Shipping Used Clothing from US to DR for Charity

judypdr

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Jul 23, 2011
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Hello, I'm sure if I searched long enough I could find this answer, but I confess to being lazy. My sister, who lives near New Orleans in the US, wants to send some used clothing for distribution (for free) to people here in the DR. Is there a way to do this at a low cost? Ideas/info welcome. I already know how and where I will distribute it.... Thanks! Judy
 

AlterEgo

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We do this all the time, but we live where there are mundanzas (fill a box of standard size that they provide). *She'd have to get her box to Miami to use any of the mundanzas there, could be done! *There is a thread with names and contact info for mundanzas in the USA*
 
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Otherwise, ( from AlterEgo's post above) you must get dispensation from Aduanas in Santo Domingo or you will pay through the nose. Someone from Canada wanted to send us (Strength for the Journey, a legal DR non-profit) used clothing after the floods. I checked with aduanas and was told that it is illegal in the DR to import used clothing. For our foundation to proceed, I needed to apply for and receive dispensation from the top guy in aduanas in SD.

We ended up not doing it because, in the long run, flood victims were given more used clothing than they wanted or needed. What they really needed were new mattresses.

On the other hand, we have some women who want to open clothing stores. For them, the used clothing are like gold.

Lindsey

Lindsey
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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Otherwise, ( from AlterEgo's post above) you must get dispensation from Aduanas in Santo Domingo or you will pay through the nose. Someone from Canada wanted to send us (Strength for the Journey, a legal DR non-profit) used clothing after the floods. I checked with aduanas and was told that it is illegal in the DR to import used clothing. For our foundation to proceed, I needed to apply for and receive dispensation from the top guy in aduanas in SD.

We ended up not doing it because, in the long run, flood victims were given more used clothing than they wanted or needed. What they really needed were new mattresses.

On the other hand, we have some women who want to open clothing stores. For them, the used clothing are like gold.

Lindsey

Lindsey

i really wonder how it is illegal to import used clothes, and every house in POP is a used clothing boutique.
 

sanpedrogringo

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Hello, I'm sure if I searched long enough I could find this answer, but I confess to being lazy. My sister, who lives near New Orleans in the US, wants to send some used clothing for distribution (for free) to people here in the DR. Is there a way to do this at a low cost? Ideas/info welcome. I already know how and where I will distribute it.... Thanks! Judy
Judy if you know how and where you want to distribute the clothing, than I take it you live here in the DR? If you live here, just have your sister send you boxes or a shipping container with the clothes, for your own use. Whatever you do with it afterwards is your own business. Is she sending tons of clothes? People from the States send clothing and food items here every day of the week.
 

the gorgon

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Same here in San Pedro de Macoris.

there is an operation in POP called MUN2. it is a very well organized used clothing outfit. they have 3 stores in POP, and branches in Sosua and Cabarete. these are not fly *by night stores. they carry all types of clothing, including light coats and footwear. i fail to understand how they can operate when it is illegal to import used clothes.
 

sanpedrogringo

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there is an operation in POP called MUN2. it is a very well organized used clothing outfit. they have 3 stores in POP, and branches in Sosua and Cabarete. these are not fly *by night stores. they carry all types of clothing, including light coats and footwear. i fail to understand how they can operate when it is illegal to import used clothes.
Unfortunately, most donated clothing winds up in the hands of the mafiosos who run the "pulgas", the roaming flea markets. They sell clothing to the vendors by the pound. And I don't mean 5 or 10lbs. More like 200-300lbs. You'll see the beat up trucks with the large canvas bags traveling the country. Every town in every province has them. Much of the "cargo" comes across the border from Haiti. Those pop-up used clothing stores are nothing more than Dominicans who have family overseas that send them boxes or 55 gallon drums of clothing from the States or Europe at a time.
 

sanpedrogringo

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It is very common to see people here wearing t-shirts or sweatshirts from bars and restaurants in the States. Now how would a Dominican that has never stepped foot out of his barrio, never mention his town, province or the island itself, wind up wearing a Big Jumbo Jim's Texas BBQ t-shirt? The best is the losing sports teams t-shirts. For example, this year in the States the baseball World Series went to a Game 7 between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs (for those that don't follow the States or baseball for that matter). Yes, the Cubs won, but there are thousands of World Series Champion Cleveland Indian t-shirts and caps that were made up just in case the Indians had won. This happens with every sporting event. These items don't get thrown in the trash bin, they get donated to charity, and inevitably wind up on the back of somebody down here in DR who bought it for 50-100 pesos at a pulga. Now, if they have really bright, popular colors, those can go for 200-300 pesos. Never mind that nobody knows what the shirt says, such as Big Jumbo Jim's Texas BBQ, but wow those colors are sharp with a new pair of Jordans.
 

the gorgon

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It is very common to see people here wearing t-shirts or sweatshirts from bars and restaurants in the States. Now how would a Dominican that has never stepped foot out of his barrio, never mention his town, province or the island itself, wind up wearing a Big Jumbo Jim's Texas BBQ t-shirt? The best is the losing sports teams t-shirts. For example, this year in the States the baseball World Series went to a Game 7 between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago Cubs (for those that don't follow the States or baseball for that matter). Yes, the Cubs won, but there are thousands of World Series Champion Cleveland Indian t-shirts and caps that were made up just in case the Indians had won. This happens with every sporting event. These items don't get thrown in the trash bin, they get donated to charity, and inevitably wind up on the back of somebody down here in DR who bought it for 50-100 pesos at a pulga. Now, if they have really bright, popular colors, those can go for 200-300 pesos. Never mind that nobody knows what the shirt says, such as Big Jumbo Jim's Texas BBQ, but wow those colors are sharp with a new pair of Jordans.

makes a lot of sense. however, there is an African American guy in POP who has a used clothing store, and he sells really upscale used clothes there. i have seen Ralph Lauren and other brands like Oscar De La Renta and Hermes. he selects this stuff himself in NY and sends shipments down. i have no idea how he gets the stuff in.*
 

sanpedrogringo

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makes a lot of sense. however, there is an African American guy in POP who has a used clothing store, and he sells really upscale used clothes there. i have seen Ralph Lauren and other brands like Oscar De La Renta and Hermes. he selects this stuff himself in NY and sends shipments down. i have no idea how he gets the stuff in.*

What is so hard to figure out? Are we losing something in translation here? NY is Dominican Central. Pack a box or boxes, or a plastic drum with items, call the shipping company, they come to you and pick it up, pay the price, and wham...in 3-4 weeks it's at your door here in DR.
 
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i really wonder how it is illegal to import used clothes, and every house in POP is a used clothing boutique.

I wonder, too, but that is what the head of aduanas told me in the POP airport. He gave me the name and contact number of the head honcho in aduanas in Santo Domingo to get permission to bring the items in.

Lindsey
 

retiree

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I have seen Ralph Lauren at la pulga and mun2 in Sosua but I would swing by this store in pop if there were Hermes items there! Where is this store?
 

AlterEgo

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Sanpedrogringo is right, boxed up used clothing sent through a mundanza comes right to your door. Aduana does do spot checks of the boxes, and they may X-ray a few, but they're looking for serious contraband like guns. *Just this week they found guns inside paint cans. He's also right that a LOT of the clothes come in over the border from Haiti.*

There is no paca store near our campo, but once a week a truck pulls into an empty lot, lines up tables and fills them with clothing.*
 

the gorgon

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What is so hard to figure out? Are we losing something in translation here? NY is Dominican Central. Pack a box or boxes, or a plastic drum with items, call the shipping company, they come to you and pick it up, pay the price, and wham...in 3-4 weeks it's at your door here in DR.

yes, sanpedro, but that puerta a puerta thing still has to clear customs....
 

the gorgon

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I have seen Ralph Lauren at la pulga and mun2 in Sosua but I would swing by this store in pop if there were Hermes items there! Where is this store?

there are 3 stores in POP. one on Beller, one near to tienda Jimenez, and one in that mini plaza near the stadium, where there is Western Union and the new french bakery...
 

william webster

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yes, sanpedro, but that puerta a puerta thing still has to clear customs....



My NYC mudanza has about 3 loads a week.
Certainly has a deal with the dock.

In all my shipments, only once has the seal been broken.

Customs seems to turn a blind eye for them*
 

bigbird

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My NYC mudanza has about 3 loads a week.
Certainly has a deal with the dock.

In all my shipments, only once has the seal been broken.

Customs seems to turn a blind eye for them*

No where near the shipping track record you have as I have only shipped three blue barrels and one cardboard box. The mundaza asks, "What's in the barrel, clothes and food"? I shake my head yes. Three weeks later the barrel arrives at my door in la rep dom. Couldn't be easier. Picked up at my door in USA, three weeks later delivered to my door in the DR.
 

sanpedrogringo

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yes, sanpedro, but that puerta a puerta thing still has to clear customs....

Clothing, non-perishable food items, and toys do not get confiscated. Guns and drugs do. Electronics are a different ballgame. Gorgon, you once lived in New York, have you never had anybody send you something through a mundanza? I was up in New York the first week of November. Why? A two fold reason, but I won't go off-topic on one of them. The second was to ship my boy's clothing and toys for Christmas. My 2 tanks were delivered to my front door on Friday Dec 16th. No problems. No questions. No worries. As always. If you wish, on my next trip I'll send you some "I Love NY" $5 t-shirts, if you pick up my bar tab for a day. Then again, just head to the local pulga, there's plenty of them there for 100 pesos. 200 pesos around Valentine's Day for the heart caption on the t-shirt.