Many USA ecommerce shops don’t send their goods to Russia or to the countries of the Ex-USSR.
Some shops send but delivery costs differ greatly from the homeland ones, they are usually much bigger.
So what did some Russians invented? They got a way to fool the delivery.
It’s no secret that many bigger shops use electronic systems processing orders. So in order to see if this address is in USA or Canada it uses ZIP code, state or province name and words “USA” or “CANADA”.
So what was possible to do is to put totally Russian address in the order delivery form, like: Moscow, Lenin St. 20, Russia in the address fields, usually there is a plenty of space to enter long things like this, and in the field country they put Canada in the field ZIP code – Canadian zip code.
What happens next? The parcel travels to Canada, to the area to which the specified ZIP code belongs and there postal workers just see it’s not a Canadian address but Russian. They consider it to be some sort of mistake and forward it further, to Russia.
Here is a sample parcel that a guy in Russia got this way:
Guys at Canadian post stroke out the words “CANADA” and Canadian zip code, wrote RUSSIA and forwarded the parcel further.
People say this trick works perfectly, but warn not to order expensive things way like this because there are some risks that a parcel would be returned, though this method is perfect for different free merchandise that companies give out to USA and Canada citizens.
Blet!
People of former soviet empire many times to make money give tricks to companies of west. Now companies never sending things. This tricks works good. I send my sister to St. Petersberg from Orlando. Worked good!
Genius!
Why wouldn’t U.S. Companies send stuff to Russia? I wouldn’t have a problem with it, assuming you paid for the postage.
Economic ties are the ones that bind.
Dan, you seem to know little and less about these sort of things.. The main problem why many American companies refuse to send stuff to ex-USSR countries is because there are so many carders – hackers that use stolen credit card info to order stuff on those same CC’s.
Another thing being that most Russian people simply love freebies, and order anything they can get their hands on – no matter how irrelevant it is to them. So many companies make it a rule to ignore ex-USSR requests to save on expenses or something. Hope that clears it up a bit for you.
“Dan, you seem to know little and less about these sort of things.. ”
Yeah, that’s why I asked.
Thanks for clearing that up.
>I’ve lived in Russia for more than a few years.
Probably you were unlucky to get a serious menthal trauma here, that’s only the thing can provide an explanation for such behaviour. I feel sorry for you.
>as your civilization fades into obscurity
Better think over your civilization whenever you are. Having lack of your local problems?
>I send my sister to St. Petersberg from Orlando.
I hope the sister arrived safe and sound with no damage of her package?
the only reason russian society is not colapsing is because of their abundant supply of energy resource. there is more than enough to plunder for their corrupt citizens. once supply runs out then we will see how much civility remains.
You’ll be waiting for it for a veeery long time man. So much time that a number of empires could decay for it. Don’t waste your time.
On the topic, people have to think up tricks for getting round discrimination. That’s a sign of racism when some country denies parcel delivery to another one.
Dear Americans, don’t try to judge what you don’t understand. Not everybody lives, behaves and thinks like you, so thank god for that!
Better start thinking about your own civilization before it’s too late.
I think this is funny. I’m Asian American, and I think those who criticise America, are jealous of her super-power position. Lol
If the people of Russia have to find ways to sneak around the system, then obviously there is something wrong with the system. Russia has their own problems to deal with and in case anybody hasn’t noticed, so does the United States of America. We’re lucky to live in a country that affords us so many luxuries and rather than dig on people from Russia, we should just be grateful that we don’t have to go about those means to get what we want.
In Soviet Russia, package sends YOU!!
What is it with those ruskies? They have more natural resources than most countries in the world, a capable work force and they can hardly import anything abroad. yet, they can figure out how to scam things in?
#
Dear Americans, don’t try to judge what you don’t understand. Not everybody lives, behaves and thinks like you, so thank god for that!
Better start thinking about your own civilization before it’s too late.
Comment by dRE — October 2, 2006 @ 5:12 am
What a very judgemental thing to say. Why do you think that all Americans walk in lock-step? They don’t, neither do you, everyone is different, and we are people at heart. So says an “American”….( well really a Texan, but not what you think.)
peace.
Aaron
We understand the thieves, but excuse them.Until russians clean up their act, nobody will even spit at their site, nevermind having a business out there.A small screwing around of one russian smartass costs HUGE losses for thousands of honest folks. Siberia helps you out? Think twice-you lse it to the China. Quietly.
As an American who lives in a former Soviet state I can say that it is very frustrating to try to order a product not available locally only to be told that the company will not ship to you do to your location. My shipping address and credit card address are the same, I live in an EU country, and STILL some companies won’t ship to me. It’s an outdated mindset that causes these problems…..
sorree can’t resist
Asian America is da power!!
I believe this is a form of mail fraud and is a felony in the US. Not that you should care, since you live in Russia and probably always will
Would a package with an incorrect address not be returned to the sender? If for no other reason, there would clearly be insufficient postage paid to send it to Russia.
Any country has bribes, and the most important thing is they want to grow , with time and effort russian can get back to better and shiner times. And this is true for all the countries.
Russia has more than enough natural resources. What they’re running out of is Russians. With their dwindling population, by the year 2050 you’ll be more likely to hear the Russian language spoken in Brighton Beach than in Socchi.
To all the Russian-haters who have posted here…
You are as dunp as anybody who uses stereotypes and has preconceived notions about any other race ot nation.
Having lived in 4 different countries, last 10 in the US, I came to a conclusion that people are basically all the same, no matter where you are.
Or are you saying that there are no thieves in the US?
UPS, FedEX, DHL, AE,- almost never deliver a package directly to you. They leave it at your doorstep. More times than I care to count my packages were stolen.
Would that be enough to say that all Americans are thieves?
ummm i dunno why i am doin this but anywayz…
when the space race started american astronauts neededto write in 0 gravity… so a pen was made u know which would work in 0 gravity underwater and blah blah blah blah… spending millions of dollars….
the russians used a pencil
hahaha
dunno if its a fact but is damn funny
I can confirm this trick is used for quite some time now. I used to work for a EU-based mailorder company and we’d have a lot of addresses like:
Jakarta, Ireland
And:
Kuala Lumpur, Germany
it’s worth noting that canadians do not have zip codes, they have postal codes like the rest of the u.k.
This is why automation is not a cure-all. I work in mail order also in the UK, and after a while you get a sixth sense for mail fraud, a lot of which does come from Eastern Europe, and other places like Indonesia and Nigeria and the USA. Theres so many variables involved in detecting who is using a credit card legitimately. For instance, the value of the goods being bought, the combination of goods, the addreess may claim to be a business but have a very residential look to it (like an apt number). Creating an automated system that can accurately discriminate where needed and get it right without alienating legit customers would take a million years. Theres nothing like the experienced human touch.
are you so very much sure about it?
I strongly believe it is better being Russian, then American, answering 4 on the question “how many sides does a triangle have” and pointing in Australia, when were asked to show Iraq:) I bet no Russian if only mentally sick and slow will ever do that…
Honest, we laugh at you here allot too, but when you try to present yourself smart, you’d better be sure about what you talking….Within last 5 years, plenty of USA and Europe opened iether their representative offices and just Russian manufacturer….
At least surf the inet and read about MY country…
Sweetie, please, who are you kidding? I was also born and raised in Russia but then I moved to the US and lived there for many years. I’m back in Russia now. Let me tell you, this country does not even remotely resemble a civilized society. Not even a little bit! I’ve been living here for 1 year now, and I still feel extremely uncomfortable. The corruption here is unbelievable, and so is the desire by all Russians to live in denial. Russia is truly a pathetic and a miserable place to live.
But the true horror is that Russians themselves don’t want to change it. Most of them are HAPPY that they have bad food, bland clothing, bad (and very expensive) cars, the horrific apartments that they have to buy for hundreds of thousands of dollars and thus cannot afford even them. The only city worth living in is Moscow, so everybody is trying to get here, so the city is overpopulated and it is impossible to commute in it without loosing half of your day to it and without loosing a significant portion of your mental health too.
What kind of a country is it where you have to pay 100% in cash for an apartment (or a house) in advance and then wait years and years for it to be constructed with almost no guarantee that it will ever be built? Driving a car in Moscow is a kamikaze delight. Hey, even in New York people are 300 times friendlier to each other on the road and on the streets, and New York is notorious for its rudeness. Moscow – forget about it! People are so nasty, they will eat you alive! And what’s with all those sales people at the groceries and other stores? Every encounter with them is a guarantee to get a heart attack from their rudeness and insults.
I can go forever, but the truth is, until people of Russia will realize that they live in a third-world country, and will try to do something about it, they will continue to die young, the teenagers will continue to use hard drugs, the adults (and teens) will continue to drink the horrendous quality beer, canned “cocktails”, and poisoned vodka (all openly on the street for eveybody to observe, mind you). The officials will continue to take bribes, and the little people will continue to give them because they will have no other choice. The officials will continue to sell the property of the state like its their own, and the little people will continue getting nothing from such sales other than the right to pay more bribes out of their own pocket. This is a truly, truly troubled country, and it is a shame.
Mmm I’m not Russian, I’ve lived in Russia,married to a Russia, and every comment here is based on an element of truth.
Countries get better slowly. I think the one perspective lacking here is one of time.
Russia has got better since the 90s.
Nothing changes overnight.
At least the corruption is evident-everybody knows about it.
In the USA/UK it’s much more underground!
I against.
I thought you might like this
Sex is like air; it’s not important unless you aren’t getting any.
Why not use a parcel forwarder from another country to arrange the collection and delivery?
Can that be done?