Shipping to Canada? USPS won't be wise

[aviationwiz]

Just a heads up to everyone:

http://calgary.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/ ... il20041008

If you need it to arrive any time soon, go with UPS, FedEx, or DHL.

I've heard reports of even EMS (2-3 days) taking about 12 days.

[Ian]

Yeah, but UPS tends to charge the receiver for import fees, etc.

I've had some airmail stuff get delayed for a couple of weeks but EMS still takes less than a week.

[dolphinius_rex]

luckily I don't have any U.S. shipments coming in any time soon... (well, via MAIL at least )

[Spazmogen]

I ordered this:

and Amazon.COM had it to my door in 6 days. No duties or tariffs. Canada Post just put it into the mailbox with everything else. Of course, 1 DVD is a small box compared to a carton of CD-R's or similar.

No, it wasn't available through Amazon.CA.

[Dan]

I ordered a bunch of stuff and it was shipped out of texas on sept 10 and I have yet to see it. My CC statement reminded me of the purchase it's been so long i forgot about it

[aviationwiz]

Doesn't look like this will be over any time soon:
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... l_delays_1

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national ... 41019.html

[jase]

Spaz, I thought anything with a value under $30(US) was exempt from customs duties?

[BuddhaTB]

Stupid UPS charges the receiver customs fees unlike USPS.

[aviationwiz]

Stupid UPS charges the receiver customs fees unlike USPS.

Customs fees are charged by the destination country, not the carrier, the carrier has nothing to do with customs fees, by which, I assume you mean duty.

[jase]

Yes but IIRC UPS charge an administration fee on top of the customs duty; they did to me anyway, and hence I will never use them again.

[LoneWolf]

I've read some stuff about UPS charging some additional customs brokerage fee that wasn't based in reality, and not required by any government. Something that lines their pockets, I believe. It's pretty exorbitatnt, I've heard of people paying $20 for a small $5 item, and other cases where someone was charged far more than an item was even worth to ship. I'd highly recommend not using UPS to ship to Canada.

To read more about it:

http://www.vcnet.com/~rossde/ups_sucks.html

[aviationwiz]

I have used UPS Standard to Canada twice so far, and neither time did the customer get nailed with a brokerage fee, despite one of the times where the receiver's company (who should have had no power of atorney) changed the brokerage clearing house to a company which charges *MUCH* more.

UPS Air (and I believe FedEx Air) both include brokerage fees in the shipping cost, and for high value items, that's the way to do it.

Canada Post charges a 5 CAD Administration fee on any packages that the recipient ends up paying duty on. Other postal services from other countries also charge a similar administration fee.