[konafocuswrc]

ok now we both agree about the fedex thing..

and..
you went way tooooo deeeep into canada thing...
what i meant was..when it comes to importing stuff, they charge too much $$ on it..
that is all i meant by not liking canada..

if i hate canada that much, why would i stay here for over 10 yrs??
i visited canada long enough before make a decision to immigrate to canada..
i came here because i liked it..

i lived in the states for 5 yrs and came back here..so the whole brokerage fee+taxes seems unfair to me..when i bought $30 and i paid nearly $30 to accept pacakge..

by the way..i will have to start make a friend near border..

[AckermaNzx3]

i gave ups my credit card number at the door and have no clue if they took the money or not but here we are like 6 months later and i have a credit agency calling me daily and yet another ups bill (canada border fees really blow)

[2001 ZTS]

darkpuppet,May 29 2008, 02:15 PM Wrote:I actually ask now to just get it shipped via USPS [right][snapback]265442[/snapback][/right]

DING, DING, DING

We have a winner. INSIST on USPS (United States Postal Service) or say there will be no sale, if they balk ask for the next person up the totem pole, they always cave even though it may mean a bit more leg work for them. You are the customer afterall and as if ANY company down there doesn't send/recieve surface mail.

Canada Post, USPS, Lufteposte and the Royal Mail have all been excellent to deal with and at a fraction of the cost courier companies and have excellent tracking websites.

Call it relationship building or networking, at the time I was modding the Focus I got to be first name basis with countless suppliers, saved a ton of dough and only kids rely 100% on the internets. If you're ordering online NEVER be afraid to pick up the phone and talk to a human especially since it is usually a 1-800 number anyway.

[focusracer]

Who delivers the USPS shipments up here? Does it transfer to Canada Post for delivery?

Most sales guy's wouldn't care how you wanted to ship it, it's their shipper who has to call the "courier" and do all the arrangements. When I have guys ordering stuff and they ask how it should be shipped, I turn it back to them. The only company i don't like up here is DHL, D rop it H ide it or L ose it.

[ZTWsquared]

focusracer,May 30 2008, 08:06 PM Wrote:Who delivers the USPS shipments up here? Does it transfer to Canada Post for delivery?

Most sales guy's wouldn't care how you wanted to ship it, it's their shipper who has to call the "courier" and do all the arrangements. When I have guys ordering stuff and they ask how it should be shipped, I turn it back to them. The only company i don't like up here is DHL, D rop it H ide it or L ose it.
[right][snapback]265575[/snapback][/right]

Yes - Canada Post delivers USPS up here. For a lot of US shippers USPS is a real PITA because they don't offer the same payment terms as the courier companies do and a lot of the time the lower volume guys actually have to drive the package to the post office - there are a lot of reasons why shippers in the US won't ship USPS - and they're not likely to change their way of doing business just to accomodate the handful of canucks that might prefer it that way.

There are reasonble alternatives to the courier companies - you have to read the fine print on their webpages to see the hidden costs and fees - and they aren't even necessarily out of hand when you consider the extra steps required to make a commercial entry for customs brokerage.

Here's a summary of the "extra" costs you incur buying in the US vs someone who has an address there:

1) extra shipping - for example check out tirerack.com and calculate the cost of shipping 4 rims to Niagara Falls NY and then Niagara Falls Ontario - the cost to Canada is more than twice that of US shipping. What's worse is companies like drivewire.com etc that offer free shipping in the states, but full shipping to canada.

2) Courier brokerage fee: UPS charges based on value for duty: eg: $500 US value costs you 51.45

3) Bond fee: unless you pay the taxes and duty up front, UPS will charge you 2.7% or a minimum of $6 for the bond fee.

Like I said - there are alternatives that don't involve you driving to Buffalo yourself - PM me if you want to know more.

[AckermaNzx3]

my opinion is usps is the way to go...they do take a little longer but i havent had any hidden fees.
its too bad we dont have a large focus performance company running out of canada, i think that would be awsome

[meford4u]

Holy drama about shipping!!!

Look, learn to ship it and pay less or pay more and pay the consequences.

Next time ask first...........not bitch later.

[Flofocus]

"We dont use USPS, only UPS"

"You just lost a sale"

Nuff said.

[focusracer]

^^^

Yeah, had a guy say that to me once because we don't send stuff more than an envelope by Canada Post because they always lose s*** plus it's a 45 minute round trip to the post office.

He called back a little while later and took the parts afterall.

Guys like that, it's kind of a whatever.

We had a guy call a while back from New Jersey, he wasn't able to purchase parts from a supplier right close to him. We didn't really have a clue why at first. It turned out that because of jurisdiction issues we couldn't ship it from Canada down to the U.S.

My boss wasn't willing to create problems with our supplier, they threatened to reduce our supplier discount which would eliminate all our sales for that company which happens to be one of our biggest lines, also the one with the most fierce competition.

The guy absolutley freaked, threatened to "ruin the company name" along with mine.

I offered to try and find a supplier who would sell to him out of the U.S. I called a supplier about a 100 miles from him. As soon as I said his name the parts guy I was speaking to chuckled. "Oh yeah, I know him quite well." They said they would sell the part to him for $500+ US and only if he sent someone to pick it up because he isn't allowed in their store. I was going to sell it to him for $165 incl. freight.

Customer isn't "always right".

When a customer calls in and gives me attitude, his pricing sometimes gets inflated. The price you pay sometimes...