UPS shipping to Canada, "Brokerage Fee"

[Rat407]

Just a little note for everyone down here in the lower 48. If you are going to ship a package into Canada using UPS, don't,  Use the US Postal Service. I sent my pump up to Superior Injection and they wanted to charge me $55 US brokerage fee. This is wrong.  So just use the USPS. May cost a little more but at least you don't have to pay the brokerage fee.  I was on the phone several times with UPS trying to figure this out and it all boiled down to no way around it.  Just wanted to let everyone know.

[malone]

I avoid UPS for the same reason. I actually used to work for UPS.. good service (in my location anyway) but cross-border fees are still too high.

USPS and occasionally FedEx (depending on urgency of shipment) is the way to go.

[vwmike]

A couple of friends of mine used to work for UPS and said it was terrible the way they treated your packages. Things would get broken all the time. One of those friends also worked for fedex and said "if you want it to get there in one peice, use fedex". Their ground service is also cheaper.

[Northern RD]

Just a little note for everyone down here in the lower 48. If you are going to ship a package into Canada using UPS, don't,  Use the US Postal Service. I sent my pump up to Superior Injection and they wanted to charge me $55 US brokerage fee. This is wrong.  So just use the USPS. May cost a little more but at least you don't have to pay the brokerage fee.  I was on the phone several times with UPS trying to figure this out and it all boiled down to no way around it.  Just wanted to let everyone know.

You know it!
If time isn`t an issue postal is the way to go, definatly cheaper.
N.

[Dr. Diesel]

I've worked on the airplanes that Fedex, UPS, Purolator and other use (USPS too, through the above people) Every night, while waiting for these airplanes to depart, I'm sitting in the van watching the "cargo smashers" as we call them,  load the airplanes. They're brutal. They're (stereotyping here) mostly riff-raff, about the only kind of person that wage and a split shift could attract, and simply don't give a rat's ass about you, your package, it's contents, or the person it's going to.
The bottom line is, if you want it to get there in one piece, package it like it was a vial of nitro glycerine that you DON'T want to explode.

and yeah, postal service is definitely the way to go.
I couldn't believe it, I shipped a small box from canada to hong kong through the post and it got there in 4 days!

[QuickTD]

I buy alot of stuff for my business from California and other US states. Alot of suppliers insist on using UPS and iIwill agree the brokerage charges are absolutely brutal. A tube of integrated circuits worth 50 cents can run up duty and brokerage fees of over $100. I can't avoid it so it just gets passed on to my customer. UPS gives you the option of using other brokerage firms but the charges are just as bad.

 Purolator is much better. Their standard processing fee is only $5.00CDN. Duties and taxes still apply but it sure beats UPS at over $50.

 Nothing beats the post office though. I believe you could ship a box of hand grenades, labeled as such, and nobody would care. No questions, no hidden fees, no paperwork needed and minimal brokerage charges. Now if they could just pick up the pace a bit...

I'm sitting in the van watching the "cargo smashers" as we call them, load the airplanes.

There are worse, believe it or not. I repair ground power units and starting power supplies for Jazz air (formerly air ontario). I caught sight of a recent internal memo that was posted in the ground equipment shop. It warned the aircraft and ground equipment maintenance staff not to ship parts using jazz's cargo service. Seems they have an "unacceptable level of loss and damage". The memo stated that they are to use fedex for all internal shipping. Pretty sad state of affairs when the airline doesn't trust itself enough to ship its own components...

[Patrick]

I'm with the rest on Post office instead of ups.I'm an amatuer musician, and have shipped brass instruments bought on ebay both ups and post office. Let's just say that ups will never get my business again. If the shipper insists on ups they don't get my business.
Too expensive to get through customs ( I know what's involved, I used to have a truck on long haul), and an insurance claim took forever to settle! Glad to hear that purolator is so cheap though!

[toomanycars]

Agree, agree, agree! I buy most of my parts from US, Canada and UK. This is because they are so hard to obtain here. I've used Fedex (expensive....never again), Royal Mail and USPS. Never a problem and comparitively cheap. Absolutely no damage (so far). Watched the movie "Castaway" last week...A bit of a worry! Although I can't see Tom Hanks putting a diesel cylinder head gasket to much use on a desert island!

[BlackTieTD]

same experience here... once paid $100 'brokerage fees' on $80 worth of parts. they simply would not release the package until the amount i owed = $0.

FROWN ON BROWN