Taking WVO jugs across the border?

[Adam]

Not sure if anyone has done this or not. I'm attempting to take 8-10 jugs (20L) of WVO on my rear hitch basket across the border for my Sasquatch roadtrip. Anyone think this will be a problem?

[Jester]

A normal, rational person would logically answer "no, of course not. Why would it be a problem? it's just extra fuel you're lugging around"
However, you will be dealing with US border guards, not rational people so.....good luck, hopefully you will get lucky and get a "normal" one .

[BCDelica]

Over spring break we declared a jug of vegetable oil and the border guard didn't blink an eye. Just tell them it's for the oil wrestling event, or it just a condiment.

From cbp.gov;
'Condiments such as oil, vinegar, mustard, catsup, pickles, syrup, honey, jelly, jam, etc., are generally admissible.'

Cheers and good luck!

[mararmeisto]

I'm thinking labelling the boxes "fuel" might alleviate any problems. Or, there are 20 litre fuel jugs at Canadian Tire which are only 20$ - might be worth the cost to get something a little more durable than cardboard boxes.

[Adam]

8-10 times $20 ends up being a bit of dough. The cardboard is already stripped off of the cubes, but I guess I could label them "Recycled Veg Oil" with masking tape to make them look official. The nice thing about reusing the the cubes is that I can recycle them once they are done and I don't have to lug around empty containers the entire trip.

[TardisDeli]

Hi Adam,

I have no idea, but I read that in USA homemade Biodiesel MUST be taxed, but not WVO, so how can you prove to an IDIOT that you have WVO not Biodiesel? I'd say tell em you're going to a chili cook fest for firefighter benefit, or A Turkey Fry up contest... the condiments thing.

Keep copies of the letter you send to stores you collect wvo from? Remember, Diesel was one third of the oklahoma incident formula, so your homemade "diesel" might be scary to an idiot.

Good idea to keep it in the Cubes, so they can see what it is. My local librarian put bulk dogfood in a smaller plastic container, guard made her dispose of it because couldnt see the ingredient list on the original package (and no she couldnt feed the dog at the crossing as he might poop the contraband in the states).

Maybe keep the wvo boxes inside the vehicle, till you're 10 miles past the border, stop at Walmart so you look less conspiciuous when repacking ? For the border put the tent and tarps and crap on the basket for the border so they can SEE you are a boring camper. But pack the basket so tailgate can still open easily.

And NEVER get out of car to show them how to open the rear tailgate -- guns will be grabbed. Unlock it before you get to the booth, the click of the release might scare em.

Keep your cooler handy to the door, they often wanna open cooler to hunt Canadian oranges. Truck crossing seems more intelligent than peace arch.

My car (not deli) was searched at aldergrove crossing because I had my packing notes of essentials not to forget written in ink on my hand, he saw them, got worried -- keep your hands where I can see them as you exit the vehicle -- they searched car -- found a toonie under the seat (clean car) but that was 2 hours of skiing I missed out (and no I didnt offend him, I look boring, boring car, boring skis - no snowboard, just boring). Mt Baker had a record snowfall, herds of ski-ers going. Like I would be so stupid to write target notes visibly on the hand I put out the window holding my boring passport -- duhh -- no, every kid knows to write in invisible ink / lemon juice on paper.

Thanks for listening to my rant. Christine.

[Adrock]

I would say this has been dealt with at the border and if kev had no problems I would guess that the resolution is that its totally cool. You could always call and ask, but I don't see it being an issue, although i;ve wondered about it myself.

[sean]

Hey Adam,
This winter I went across for a ski road trip and had 5 x 21 Liter gas jugs full of veg. They could smell the vehicle as I pulled up and when seeing the excess veg, had no problem with it. I think they could open it and smell it and see it is just oil. But yet ever situation is different. It all depends on what side of the bed the guard gets up in the morning.
The were more concerned that I couldn't prove where I was born. I did not bring any birth cert or passport.
have a good trip

[dpd]

Reviving this old topic...

I want to bring about 400L of vegetable oil into the states this summer for a road trip. Anyone with experience carrying that much oil? I'll be pulling it on a utility trailer, along with my raw power centrifuge and transfer pump.

Is there a procedure for pre-clearing this kind of stuff, so that I don't have to wait and see once I'm at the border?

Thanks! David

[delicat]

I've crossed the border a few times on my last 12,000km road trip across Canada/USA and never had a problem, even when the US searched my van at the border and I had easily over 200L that time. Left Vancouver with about 450L of oil, Manning Park was a slow climb!!!

And don't think you can do much about it, just go for it. Chances are they might not even search you... I told them everytime it was my fuel and didn't have any issues aside from having them laugh until they realized my van was actually really running on veggie...