On Nov 11, 8:36 am, Geoff Schultz wrote:
Joe wrote roups.com:





On Nov 11, 6:47 am, "Roger Long" wrote:
There is an important distinction as to whether Joe owns the coffee
or is carrying it for someone else. The problem with these
distinctions is that the Coast Coast Guard doesn't always understand
them. They made one school ship I was involved with stop carrying
tee shirts and caps that they sold at port stops because they
considered it "cargo" even though the organization owned them. When
the USCG gets something like this wrong, they still get to be right
for the first five years and $50,000 of legal fees. It was easier
for the school ship to just send the stuff around by UPS to meet the
ship.

It sounds like Joe has done the right thing by making sure he's on
the same page with everyone first. As long as he keeps dealing with
the same people, he'll be OK. Where the problem can come up is if
some bonehead comes into the process through transfer or other
shakeup and calls it different. If he rules the other way, it would
be typical of the same people Joe spoke to before to say, "Oh, we
didn't mean that. You must have misunderstood." I've seen it happen.
I hope he has it in writing. Even that doesn't always work.

Where the problem could come in is with the school supplies.
Contributors may not want to give them to Joe personally. If they
are not owned by him while in transit, they then become cargo. If
the contributors want tax deductions, the owner of the boat then has
to be a 501 (c) 3 non-profit to avoid having the stuff become cargo.

It's a minefield but it sounds like Joe is well equipped to navigate
it. Still, it only takes one miss step or bit of bad luck. I saw a
lot of people blown up back when USCG regulatory approvals were the
major part of my business. The boys in blue seem to get especially
wacky and paranoid whenever a sailboat is involved.

--
Roger Long

Good point Roger. The school supplies will have to be given to the
El Lago Coffee Co. as we refused to register as a 501(c). Our goal is
to be a model of profit for others to follow. A good friend tried and
tried to get me to set the business up as a church, removing all tax
burdens. Even the folks in Ambergirs Caye had to jump through hoops
and become an FDA registered food facility. We meet with the Mayor of
San Pedro and he assured me he will be able to accept the donations on
behalf of the school and have it classified as humanitarian relief
free of any tarriff's.

I'm glad to hear that you've already handled the school supplies Customs
issue in Belize. The Belize Customs people are some of the most
difficult people to interact with that I've ever found. Their goal is
to extract as much revenue as possible. Believe me, you don't want to
import any boat parts into Belize as you'll get taxed to the hilt. They
know about the concept of "yacht in transit", but make it next to
impossible to utilize it.

-- Geoffwww.GeoffSchultz.org

P.S. No, I hadn't heard about Leonardo DiCaprio building a resort.
I've toured Ambergis by golf cart and am amazed at how large it is.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It's the perfect Port Geoff. The Mayor was a very intelligent fellow
with a deep passion for his Caye and the people. As he put it " I feel
out of my mom onto the sand of Ambergris Caye" he will never leave the
island. In case you ever meet him make sure you are barefooted.. even
in the finest establishment. We asked him what we could bring that
would help his people and he filled us in on the schools needs.

I had no problem interacting with them, very polite people, and they
have a job to do just like homeland security.

Joe