Shipping stuff to the US from Canada - No more!

[scot850]

Well, I have just wasted a whole afternoon trying to ship a pair of mounting brackets for free to an MVS member in the US. Between Canada Post and their useless online system and the implementation of a new, I believe, US custom system called Zonos, they have taken what used to be a simple process and made it the most unpleasant torture you can imagine. With systems glitches and incorrect information on how the process works, Canada Post will no longer make shipments you walk in with to the US. It all has to be done on-line and you have to drop the parcel off only once there is the shipping paperwork on it. Oh, and god forbid you don't have the receiver's contact phone number or you can't even complete the shipping online with Canada Post to the US.

I felt sorry for the young guy behind the counter. He says that since this 'de-minimus' ruling by the US government removing up to $800 worth of goods in a shipment to enter free of charge being removed, the Post Office local to me has seen about 95% of small businesses stop shipping to the US and most non-business users are just not shipping presents or anything to the US from Canada via Canada Post.

I have shipped this one item and now I will see if it gets there in spite of Canada Post, US and Canada Customs and the USPS black-hole of Carson City, CA. I hope so as the brackets are NLA, but fortunately there are aftermarket options thankfully.

What's the saying? "No good turn goes unpunished!!"

If this item arrives successfully then I may reconsider. The rest of the world is still ok as far as I know!

Neil.

[matthew1]

With systems glitches and incorrect information on how the process works, Canada Post will no longer make shipments you walk in with to the US. It all has to be done on-line and you have to drop the parcel off only once there is the shipping paperwork on it. Oh, and god forbid you don't have the receiver's contact phone number or you can't even complete the shipping online with Canada Post to the US.

Sometimes I think the Internet was a mistake. I'm only half joking.

[Sveedy]

You tell them " Don't touch the stove, it's hot ! ", and what do they do ? Children at play can cause a lot of damage.
Unfortunately we are all going to have to suffer.
Thanks for putting up with us this far.

[scot850]

Hey, 99% of people are good, it is just that 1%......................

Glad to say, our good folks of MVS are in the 99%!

Neil.

[abscate]

I think this ruling will be short lived like most of the other decisions that were made in syphillitic haze. I’ll say, about one month.

[Sveedy]

Hey, 99% of people are good, it is just that 1%......................

Glad to say, our good folks of MVS are in the 99%!

Neil.

You're an optimist, Neil ( as was Darwin. )

[BlackBart]

What if we met at the fence at night, and you just throw the parts over the fence?

[abscate]

There have to be lots of places in Montana where this would work

Should be a good cottage business for shuttling stuff between port cities and towns

So we still get a $800 tariff free entry of property at the border ??

[BlackBart]

The trees have ears.

[scot850]

Well you DID have that, now it is no longer. It is now a $0.00 for bringing stuff in. I did eventually manage to download a phone app called Zoros you have to use. It is basically a customs declaration and pricing tool for any items being brought in. You have to complete this prior to going to the Post Office here. Problem is the Post Office link only takes you to a Business user site version where there are no freebies.

The phone App allows for personal shipping of 'gifts' at a $0.00 value. I'm not sure as to the max value allowed under this. You do have to declare you are not being paid for the item and it is a 'unsolicited gift'.

Eventually you get a QR code and actual Code which you have to add into the Canada Post website before it will generate a shipping label.

What a hassle.

Neil.