jan. 2020, so that the recipient country knows about the content before shipping – the declaration can here be done online for free or at a post office with an extra fee….
But anyhow, they told me that they won’t be able to accept anything at the moment….
So the envelope will wait here until there is better “virus weather”… ”
This coup d’etat is very real.
All the best from Greece.
Warmest and kindest regards H
REPLY: Yes, this is all about money. They want both taxes and to prevent people from shipping gold, cash, anything that can be used as a monetary instrument. Keep in mind you are also dealing with the lowest level of government workers. I tried to send as a gift a Roman coin in a necklace. They said it was illegal to send money in the mail. I tried to explain this was a Roman coin from a government that ended in 476AD. They said it was still money and illegal. I didn’t bother anymore. I took it back refiled the form and called it an antique and then it was fine.
