How to smuggle laptops out of Cabo

During my last family vacation, I decided that all 7 of us could carry a laptop into Mexico (Brilliant Idea #1) and that’s where the adventure started because nothing dealing with getting computers to Mexico is ever as easy as it sounds.

One of Kids on Computers’ main problems is getting used equipment to the schools. Most countries like Mexico charge expensive import taxes on equipment and often much of the equipment goes missing in the mail. However, each traveler to Mexico can carry one laptop in. So the best solution we’ve found is to send a laptop per person. So when my family planned a vacation to Cabo, Mexico, I had the great idea that all 7 of us on the trip should carry a laptop with us. I even checked ahead and found a FedEx store about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying and using the online calculator, figured out that it would be about $45 to ship all 7 laptops to Oaxaca where our new school is going in. What an awesome way to get 7 donated laptops to the our new school!

So we packed for our vacation and added 7 laptops wrapped in bubble wrap to our bags. We had no problem getting into Mexico with them.

Take #1: The guys

The second day in Mexico, the guys decided to run to town to get fishing poles. (We discovered we could fish from the beach near our house.) At my insistence, they reluctantly took the laptops with them.

Problem #1: Where is FedEx?

When the guys came home 4-5 hours later, they insisted there was no FedEx where Google Maps showed it. I asked if they’d asked anyone and they said yes, they’d asked at the hotel at the site where Google Maps claimed it was and nobody knew anything about it.

I called the FedEx in San Jose de Cabo and nobody answered. I called the FedEx 1-800 number and they confirmed the office and address.

Take #2: Kim & Stormy

So the next day Kim and I set out. Here’s a picture of the road between our house and town. This is not the worst stretch, just one where I was comfortable stopping to take a picture.

We arrived at the FedEx address, and sure enough, no FedEx. I tried calling again and no answer. The next closest FedEx was 30 minutes down the road in Cabo San Lucas. We were debating driving there when Kim suggested calling it. Brilliant idea #2! They gave us much more useful directions to the San Jose office. Across the street from the Walmart and Nissan dealership in the Las Palmas shopping center. Turns out Walmart is also not in the right place on Google maps but Walmart is a big enough building with good enough branding that we found it.

Problem #2: No customs approval

The FedEx guy informed us that Cabo is a border state and that to ship anything anywhere in Mexico, we would need to go to customs at the airport first and get our package taped. Another 30 minutes up the road. He told us we’d also need a receipt. He was pretty insistent that we’d need a receipt. He said we’d pay import taxes of 5% of the value. Several customers walking in with boxes covered in customs tape verified this.

The FedEx guy also suggested we talk to the Mailbox store next store. The Mailbox guys confirmed we must have a receipt. Once we had a receipt, they said they’d be willing to take the laptops to customs for us and that import tax was 16%.

Mistake #1: Not getting a box

At this point, we were hauling the laptops around in a cooler (each wrapped in bubble wrap) and I asked if the FedEx guy if he’d sell me a box. There were some with price tags in the front. He brought out a non-FedEx box but said I should buy one at customs. He was rather reluctant to sell me the one he had. I should have insisted. In retrospect, I don’t think he had any boxes. Everything he ships comes packed up and taped up with customs tape, so I doubt he sells any boxes.

Brilliant Idea #3: Getting help from someone with a computer and internet

So at this point, Kim and I take all the laptops outside to the shady sidewalk, unpack each one and write down the serial numbers. I hadn’t brought my computer with me, thinking I was just sending a FedEx package, so I sent the list to Avni and asked if she could write a letter for us. Avni wrote us a great letter explaining who Kids on Computers is and the estimated value of the laptops.

Mistake #2: You need a receipt

In retrospect, we should have made up a receipt, not a valuation letter. More on that later.

Kim and I went to lunch (it was 4pm at this point) while Avni wrote the letter. We had some back and forth via phone from Mexico to the States to get the numbers right.

We went back to the FedEx store to print the letter and realized the numbers weren’t right. (Not all laptops have clear serial numbers and we’d done some wrong.) At that point, I wasn’t going to drag Kim to customs and I wasn’t sure how late they’d be open, so I said I’d try again Monday.

Over the weekend, Avni and I tweaked the letter. It was additionally complicated by the fact that I had 2 factor Dropbox authentication set up and I had no place where I could get both wifi and cell service.

Take #3: Stormy & Frank with kids in tow

On Monday, my family and I went to FedEx. My kids very reluctantly.

At FedEx, I tried to email the letter to the FedEx guy so that he could print it but my cell service wasn’t good enough. (Learning #5,129,398: Verizon international data roaming works better than Tmobile’s.) I tried to get him to go to the Dropbox page but when he very reluctantly tried to open the page, when it didn’t open immediately, he quit. I tried getting the hotel next door to give me wifi access but they wouldn’t. When I asked them to print the letter, they said they were out of toner. At this point, Avni emailed the letter to the FedEx guy. (Learning #5,129,399: Have an awesome partner with good internet access available via text.)

The FedEx guy printed the letter and I triumphantly returned to the car.

Waypoint #2: Customs

We drove out to the airport and arrived at customs to discover they had no boxes and the closest store was many miles down the road. In the meantime, they looked at my letter and the laptops. They unwrapped each laptop to write down the make and model. They didn’t care about the serial numbers at all. They then valued them (using some process inside that I couldn’t observe) and told me that they were 15,000 pesos, around $1,000 USD and that I would need to pay 16% tax. I tried bartering with them but it did not seem to be negotiable. I also asked where I could sell them for that price and they just shrugged.

Customs is a counter outside, so during this whole process we stood outside in the sun.

Oh, and by the way, anything you mail out of Cabo, has to go through customs at the airport. We saw people with letters, with boxes of gifts for kids, with bags of dirty clothes to mail, … all of it got checked and taped.

Dumpster Diving

So mistake #1 came back to bite us. Customs did not sell nor even have boxes. Several other customers tried to help us and we ended up with a variety of heavy duty bags but a trash bag wasn’t going to protect the laptops.

All the gas stations around the airport said they sold only candy and beer, so no sizable boxes. The hotel was very helpful but said the trash got picked up at 6am. They sent us to City Club which is like a Costco. We decided to go dumpster diving instead. There were several big warehouse looking buildings with brands like Bimbo and Corona painted on the sides.

Frank found us a great box. And then somehow as I was packing the laptops into it, I made mistake #2.

Mistake #2, the colossal mistake

Mistake #2 was a colossal mistake. (Although not as time consuming as Mistake #1.) After loading the box into the trunk, I could not find the keys anywhere and the only place where they could have gone was inside the locked trunk. I had locked the keys in the trunk.

At this point, Avni suggested it might be easier and perhaps cheaper to have one of our Oaxaca volunteers fly to Cabo to get the laptops. The customs officials had told me I could carry them on any domestic flight without trouble. They started researching flights.

While Frank walked to the nearest gas station to get refreshments, I called National and once I explained to them that I was at the Bimbo factory, they sent a car immediately. The driver seemed to find nothing strange about an American family dumpster diving. He even helped me search the trunk and suggested we unpack the box of laptops. Sure enough, the keys were nestled between 2 bubble wrapped laptops!

We made a pit stop for cash at the airport terminal and returned to customs. They took my money and passport and 10 minutes later returned with a receipt and taped up our box. Yeah! Frank pointed out anyone with a roll of that tape would be very popular.

Back to where it all started

I was really afraid to get my hopes up, but I really thought we had it at this point.

We returned to FedEx (another half an hour drive) with the custom taped box. Then we started the process of mailing it. It took half an hour to do all the paperwork (at some point I stopped talking to the FedEx guy thinking maybe I was slowing the process down) but turns out everything was really in order this time and he gave me a receipt, tracking number and took the box.

I didn’t know if I was relieved that the laptops were shipped or a bit worried that I was leaving them to do the next part of the journey on their own.

Waiting to hear about their (legal :)) arrival in Oaxaca …