Dr. Parmar,
I believe that my original post suffices to explain
that indeed I do not know much about the costs involved in shipping plant
material internationally. There are lots of things I don't know a lot
about. I freely admit that. That's why I religiously read and
correspond on this list, so I can make informed decisions. I'm here to ask
questions and to answer some if I can. I'm young (unlike most NAFEXers
I've met), full of energy, and eager to learn from many of the wise and well
meaning NAFEX'ers I have met and corresponded with.
One drawback of emailing is that we are unable to
look into one another's eyes, hear tone of voice, and read body language while
communicating. When I asked for opinions on the cost of shipping, I was
looking for other's opinions on whether this was a reasonable cost.
Nothing more.
If you believe I was personally attacking you then
maybe we should take this off list Dr.
Parmar. On the other hand if you would like to assist me you might supply
the contact info for someone here who has the banana.
I look forward to meeting you and many other
NAFEXers at the 2004 meeting.
I believe (and hope others do to) that no one on
this list wants to read a bunch of emails about people bickering at each other
over the semantics or poor wording of a message. We're all here to
learn/teach about fruit, right?
My apologies to the list for stirring up the brew
as I was not intending to do.
Peace and Love
Mike
Remember, "There's no such thing as a stupid
question..."
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 1:54 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Raspberry seed offer
and bananas
Mr. Mike Levine does not seem to be much
informed about sending and receiving post parcels containing live plant
material.
Banana suckers are not Rubus seeds that can just
be put in an envelope and sent by air mail by pasting a 50 cents stamp on
it.
The parcel of five banana suckers will not weigh
less than five kg in any case. The current postal rate in India
for SPEEDPOST parcel is US$17 per kg. Then there are
other costs too. These bananas (and other wild fruits such as Rubus
too) do not grow in my back yard. I have to go to field alongwith some
helper(I can not dig the suckers myself) and have to drive 15-20 km for
collecting such material.
My bank charges a fee of US$5 for clearing
the foreign checks upto 100 dollars even if the check is six dollars. It
takes 8-10 weeks during clearing. Then
some of checks I receive from abroad bounce and I do not receive the
payment. Though this does not happen very frequently but it does happen
a few times in a year and I loose the money.
Though I am a fanatic promoter of these type of
fruits, yet I cannot afford to spend on this cause all from my
pocket. I am not that rich and have a also have a family to
support. So this activity has to be self sustaining
financially.
100 dollars for forwarding was a very rough
estimate and might have been barely enough to cover the
postage.
Anyway, such controversies keep arising about my
offers once in a couple of years and do not bother me. I know there are
hundreds of NAFEXERS who are satisfied with my offers.
I am expected to attend
NAFEX Annual Meeting in 2004 and shall probably be offering my explanation on
such issues too.
In the meantime I shall request Mr. Mike Levine
the find out the postage for a 5 kg speedpost air mail parcel from his place
in the US and Mandi in HP in India and see how much profit
was I going to make.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 4:51 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Raspberry seed offer and
bananas
> Not wanting to stir the brew up
too much, but I'll put my two cents in. > > I once contacted Dr.
Parmar about obtaining a hardy banana and he wrote > "I shall send the
plant material free of cost but you will have to pay for > the
forwarding which will be about 100 US dollars. > > But before
that you will have to obtain an import peremit from the USDA as > any
material sent without proper permit from here shall be destroyed by
the > quarantine. So please try to get the USDA Yellow & Green
Label." > > Is that a small price (coming all the way from
India?) or is that > exhorbitant? I guess it depends how bad
you want it. > To me it sounded like a little too much money and hassle
so I dropped the > matter until now. > > Dr. Parmar did
mention that he had sent a hardy banana to a NAFEX member in > the past
and never heard any feedback from him. Anyone out there get a >
banana from him? I'd be interested to try hear any feedback on it and
maybe > try to convince you to send me one since it's already here in N.
America. > > > Still wondering if there are blue
raspberries out there somewhere... > > > Thanks, >
Mike Levine > Ann Arbor, MI zone 5b > > > -----
Original Message ----- > From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com> > To:
"NAFEX" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org> >
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 2:07 PM > Subject: [NAFEX] Raspberry seed
offer > > > > Recently there was a
thread from someone looking for raspberries. In > the > >
course of the discussion, Dr. Parmar from India offered material (seed,
I > > believe) of a raspberry species from India. Someone else
objected to the > > offer as a sort of commercialization. >
> Since there are people on this list who are not members
of NAFEX, it's > > worth pointing out that NAFEX has had a long
tradition of an Exchange Page > > in it's journal, POMONA, in which
members can make plant material > available > > for trade or
for a small price, usually just about enough to pay for the > >
postage and the member's time in sending it. > > In
this case, it seemed that what Dr. Parmar was doing was in the same >
> spirit as the Exchange Page, since he was hardly posting a huge ad
or > > demanding an exhorbitant fee, and what he was offering was
relevant to the > > thread to which it was connected. >
> There are many members of NAFEX who have nurseries or
large collections > > of certain species and I fail to see that there
is any harm in them being > > allowed to make a modest mention of
it. Certainly it's unobtrusive enough > > to note it in the
signature. Most members have enough common sense to >
know > > not to abuse the privalege, and we have a moderator for
those rare > > individuals that do. > >
-Lon Rombough > >
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