On 2010-12-01 13:15, Bill Palmer wrote:
Rada -- your experience and mine have been completely different. I have never shipped anything larger than a box of CD's to Canada. I've been shipping to Canada for more than 20 years, and only began to have problems with customs after 9/11.

I don't have a problem filling out the customs forms. I've been doing that for a long time, too.

Your postal system works differently than ours does. I shipped an item to Canada yesterday. The quote at the post office "This is covered until it reaches the border. Then you are on your own." The main reason I chose to ship this item to Canada rather than have it picked up on our side of the border is that it is an item that I've had experience shipping before, and the recipient knows the problems that I have had shipping over the border.

When you say "Here is the hassle for you...filling out the extra slip and maybe having to go to the post office, that's all," then you really don't know what you are talking about. Either you think I am lying, which is an insult, or you think I'm too lazy to go to the post office, which is a bigger insult, or you have completely misread and misunderstood my answers to your basically accusatory post. It's not about filling out the extra slip. It's not about going to the post office. It's not even about standing in line at the post office for 30 minutes to an hour to ship the package. It's about whether you get it in a timely fashion.

I started out selling music books. There was no problem at all until 9/11. Then suddenly, the whole shipping problem became a nightmare. Any packages that weighed more than a certain amount immediately became suspect. I never had a problem shipping to Germany, the UK, Australia or any countries other than Canada or Mexico. The problem in Mexico was basically that their shipping system is completely messed up.

I instituted the following system, which worked fine for the people who wanted my material. If you live near the border, or if you plan to travel in the US, let me have a US address close to the border and I'll ship to that address.

Finally, your insulting, naive, uninformed posts aside, your figure that 98% of the time, people will pay the extra postage is absolute horsepuckey. I've had customers ask me to ship props by media mail so it is cheaper, I've had customers ask me to ship items as gifts, so there are no customs fees, and I've had them ask me to undervalue the items shipped to cut the amount of the fees. Most of the time, there are no customs fees or the fees are very low. But some people will do anything to save a few cents. Over the past few years, I have shipped HUNDREDS of packages. The only ones I have EVER had problems with were the ones that went to Canada.

I never had a problem with shipments to Europe or Australia. And it's just as big a "hassle" as you call it to ship to Europe as it is to ship to Canada.

@ Gordyboy -- Even with NAFTA, there are some items that are very difficult to ship from the US to Canada. Most of the time, this has to do with protected brand names, particularly in the field of musical instruments. Sometimes, the amount of duty on instruments is in the high double digits. I'm referring to percentages, not to dollar amounts.

On 2010-12-01 13:50, Peter Loughran wrote:
Shipping my products to the USA really takes no extra time than shipping within my own Country of Canada, just as long as the item is small enough to be accepted by Canada Post/ USPS. However shipping large illusions that weigh hundreds of pounds and worth thousands of dollars, is a much differnt story, and there is a ton of paper work and red tape, that my company must take care of for our customers. You are dealing with comercial invoices, waybills, customs doccuments, B-13 forms, Brokers, etc etc. But we do all this to make it an easy transaction for our customers, I could see people complaining about this...lol as I complain to myself about it all the time...lol, but that's just part of the business. But shipping small stuff, really takes no more time at all then sending with in my own country, so Im confused why there are issues people have. Perhaps it is harder for USA customers to ship to Canada, then vice versa but I find that hard to believe, we seem to have a much more lenient customs than USA post 911. I have stuff shipped to me all the time from some of my business clients/partners, like Sean Bogunia, Hocus Pocus, Steve Brooks, Fantasio, etc, and they tell me its a peice of cake for them.

On 2010-12-01 13:58, Tom Jorgenson wrote:


I don't. I love Canada...it's like the States were 50 years ago. Polite, clean, beautiful...loved touring there years ago, it was the highlight of my year, each year. The bookstores in London are unmatched in the states...

On 2010-12-01 14:11, Peter Loughran wrote:
Yes Canada and the USA are virtually identical in absolutely every way, Both in technology, and life style. The only difference is that the USA has a much bigger military, and protects ours...lol, and we pay more taxes and have free health care, but other than that, its basically just one big Country with a line drawn down the middle. There is no difference at all. But I don't think that's what Tom was implying though.