The merchant living in the interior is always specific to state the exact dimensions of each box and how he wishes it strapped and packed, in accordance with the transportation which he will have available at the time the goods arrive. Obviously a llama or burro cannot carry as heavy a load as a mule, and the buyer, who generally owns his own pack animals, gives his instructions in accordance with the nature and size of the animals which will form his caravan. Extraordinarily heavy cases may be carried suspended from poles between two mules.
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood
Llamas in Cerro de Pasco, Peru, bringing in their burdens of copper ore from nearby Indian mines
“Custom has decreed the exact weight each burro, llama or mule will carry, and let me add that these animals know to a nicety their load, and are life members of a union that prohibits its initiates from carrying more than is expected of them.”
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Follow these shipping instructions to the letter. The man who makes them out knows all about the difficulties that are to be overcome and is familiar with every inch of the road that must be traveled. Do not let the superior judgment of your shipping clerk alter one word of these requirements. Near Durango, in Mexico, there lie practically all the parts of a large plant, not made according to the instructions given the man who took the order. In the draughting room of the shops which constructed the machinery, they could not understand why the fly wheel of the engine should be made in so many sections adapted to be bolted together, and so they constructed it as if intended for shipment to Buffalo, and not so that a mule might carry each component part on his back. The entire order was executed in the same manner. As a result the equipment they turned out is gradually resolving itself into iron oxide, at the railway station nearest to the mine it was designed for, while the people who purchased it are filled with contempt for American methods and the American machinery company that received the business has long since vowed never to accept another Latin American commission.
If the packing instructions read:—“Each case to be made of half-inch pine boards, strapped with iron bands, half an inch wide around each end, and wrapped first in waterproof paper, then sewn in burlap, and NOT TO WEIGH more than 40 kilos (about 100 pounds)”—do exactly this and NOTHING more.
The iron bands and the heavy wood of the packing case insure protection against breakage during its ocean and railway voyage. The waterproof paper will serve to keep the contents of the case from rain and snow storms, to say nothing of preventing the spray of the ocean while it is in the lighter, from damaging its contents. The burlap sewed over all is a visible defense against theft en route, either by the customs authorities or by the pack train men. The weight of 40 kilos means that it may be strapped to the side of a burro, and form one of two such packages to be carried by him. Furthermore the wood of the case being half an inch wide, means that when the box reaches its destination, it can be sold to the coffin maker for conversion into a baby’s casket, because wood of this nature is scarce in many of these lands. The metal strips will find another use and the waterproof paper and burlap covering will serve some particular purpose, perhaps be sold to the upholsterer.
Your shipping instructions will also tell you exactly what signs or marks to put upon the outside of the case or its covering. Observe this with precision. The net and gross weights must also be marked thereon in a legible manner. Be sure that in weighing and marking the case you use the metric system for this is the only one used through all of Latin America. They know nothing of pounds and ounces. It is a wise plan to have your shipping clerk familiarize himself with this method, so as to avoid mistakes in marking, which may cause the importer much trouble at the custom house when the goods arrive.
Never place anything of a foreign nature in a packing case unless expressly instructed to do so by the shipper. Many exporters often take advantage of a small space available in a box to enclose a package of cards or some other advertising material. In most Latin American countries it is against the law for a case to contain anything more than what the bill of lading or the consular invoice expressly states, and the trouble that ensues from this desire to really help the purchaser can never be understood by those so far away from the native customs official who seizes every opportunity to extort money from the local dealer in the shape of fines and fees.
The merchant in ordering will generally definitely state just how he wants the goods which you are shipping him declared, so as to properly conform to the classification in vogue in the local custom house and its tariff regulations. Here it again behooves you to follow his instructions word for word, otherwise the officious custom house employe sees another chance to levy a fine and the unfortunate importer becomes correspondingly disgusted with your methods of doing business with him.
Finally, the packages should agree in number, weights, markings, declarations and contents with the consular invoice and the bill of lading. This will help materially all along the line from the receiving clerk of the steamship company to the merchant who accepts the consignment at its destination.