Bringing snacks into the US in cardboard boxes

August 25, 2023 6:31 PM

... how can we do this without getting flagged by US Customs?

My ever enterprising kids have decided that because Oreos are hella cheap in India, they want to bring back a whole carton - exactly 49.9 lbs worth, since over this limit US Customs considers it a commercial import.

The grandparents have been generous to my kids this trip. The kids now have the money to buy 50 lbs of Oreos. It will be packaged in two cardboard boxes, I sure as hell will not buy a whole new suitcase for their Oreo obsession. We are plenty below the baggage allowance this trip so they won't face baggage fees.

However, I am having a minor anxiety attack. Isn't packing a gigantic box full of Oreos basically an invitation to Customs officials to stop us and grill us? We are brown people. My son is a tall brown teenager with a moustache sprouting. I'm kind of scared? Perhaps unnecessarily so, since we are all US citizens.

Lay it on me, MeFi. What is the deal here.

- What's the worst that can happen to us?

- What's the likeliest thing that can happen to us?

- Will we be able to walk through the "Nothing To Declare" lane unharmed, since the Oreos are below customs limit??

- Will we have to declare and pay import duties?

- Will the cardboard box make it worse for us?

posted by MiraK to Travel & Transportation (12 answers total)

Best answer: What food items can I bring into the United States for personal use?

Bread, cookies, crackers, cakes, granola bars, cereal and other baked and processed products

(U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Make sure you declare their value on your electronic equivalent of 6059B (for us oldsters, the familiar rectangular light blue form). I assume even 50 lbs of Oreos costs less than $800, which is the exemption for returning U.S. citizens.
posted by praemunire at 6:51 PM on August 25, 2023 [4 favorites]

Best answer: You're required to declare food. While in my experience (as a white person) is that they absolutely do not care about packaged commercial dry food even when declared, that may not apply to two boxes containing 50 lb of it.

Have your receipt.
posted by grouse at 6:55 PM on August 25, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: And, yes, all else being equal, going through customs with two big cardboard boxes is probably more likely to get you pulled aside for secondary inspection than not going through customs with two big cardboard boxes (though those will not be the largest cardboard boxes they see that day, believe me). On the whole, one prefers not to experience secondary inspection, but if you are all English-speaking U.S. citizens, it should be more tedious than dangerous. Just make sure everybody's squeaky-clean otherwise. No weed, in any form!!!
posted by praemunire at 6:55 PM on August 25, 2023 [7 favorites]

Response by poster: Okay, thank you for chiming in, I'm now less anxious about a secondary inspection and very relieved to have others confirming my findings re:the 50lb $800 per traveler limit.

I've given my kids the tentative go-ahead on their plan. Thanks!

(But why Oreos, though?! I should probably ask a separate question about this. Nobody warns you when you get pregnant.)
posted by MiraK at 7:03 PM on August 25, 2023 [12 favorites]

I've brought lots of food in. If you declare it, the worst that could happen is that they'd take it away, but I've never had that happen, even for borderline stuff like cheese. (I did have to argue that my triangular pastries in honey were not pig ears once, but oreos should be obvious.) Mostly they didn't even demand to see the food, just asked what it was and then sent me on my way. (I am white-passing with a "foreign" name.)
posted by LadyOscar at 8:36 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Might want to make it obvious that you're not bringing them in for commercial purposes like reselling. Which might be a bit hard to do if they're individually packaged (like if the cartons contain packages of 4 or 8 or whatever that you could easily resell) - otherwise just opening the original carton should be enough.
posted by trig at 9:40 PM on August 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I've come into the US with a whole lot of packaged prepared treats and not had a problem, because when you go to Taiwan everyone expects you to bring them back a dozen pineapple cakes and that adds up. But I think the critical thing is that they're hard to get in the States. If they ask, you will have a much harder time explaining why you want to bring so many of a snack food that's readily available for purchase in the United States, other than to resell it. And when you bring something in that quantity, if you're honest on your forms, they will in fact probably expect you to have an explanation. Hopefully whoever you talk to at customs also has teenagers and will find your tale of your kids being random weirdos charming rather than an implausible cover story for your shady Oreo importing operation.

Frankly I'd probably tell my kids not to do this, because, you idiots, we can get Oreos at home. But I really hate being in line at customs and explaining myself to government officials. I suspect you'll end up with a story that you find stressful and exasperating to recount, and your kids find awesome and badass.
posted by potrzebie at 9:58 PM on August 25, 2023 [15 favorites]

When you tick the "yes, we have food" box, you get routed to the USDA, who then sigh, ask what you have, and then sigh some more when you tell them Oreos, wave you through and go back to reading their book.

Or at least that's what usually happens. YMMV significantly if they consider India a country from which people are likely to bring in prohibited food--I've definitely been stood in the USDA line and seen them harassing people who had seemingly all originated on one flight and who were "mysteriously" all POC. (IIRC, this was when I was coming back from a walking holiday and therefore was someone they should care about, given that I'd walked on some farms, but, naturally, they weren't remotely interested in white, English-speaking me.) I would not put it past them to search your bag in that case, which is time consuming but not actually scary.

We did get stopped by the beagles once when I was a kid. Despite having been raised to be terrified of immigration officials, this was a remarkably non-traumatic experience. They confiscated the apple that had seemingly ridden to England and back at the bottom of the bag and gave my brother and I beagle brigade coloring books.
posted by hoyland at 10:19 PM on August 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

You should get a t-shirt that says, "We went to India and all we got was 50 lbs of Oreos"

I am an older white man, but I have brought prepackaged food through customs on several occasions and had no issues at all. It is my understanding that by the time you get to customs your bags/boxes have already been x-rayed and sniffed by dogs.

The only time I had an issue with customs was when I was asked why I was in Canada and I made the mistake of saying I went to a Grateful Dead concert in Hamilton. Then to make matters worse I was asked for my profession and replied trader and he heard traitor.

Just keep your answers short and accurate. You will be fine.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:55 PM on August 25, 2023 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: Soooo we went to buy Oreos and the kids got pretty freaked out when they actually saw what 50lbs of Oreos looked like, thank fuck. Hahaha.

We have come home with two ~6lb boxes of Oreos, both containing many individually wrapped sleeves of three Oreos each. These two cardboard boxes will now be packed inside our existing suitcases.

I guess we still need to declare?? But I'm guessing our risk of being stopped for a secondary search has now gone down at least!

(PS: your stories are making my day! Beagle brigade coloring books!! TRAITOR as your professional title! 😂😂)
posted by MiraK at 11:41 PM on August 25, 2023 [20 favorites]

Chatfilter; I feel the traitor part! I flew to NYC from London and get to the immigration guy, who asks "business or leisure?" And what comes out of my mouth? "Pleassssureeee." I don't even know why. Awkward.
posted by socky_puppy at 1:40 AM on August 26, 2023 [10 favorites]

On my recent international trips, I was thrown by the utter lack of a paper form to fill out and not having to decide which lane to walk through. Instead, I only talked to one official, who was both customs (asking what I'd brought back) and immigration (looking at passport / asking why I'd traveled). I'm not sure whether this is airport-specific (I use SEA), or has been changed across the US. So, be ready to tell a human about the Oreos ... I wish you smooth travels, and hope that you're not too travel-frazzled at that point to describe the situation with humor!

I have recently brought dried fish along with loads of more boring pre-packaged snacks back in with no problem. I did have a dog alert on my bag, but its handler decided it was probably the unwashed tupperware that I'd packed salami in for my airplane lunch.
posted by Metasyntactic at 2:25 AM on August 26, 2023 [1 favorite]