Brokerage fees (was In for Annual)

Javier Henderson wrote:

Jim, how do you ship? USPS? UPS? I shipped some computers to BC a few
months back, via UPS ground, and UPS had a mandatory $50 brokerage
fee. Whether this is a real fee charged by Canadian customs, or a
profit center for UPS, I know not. Note that this were not items I
was selling.

It's a profit centre for UPS -- your only choices are to refuse delivery or
pay the fee. UPS might also collect sales tax on top of their brokerage fee
if its applicable, but the fee itself is still huge (it's just their fee for
certifying that it's OK for the package to cross the border). FedEx is just
as bad, and if you use Google you'll find extensive discussions about this
topic.

As I mentioned, always ship USPS to Canada if you have a choice, though UPS
will waive the brokerage fee with overnight delivery if you're already in a
hurry. I lost a few hundred in extortion^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hbrokerage fees
before I wised up and started insisting on USPS only.


All the best,


David