PORTLAND, Maine (AP) 鈥� Trying to fill this dumpling order left one business in a pinch: A common but disruptive shipping error sent a custom dumpling-making machine manufactured in China to the wrong Portland in May.
The owners of Little Brother Chinese Food, which sells frozen dumplings in Portland, Maine, ordered a custom dumpling machine in March to help them fulfill demand, but an emailed shipping receipt delivered the bad news, on Monday.
鈥淲e saw that it was headed for Tacoma, Washington, and then Portland, Oregon,鈥� Richard Lee said. 鈥淲e called them and they said, 鈥業t鈥檚 already in the water. We can鈥檛 do anything about it now.鈥欌��
Lee and co-owner Claire Guyer hired customs broker Oceanair, based in Boston, to help redirect the machine they hoped would fold some 3,000 dumplings a week for them.
Kelly L鈥橦eureux, vice president of Oceanair, told the newspaper the error happens frequently 鈥� especially with smaller companies 鈥� and can be costly.
"They end up working with someone who either doesn鈥檛 ship a lot, or they could ship a lot but just don鈥檛 know their geography,鈥� she said.
L鈥橦eureux was able to file a required document, the import security filing, that directed the machine to be put on a truck to Maine, not Oregon, when it landed in Tacoma, Washington.
Lee said the cross-country shipping cost almost as much as the machine itself, though he didn't tell the newspaper what the costs were. Now that the machine has arrived, Lee and Guyer are learning to use it.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e being honest, we thought the process would be like turning on a dishwasher," they wrote in an email newsletter to customers, "but it鈥檚 actually more like playing an accordion.鈥�
The Associated Press
