Typically, an American (usually in the military) would run across the Zoll in three circumstances....at least in the old days.
First, when you arrived at the Frankfurt airport (or Stuttgart, or Berlin).....you had the Zoll folks at the end of the baggage area, and there was this ten-percent chance of them asking to review your baggage and personal belongings. Their aim? If you had over $10,000, beef products of an illegal nature, drugs, lots of fake watches for resale, a dozen cartons of smokes, or anything that violated the import rules....then you got stuck for an hour with the customs folks. It usually meant a fine, and a tax.
Second, around once a year.....you'd enter the commissary or BX....to discover some Zoll guy standing there and asking for your ID card. If you were a retiree....he'd ask for the red card (woe be until you if you didn't bring it or didn't have it). They might occasionally walk the parking lot and just ask folks for their receipt and their ID.
The biggest violation episode was always the Germans who used to use the facilities and never get carded. Back in the 1980s....you'd always hear of Germans who worked on base and bought beef at the commissary. Retirees visiting Germany were always a big deal because they weren't supposed to be there unless they got the red card.
Third, at entry points leading into or out of Germany.....the Zoll folks would set up roadblocks. This usually turned into an interesting episode. Germans with hidden cash.....like to make a once-a-year trip to their Swiss or Luxembourg bank....would find the roadblock about 100 meters before the border, and the Zoll guys would be curious about the 30,000 Euro on the guy's possession. This usually mean confiscation and an appearance in court.
Entering into Germany? They'd ask to examine your trunk, your bags, and add up what you bought. I was impressed once....almost five miles into Germany after leaving Luxembourg....I encountered the Zoll guys around some curve....standing in the middle of road. Naturally, they demanded to view my car. My wife's Luxembourg smokes were in the vehicle.....they sell for thirty percent less than the Germans....but with the two of us.....we met the limited scale of allocation, and were 'dismissed' as legal. I should note, they counted the coffee cans (same limits), and the booze bottles (same limits). Several countries around Germany sell items for less....enjoying profits from the Germans (Austria sells smokes for roughly twenty-five percent less than Germany).
Why bring this up? Well.....there's now a fourth way that you might encounter the Zoll folks. You see....they've grasped how many folks walk through and get out of the Frankfurt airport, with violations. So, they set up roadblocks within a mile or two....of the airport.
They stop you....ask to review your contents, and start to challenge where you bough these items. Bought a laptop while on vacation in Canada? Well....you avoided the German VAT, and that's just not right. So you get taxed on some highway about a mile outside of the Frankfurt airport. Bought a new fancy camera? Same deal.
You can imagine the shock.....you flew in and somehow made it through customs....with no issues. You get into the car, and think....now, I'm safe. And the truth is....no, you aren't.
I'll take a humble guess that folks will wise up over this, and if they do bring in some untaxed item....they will merely walk out the front door of the airport....go down the escalator, and jump on a subway car into Mainz or Frankfurt to meet their connection.
If some FEDEX-like operation was smart....they'd open up a shop there and take items for delivery to some guy's apartment in Trier or Koln....rather than risk Zoll issues.
How often do Germans violate Zoll? It's best not to bring this up. My humble guess is that most everyone over a twenty-year period....travel beyond Europe....and buy something of an illegal nature.
I went to Corfu this past summer, and found some great leather belts, with brand-names on them. The odds they were real brand-name belts? Well....I'll just say I suspect some Chinese guys did some great imitation work.
So, as you travel and counter the Zoll folks....just remember....it's all for a worthy cause....the tax revenue system. Without us.....there's no autobahns, libraries, or paved walking trails in the midst of a wilderness.
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