In the past year my international business has picked up tremendously and I
find myself making trips to the post office every day to send items to
Canada and other countries. I have yet to run into any problem, except such
as yesterday, a USPS worker with an attitude and his attitude promptly went
away once I started treating him the same way he was treating me.
UPS is probably the worst shipping firm in the USA, in my opinion of course.
They were solely responsible for $3000 worth of lost or damaged goods in the
past year that were being shipped to me. I use FedEx as my outbound
shipping service, and I had to make two claims the entire year, neither
claim more than $100. I also use USPS Priority Mail frequently, and have
never had to a claim. Both UPS and FedEx are liberal about their delivery
times and they both will use any excuse they can to explain away why a
shipment was late.
Now on to tips for successful shipments to Canada from the USA. Fedex and
the USPS are pretty evenly matched in their Canadian shipping prices, up
until the box starts weighting 20+ lbs or more. FedEx has much better
prices for heavier or oversize shipments. FedEx's insurance price is also
much better, versus USPS $1.30 price for every $100. The USPS also has a
$650 cap on insurance.
Not a single one of my customers has ever had to pay brokerage fees or
import duties when I have shipped items via USPS or FedEx to Canada. I am
careful to fill out the customs forms completely, and honestly, and that
includes stating the total value of the parts. Just two weeks ago I sent a
45lb package to St Martins New Brunswick, and the total value of the parts
exceeded $1000... I figured for sure, if there ever was such a large package
worth so much, that this package would be the one that got pulled out of the
warehouse and assessed duties to. The customer recieved the package, in 13
days rather than 10, but no duties or additional fees were assessed by FedEx
or the Canadian contractor that handles the deliveries in St Martins.
I don't know if it helps at all, but even though I list the total value of
the parts and a complete break down of the parts in the box, I still write
"ANTINUE AUTO PARTS - 1960 TR3 (or whatever year/model)" on the customs
forms. I once had someone else tell me about doing this, and who knows
perhaps this is the secret to my successful shipping to Canada.
For FedEx there is a Commercial Invoice you will need to fill out and
include with your package. This can be downloaded from their website.
Kai
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Kai M. Radicke
Wishbone Classics
* British Car Parts *
www.wbclassics.com
Ph: 215.945.7250
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