Why do government web forms suck?

[Teacher]

A student of mine received a box from his uncle in Saudi Arabia. The box contains see-through plastic bags with dates from his uncle's farm, plus some Arabic coffee and spices. Before customs will release the box to him, he is required to fill out a "past notice" form online. Unfortunately, these forms are the most confusing, convoluted things I've ever seen in my entire life. My ISA is doing the forms for him because he simply can't understand them, and his English is pretty good. She has to fill out a seperate form for each food item, and she just finished the first form after about 45 minutes and three phone calls to customs. What the **** is wrong with these people???