Customs and Cooking

I heard a great story from one of the leading indirect tax experts in Canada. A multi-national corporation was approached by one of their supply chain partners with an idea that could save them close to 8% of their total freight costs by creating a centralized worldwide distribution center. It took a number of years to set up this enhanced and updated supply chain process and the overall savings would definitely justify the upfront costs to initiate all the required changes. The thought process was that instead of shipping to final jurisdictions from various vendors around the world, creating smaller shipments with higher fees, this model would consolidate all shipments to one distribution center allowing for various products to be shipped together to their final destinations. This resulted in a savings of close to 8% for the freight costs associated with moving the same freight but in a different consolidated method. After the first year that this initiative was undertaken, the financ...

I should have been aware of this amazing saying long ago as it is attributed to the famous children's author of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland",  Lewis Carroll, a.k.a., Charles L. Dodgson and also to a  prominent Austrian writer  Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. But never late than never... "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." Wow! What a message that sends. Customs compliance is not something to be left to chance and best practices should not be measured because "it worked before so it will work again". Customs compliance should be based on proven processes and procedures that are documented and utilized by every individual and department within an organization. Just because a clock tells time accurately twice a day, does not mean that the clock is functioning in the best possible manner. Same goes with compliance. Navigating a compliance hurdle once or twice does not mean that the compliance program is best in class or does not need review ...