Shipping between US and Canada

At the risk of dragging this thread on too long, here's my take on the topic. This is from the POV of someone on the Canadian side of the border. USPS is my friend. They've got Global Priority mail, air parcel post and surface mail. Simple customs declaration forms are available at the counter. It's really not much more difficult than addressing the package label. The Canadian postal service (Canada Post Corporation) has good hand-off from the USPS and they also have a deal with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to provide collection of whatever charges may be levied at crossing. For items under $15 value there's typically no application of the usual Sales taxes(across Canada, GST at 7 % and in Ontario PST at 8 %) and no brokerage fee. A $5 brokerage fee and the taxes will often be charged for values over $15 or $20 Most items of interest to this list from the USA attract no Customs Duties, just the taxes. I've not experienced the loss of packages that others are referring to by Canada Post and generally try to have epay sellers send stuff by USPS, though most will not, apparently because of the lack of tracking through USPS. No experience with Fedex, but UPS rates to Canada are a lot higher than domestic US and they will hit you with the automatic $35 brokerage charge. For items that must be shipped UPS, again on the shipper's rules, I almost always get them dropped at a pick-up spot in Niagara Falls NY. I`can then cross the border myself, pay $5 to the pick-up spot and bring the stuff across personally. For really big stuff, I try to find a local freight company that does regular runs to the area of the purchase and arrange for them to stop and bring the load back. Very reasonable cost compared to most alternatives when you're talking bigger than 2-300 lbs. Of course you do need to have the paper work done and ddeal with a customs broker then, but the charge is still less than the UPS flat rate brokerage would be. People sometimes comment to me about how difficult it must be to cross with some of the larger items I find....like my latest fun acquisition, a JEOL JEM 100CXii electron microscope. In fact, going either way across I've never had many hassles, particularly if its US-made goods I'm going south with. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.4/175 - Release Date: 11/18/05