Why we’re not @ NYIOOC 2020

Extra virgin olive oil Bilini has won a gold medal at a competition in New York for two consecutive years. We wrote about the award we won in 2018 as well as the last year’s Gold Award. This year, unfortunately, we did not participate. The reason is simple: our shipment did not reach New York in time. NYIOOC 2020 will have to do without us this year. ?

Timely entry to NYIOOC 2020

This was the third consecutive year we sent a sample of our EVOO to the most prestigious world contest of the finest extra virgin olive oils. We paid the entry fee for NYIOOC 2020 on Christmas day 2019:

We are a small family farm. 350 USD is not actually petty cash for us. Nevertheless – expenses aside – for us it is important to participate on the biggest global contest of best olive oils. We feel that’s what matters.

Timely shipping?

In the previous two years, our package reached New York within seven, 10 days (tops!) from the shipping date.

This year we packed and shipped a package with olive oil Bilini on March the 24th. The rule set by NYIOOC 2020 was that the sample bottle must reach their address by May the 1st at the latest.

At the time, there was a big problem with coronavirus globally, but we thought – if a shipment from Croatia to the US usually takes 7-10 days to arrive, if Croatian post is able to accept and ship a parcel to the USA at all, it should reach the States within 37 days !?!

Pandemic

Well, it didn’t. The coronavirus pandemic affects all. Shipping included.

Our parcel finally reached New York on May the 20th. 57 days after we gave it to post office employees here, in Pula.

While there was still hope the parcel would arrive in time, sometime around my birthday (April the 25th) Vedrana and I visited the post office where we took our parcel for shipping. We then explained them what’s going on. They said they couldn’t do anything about it. We were given an advice to fill out an international postal inquiry document. However, they couldn’t tell us when we can expect their feedback to it.

A week after our visit to that post office, I went there again to ask when we can expect an answer to our inquiry. I was told “When you get it.”

We then contacted the admins of the New York International Olive Oil Competition, which only confirmed what we knew. Our EVOO sample hadn’t been received by that time.

It’s normal we’re frustrated over this. And we channeled our anger towards Croatian post. I don’t know if it is objective to be angry with them. But – being honest – if I give you my package in the post office and ask you if I can expect the parcel to reach New York within one month and you answer “Of cooooourse… mail for USA still goes regularly, it should be OK” whom else should I be angry with?

This falls hard on us, since we know our olive oil is absolute first class. The award we recently won at the biggest regional extra virgin olive oil competition, Maslina Split 2020, only confirms our belief.

What else to say… better luck next year. Until which time we sincerely hope this goddamn coronavirus will be history.

All the best from Saša and the entire family farm Rakovac.