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Old 15-01-2013, 16:40   #31
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

Shipping to Canada has always been a pain in the neck and my bank account. Once anything (sailing gear, books, cellphone service) crosses the border all bets are off. It costs a lot to live in Canada!! YAY for the USPS!!
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Old 15-01-2013, 16:42   #32
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USPS are OK if you don't particularly mind if it gets there or not. This is personal experience, over years of shipping stuff sold on Ebay. Fedex and UPS, 100% reliable. USPS, not so much - more like 95% for packages. That's not good enough.

I had one experience that means I'll never use them again for an important package. They blamed me for not delivering my package, and denied having it at the Postal Office. It's a shame as there are some great employees (I have personally experienced stellar service too).

If a company has the attitude that nothing ever goes wrong and the customer is always at fault, you can see how lousy service will result.
USPS is a joke. If you actually want something to get where you paid for it to get to, then use FedEx or UPS. Even though its more expensive, at least you know it will get there.
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Old 15-01-2013, 16:53   #33
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

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The worst offender, IME, is UPS. I refuse to use them for anything.
No kidding! I've had those morons leave $900 of new tires on my front doorstep while I was at work, & that was after the shipping instructions were annotated "signature required". Before that, they left a desktop computer on the steps. I've heard that UPS stands for "Use Purolator, Stupid".

Purolator Courier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Old 15-01-2013, 18:10   #34
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

my experience with shipping overseas.

my brother and his wife went to italy for the summer to stay with her family. while there, he emailed me, asking me to get a dvd from his house and send it to him - by dhl.

so i put the dvd in a dvd case, put two pieces of heavy plastic on both sides of the case, wrap it in bubble, and put it in a strong shipping envelope about 9 by 11 inches. it weighs less than a pound.

i go to dhl. give them the destination address ( a small town in central italy). they quote me a price; $70. WHAT????? so i go to fedex. they quote me a better price; $68. so i decide to try ups.

but on the way to ups i pass the post office. so i figure, what the hell, let me see what they'll do. they can send it priority mail, delivery in 3 to 5 days, for $7. that's right. one tenth of the price quoted by the others. i figure, what the hell. so i send it. never got to see the ups quote.

three days later my brother emails me that he got the dvd. and in one piece.
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Old 15-01-2013, 18:28   #35
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

As a US citizen living in the PNW I support all efforts to reduce fees for goods crossing our mutual border. The money saved should be contributed to to the various political parties on both sides of the border....very few things (from the US perspective) are more entertaining than BC politics. Gotta love ya!
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Old 15-01-2013, 18:36   #36
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

My recent Fedx saga was having a Caphorn streering system shipped across Canada. I live in a remote location. Even though I informed them that they did not deliver they insisted they would deliver. Long (6 month ) story after they got to within 800km they decided to give to a local company. Who got it to within 130km. who left it at their depot. I got a email from a company I never heard of, saying I had a package in a town I do not live in. A week later I drive down find the depot closed. (gone fishing sign in window) next weekend go back. Package been returned. And so it went on.

The costs are nuts and many stories. I did recheck with defender and they have added USPS service. I do believe in contacting service providers I am not happy with and I did speak with defender about the costs of dealing with them using courier and that I would not be doing so until they offered USPS.

I have bought things from this site (CF) and have had no problem having it sent by mail. Customs duty is COD no hassle for the sender. The custom rates and provincial taxes are online and very quick. I check before making a purchase so that I know how much i am paying. ups and the feddy boys are profit making at my expense, so sod them. Anyway I feel much better for Venting!
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Old 15-01-2013, 18:46   #37
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

(from the US perspective) are more entertaining than BC politics. Gotta love ya!

Honest? I always thought we were very boring and predictable with politics in BC. Glad we can be of service to ya'all :-)
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Old 15-01-2013, 19:24   #38
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

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I am shocked to hear that you think the only good hockey players come from Canada. You have just set our relationship back to the original six. But you are dead on on the other stuff and I think it will only get worse as Big Gov looks to grab more and more while the large corps just take the path of least resistance and pass through "fees".
Wayne played for LA - makes him 'merican.
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Old 15-01-2013, 19:24   #39
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

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Hi. This is unashamedly aimed at corporate America.

As a Canadian you have to get used to the Big fella next door to the South! From disputing borders that they had unilaterally imposed under threat of war to thinking that they have better hockey players, it is like the winter snow a fact of life.

However enough is enough! UPS, FEd Ex, or whoever have this neat trick of imposing "border fees". These fees can double the cost of the purchase. Ebay sellers, West Marine, Defender< etc all find it expedient to us cross border couriers. USPS charges what it costs to get your goods across the border, no more no less. The Big corporate guys have this cash cow going.

Well enough is enough! I am pouring the tea into the harbour( yes harbour is spelt with a u) and saying stuff you! Any American company that needs my $ (Canadian that is worth more than the American) will have to work at saving me money.

Obviously as with any revolution, several suporters would be very welcome.http://www.cruisersforum.com/images/icons2/icosm07.gif
So, I'm a Canuck that came here to start over. Iwas tired of the oppressive Canadian government telling me that I wasn't worthy of an education unless my parents were of the silver spoon. I left the factory life in 78, came here and worked (yes worked) my way through school to have a trade and eventually an Engineer. Something that could not have happened there in the 70's. So I invite you to start improving your economy, buying and shipping only from Canada. It will be interesting to see how well that goes.
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Old 15-01-2013, 19:33   #40
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

Not to preach, but i think you will find that the Canadian Economy faired much better than most Western economies in the last few years. As to buying Canadian or American we would both be buggered when it came to anything electronic, Sail cloth batteries engines etc etc. My beef is simple I don't like being bullied? American Canadian British Ecmukistan not bothered ethic origins.

Is funny that you left Canada for the very reasons I left Europe for Canada. About the same time as well. Same size boat as well, but yours is much posher:-)
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Old 15-01-2013, 19:53   #41
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...The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations...
No tax money? Who do you think covers the multi-billion dollar losses every year, Santa Claus? Washington loves to play this shell game that the USPS is an independent, business model outfit, but that's nonsense. Congress sets the rules for the business finance and operations and the taxpayers cover all shortfalls and ultimately guarantee all pension and benefits obligations, forward funded or not.

But lest this thread get political, more to the point, I would pay just about any border fee for another bottle of Coureur de Bois maple cream liquor. Oh baby.
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Old 15-01-2013, 20:01   #42
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

Totally agree with OP. I've always had great service with USPS. Won't buy anything that ships with the other guys. Bu I'm a commie bastardess at heart anyway. People before profit.

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Old 15-01-2013, 20:37   #43
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

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I am a US citizen and don't use West Marine unless I have to. You pay a premium for the convenience of an extensive catalog, much of it junk, fortunately Defender is much better both price wise and in customer service. Jamestown Distributors is also another excellent company to do business with from a customer service standpoint, although I don't know what their international shipping practices are.
Since my company ships capitol machinery worldwide I do know Canada can be difficult to deal with when it comes to customs, second only to China when dealing with customs officials. It's all about the duties, after all, their salaries are paid out of those duties. Don't even think about sending a technician to assist the customer in setting up and learning how to run there newly purchased equipment. It is much easier to send a technician to Communist China than to Canada, no joke, it's all about the tax dollars. Sooo...yes, you are paying a fee to a broker to handle the customs red tape and I can't blame the vendors for not wanting to get involved with the customs issues, it would require a full time team to deal with all the different categories involved in shipping a single multi-part order. I know, I've had to deal with customs people the world over, it's no fun at all.
Buy local when you can and deal with companies much better equipped to deal with international shipments when you have to.
Don't even get me started about dealing with South American "customs officials".
This brings back memories. I used to automate sawmills and chemical plants and would take a fishing pole with me through customs. When asked the reason for the trip to Canada I would say that I was planning to get some fishing done and perhaps stop by a plant or two that had some of my companies hardware in it just to be sure that everything was OK. If the Officer thought I was using the plant visit to get the fishing trip paid for so much the better. Things went a lot smoother on a fishing trip.

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Old 15-01-2013, 21:01   #44
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

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Don't even think about sending a technician to assist the customer in setting up and learning how to run there newly purchased equipment. It is much easier to send a technician to Communist China than to Canada, no joke, it's all about the tax dollars.
Unless this is a recent thing I don't think so. I worked for 3 US computer companies and we had no problem bringing in tech. support when we needed them.

In fact it was always more difficult (except in one case out of many) going the other way than it was coming into Canada.
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Old 15-01-2013, 21:50   #45
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Re: I am sick of being Bullied by my Big Brother!

How do you play a hockey? Is it stringed, brass, or a woodwind? Or is it a bagpipe derivative? Oh, no, I think it's percussion isn't it?
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