Cross Border Shipping Question

[Geo in Winnipeg]

When I order blanks or kits from forum members or businesses like Arizona S. Craft Supply, etc. it takes an average of about 18 days for it to get to me. I use the postmark on the package to determine shipping date, not automated emails from suppliers. So far the records are 4 days and 32 days. The method of shipping is usually Global Priority. I suspect Canadian Customs - not the post office on either side.
Are there any other Canadian members out there that have better success [?] or are all of us getting lousy service.

 

[btboone]

We've found that Global Express gets to customers in Canada from Georgia in just over a week. As you said, Customs is the wildcard, and if they are overloaded, things can take a lot longer. We only offer that and FedEx International, which is even faster, but is very expensive.

 

[arioux]

Hi,

I order quite often from pens of color. Sometimes, i get the order in 3-5 days, and no customs to pay. Some other times, it will take up to two weeks and i have some custom fees to pay. So it does take longer whem the customs intercep the parcel. I think it is random because i have been ordering from the states for few years now and i have never been able to determine a pattern. Sometimes a 25.00 order don't make it thru but a 150.00 one just go thru without problem . Go figure

My record so far is 4 days from Berea to Montreal. The worst is over two weeks for pen blanks from Vancouver Canada !!!!

Alfred

 

[wood-of-1kind]

Shipment from US vendors on average takes 7-10 working days to reach me here in Toronto. Of late I've been fortunate to escape the taxman and have not had P.S.T. and the dreaded G.S.T. added to the cost of importation. I suspect that by keeping the declared value at under $50.00 US may have something to do with this. Any declared shipment >$100.00 has been unlucky for me since I've had to pay both taxes to the post office in order for me to get my parcel. In speaking to a Canada Post personnel, I was told that incoming shipments are checked at random.

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

Hi Alfred, that seems to be my experience with the taxes. The value of the package doesn't seem to make any difference. I've been hit with tax on as little as $20 value and had one with $190 get by. BTW a couple of times I have been charged excise tax as well as GST/PST. If that happens to you make sure you claim a refund. There is no duty on pen kits, tooling etc. The lady at Customs I talked to said excise was probably charged because someone thought there was jewelry in the package - the white form that describes the contents said "pens" but the way it was written looked like "pins". Another reason not to use that large white form (US form #2976-A) only the small green one (US form #2976 I think).

Bruce, I wouldn't waste my money on the extra $$ from Fedex. I tried it and it wasn't much faster but a lot more expensive.

wood-of-1kind, looks like you're in the same boat as me but get better delivery. Technically I think the amount of declared value only matters if it's a gift. If it's a gift under $25 there's no duty or tax - I could be wrong, though.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

As a courtesy, I usually ask my US supplier to declare a lower value for goods that I import into Canada. Not by much but sometimes it is enough to go under the Canada customs radar. I'm not advocating cheating here but let's face it, our government is overtaxing their Canadian citizens IMHO.

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

I think we are the most overtaxed and overgoverned nation in the western world [] [!]

 

[DCBluesman]

The bulk of my experience has been in mailings to Toronto or Vancouver. I've mailed packages as well as letters. Canada Post seems to be highly unreliable in delivery times. I've had letters take as long as 3 weeks to be delivered. I've also had packages delivered within 5 days. In general, I allow a month for delivery and am rarely disappointed. BTW, if you think things are tough to Canada, try sending something to Spain or Greece. Six weeks or more seems to be the norm...and Greece doesn't have Global Priority.

 

[Geo in Winnipeg]

Lou - I guess I was lucky with your partridgewood in the beginning of Sept. It was only 8 calendar days. I've never sent stuff overseas so I can't compare but I can imagine it would be slower.

 

[wicook]

I find that the biggest advantage to living in Alberta (when it comes to getting stuff from US suppliers) is that we only get dinged for GST, not PST and/or HST. Shipping times for me have varied from less than a week to about 3 weeks. I'm not sure whether it's primarily the fault of the US Postal Service or Canada Post that there's such variability, but it seems to be unavoidable.

I only allowed a vendor to ship via UPS once...that extra $20 or $30 hit for brokerage fees was a killer! [xx(]