RECORD STORE TALES #1221: $538.00 in Customs?!

In September 2023, I received an email from a musician that I will not name.  Below is an edited version of what I received:

Hi!! My name is XXXXX XXXXX, I have a couple of CDs out.   I see that you collect physical media.   If I send you one of each, would you review them for me? XXXXXX XXXX produced and sang back up vocals among other things on the first album.   The second album is acoustic, with XXXXXX XXXXXX playing all acoustic guitars.  I wrote every track on both albums except one song that was XXXXXX‘s… Anyway would love to send you a couple, let me know my brother and have a great day!!

The names that I redacted include a famous musician that I recognized from a fairly big “hair metal” band.  Normally I decline all review requests, because as the sender noticed, I collect physical media and that’s what I review.  For him to offer a couple review copies, I immediately said yes.

I forgot about it for a couple weeks, but eventually received a parcel notification in the mail.  The first things I look at every time a parcel notification arrives are:

• Pickup date/time (usually next day at 5:00 PM).
• Customs charges, if any.

My eyes popped when I saw the customs charges.

$538.00!

I had never seen anything so high before.  When I used to order toys in from the United States, I would often get $500 of toys in one box, and the customs would usually be well over $100 for the box.  I’d never seen anything this high before.  What the hell did I order that had $538.00 of customs on it?  I couldn’t think of anything I ordered that would be that expensive.

I called the post office to see if they could tell me who sent the parcel?  That was a headache and a half.  They really did not want to look for the parcel and read me the sender’s name or address.  I was persistent and kept asking.  “All I need to know is who sent me this parcel, because I have no idea what it is or where it came from, and $538.00 is a lot of money.”

They probably have some kind of policy at the post office about revealing information like that over the phone.  However, I was not letting up, and I didn’t want to drive to the post office to look at a parcel that I was very unlikely to pay for.

Finally I was given a first name.  Not a super common version of the first name, so it immediately connected the dots.  It was the guy with the two CDs that he was sending me for review.  Two CDs…for $538.00?  That made no sense.  What the hell did he put for the value of the parcel?  Did he mean to write $20.00, but wrote $2000?  Did he send me 200 CDs instead of two?  I asked how large the parcel was, but Canada Post had already hung up.

I never contacted the guy back, and he never emailed me when his parcel was eventually returned.  I don’t know if he’s still making music or not.  There is at least one other artist (a country singer) with the same name, but I did find his albums on Discogs.  His debut came out in 2009 with a followup in 2021.  Neither are on a label, but the second CD does have a photo of the famous musician from a name band.  Neither album had a selling history.

I wonder what happened to my mystery musician?  I wonder what the customs screwup was?  I’ll never find out now!