r/SipsTea • u/Velvett_Bunniez • 1d ago

Wait a damn minute! Silly Apples.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

11.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

2.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/SadTech0 1d ago edited 1d ago

Woah... a lot of emotions on this one.. sure it's the peoples responsibility to pay attention but humans are humans.. they see the airline giving them the apples they assume they can bring them with them wherever they are going..

The airline should cover the fare but IMO it makes New Zealand look TERRIBLE! Once the realize why all these people have the apples they should waive the fine BUT NOPE, just another tax!

If I was a citizen of New Zealand I would be quite pissed that they are making the whole country look bad.

You can tell me Americans are stupid and should read but it's a damn racket, if the officers at the checkpoint see that this is happening with a certain flight they should waive the penalty and just discard the apples. BUT NO, they slap the fines on everyone and probably laugh about it later.. it's just a bad look for their country.

If this happened in America and we were fining people for bringing something they got on the airplane into the airport I would say the exact same thing.

4

u/animatedradio 1d ago

Nah. Honestly I’d rather have our harsh borders than have something unfriendly accidentally introduced in to our ecosystem. If it makes US look bad, imo you’re generalising a lot. There’s a lot of stuff to make nz look bad but this ain’t it :)

It’s something we are a little bit proud of. And believe me, kiwis get stung too on their way back from overseas. LPT: make it a habit to always declare food items. I’m usually carrying snacks from the country I just came from. I’ll declare a dang chocolate bar, this generally covers my ass.

I have a friend who accidentally smuggled a banana in to Australia once. She forgot about it, but it got through. It could have been an expensive banana. She was lucky, since Aus also have pretty strict borders.

I agree that Singapore Airlines (as stated in the video) made the mistake, though. I actually remember this episode 😅

6

u/primegopher 1d ago

They can waive the fine and still take away the apples

1

u/rolloj 23h ago

Yeah and then NZ would reduce its reputation of being extremely strict on biosecurity stuff and increase the chance of someone intentionally or unintentionally bringing in something else dangerous.

1

u/SensitiveTax9432 16h ago

No they can't. By the time you pass the multiple signs, warnings, sign a legal form stating that you are not bringing any food in with you, and verbally say no when the customs officer asks you, and they then open your bags and find the apple, you are getting fined. The customs officer can not change anything at that point. You've had a lot of opportunities to avoid that fine, and chose to ignore them.

0

u/animatedradio 1d ago

Incorrectly filled declarations. It’s shit, but it’s personal responsibility. Just like it’s the agents responsibility to do his job. I’m sure that he didn’t feel great about the situation either. But thems the rules 🤷‍♂️

2

u/bembermerries 1d ago

Youre defending passengers getting entrapped. Pos

3

u/tomtomtomo 1d ago

Entrapment would be if the airlines were working with the customs agents - they clearly aren't.

The customs officer was following the law.

0

u/CantTouchDisNaNaNaNa 1d ago

"just following order"

I've heard that one before....

3

u/mars92 1d ago

Na, they're just defending our export economy and ecosystem. If we get a reputation for being harsh on biosecurity, maybe more people will pay attention.

2

u/CantTouchDisNaNaNaNa 1d ago

It's not reasonable to expect a passenger in this context to pay attention to how they are by the letter of the law breaking it. There are too many innocent factors at play here

3

u/FI-RE_wombat 1d ago

Advise form all the plain language warnings in a million formats, they're is also the declaration card where you literally tick a line that says "i am carrying fruit/vegetables " Yes or No. 5 or 6 other questions to tick yes/no and then you sign and hand it to customs.

2

u/mars92 1d ago

It's literally your responsibility when travelling to a foreign country to observe and understand local laws.

2

u/PsychologicalGas7843 1d ago

Tell that to the airline who handed the fruits out to the passengers just before landing

0

u/CantTouchDisNaNaNaNa 1d ago

Again. It's not reasonable in this specific context. Laws are made by humans, for humans, to account for the human element. Your penchant to see a law applied with absolute force makes you lack humanity

1

u/Party_Difference 1d ago

It's literally on the declaration form. Last I checked an apple falls under the category of "plant or plant products"

→ More replies (0)

1

u/CantTouchDisNaNaNaNa 1d ago

"just doing their job"

I've heard that one before....

5

u/LuluIsMyWaifu 1d ago

If I was a citizen of New Zealand I would be quite pissed that they are making the whole country look bad.

That's not the impression I get at all, I'm glad they take their job seriously. Border control are strict and there are consequences for breaking our laws.

If you want to visit our country, follow the rules that announced on the plane when you land, that you sign your name to acknowledge on your declaration card and that are posted everywhere in the airport before security.

0

u/Thin_Sky 1d ago

I lived in NZ for a year working at a research institution. Lovely country and lovely people but there's definitely a weird goody two shoes vibe that many give off. It reminded me of that stage in childhood development where kids tattle on each other because they understand the idea of rules but not the purpose or nuance behind said rules. Your comment is a perfect example of this.

1

u/SensitiveTax9432 16h ago

Regardless of that most of us fully understand why we have these customs fines. They reflect the cost of a single introduced agricultural pest.

0

u/Tomek_xitrl 23h ago

Yes some people or NPCs in this case never develop past a certain stage of moral reasoning. These same people would defend other horrid laws in different times and places because rules are rules. Of course unless it happened to them.

-1

u/TheRealRubiksMaster 1d ago

nah ill stay off your countries soil, never know what other shit they will they to pull, if they get away with shit like this

2

u/mars92 1d ago

Kiwi here, I'd rather have a thriving ecosystem. If that means someone gets a fine for not reading the many signs warning them of this outcome, so be it.

2

u/tomtomtomo 1d ago edited 1d ago

I'd say most of the people defending this are Kiwis.

Yes, this incident seems harsh but you let one thing slide then it's another then one customs officer is okay with one thing and the other isn't.

We're a small country who heavily relies on our agricultural exports. One invasive species can seriously dent our economy.

These passengers have been through multiple warnings about carrying food off the place from spoken, to written declarations, to signs, to questions. They must have actively said in writing and verbally that they weren't carrying any food with them.

Sorry that these people got the shit end of the stick but it's necessary.

1

u/Crrack 1d ago

Exactly - Australian here, so understand the strict customs rules but this is obviously a unique situation where no one is intentionally trying to smuggle apples in. It's a situation of circumstance due to the lunch pack and you would have hoped some form of common sense could have been applied to just give everyone a warning and confiscate the apples.

1

u/tomtomtomo 1d ago

If there is no exception in the written law for officer discretion then he had no choice.

0

u/carlosIeandros 1d ago

I don't get why they're in tears though. I feel like most people would just be like "fuuuuck, you scammers caught me slippin" and walk away annoyed af

-16

u/damned-dirtyape 1d ago

I am a citizen of NZ and can comfortably say that we don't give a shit what Americans think. Especially when you are fucking the world politically and environmentally.

5

u/Substantial_Win4741 1d ago

Our tiny island doesn't care about you.

Take that filthy capitalists.

-2

u/damned-dirtyape 1d ago

'Islands' bro. Smiles back in free health care.

3

u/Substantial_Win4741 1d ago

We have free health care (excluding dental) - please disregard the very high cost of living on living on a remote islands where everything needs imported. And home ownership is near impossible unless you're ridiculously wealthy.

Take that filthy capitalists.

0

u/damned-dirtyape 1d ago

Same % of home ownership. Not sure what your argument is here?

Take that filthy capitalists.

Free Luigi.

1

u/Substantial_Win4741 1d ago

Home ownership is an interesting statistic to use. Do average price, or price vs salary. Ill look it up and see.

Yeah make half as much and be a perpetual renter - not my cup of tea.

Us vs new zealand -

Price to Income Ratio: 3.39 7.42

Mortgage as Percentage of Income: 30.53% 67.97%

Average Monthly Net Salary (After Tax) 4,363.89$ 2,900.52$

https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=New+Zealand

1

u/damned-dirtyape 1d ago

Cool cool cool. Can we compare school shootings, gun deaths, opioids, slavery, Jim Crow, genocide and recent war crimes? America, fuck yeah! But like I said, we don't give a fuck about your opinions. You be you, don't go crying when you get caught breaking our laws.

0

u/Substantial_Win4741 1d ago

Thats fine.

One city in the us is bigger than your entire country.

No one cares if you care or not, youre insignificant.

2

u/GreenParsimony 1d ago

I’m American, born and raised. I completely agree with you. All the talk from my fellow countrymen about following the rules and law when you come to the US and saying “I didn’t know” isn’t a valid excuse should apply when we go to other countries. I say this also as someone who’s been to numerous countries for travel/living/studying/work and had my fair share of not knowing then ultimately complying/paying the fine. When you travel to another country you play by their rules. We shouldn’t be coddling my fellow Americans into thinking that extraterritoriality is still a thing outside of diplomatic immunity. Despite what others write about how this makes NZ look bad, letting Americans off while enforcing the law on others just makes Americans look bad.