anyone that live in a border town use usps?

burryaburl
Community Member

I live in niagara falls, ont and the borders about 5 mins from my house, it just seems more economical to ship from the states. what do i need to know in regard to the customs and also do i have to have a us p.o. box?

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anyone that live in a border town use usps?

Your items must be unwrapped so they may be inspected.  There is a $5.00 fee every time you cross.  You must also complete a manifest. There are forms for that, which you will get from the US customs.  Each item must be described with value and place of manufacture.  There may be duty, as you are now importing goods into the US.  Your US buyers will love you, but you should do the math.  I have personal experience from living in BC.  You are at the border guards mercy, if they're having a bad day, they make you go through all the hoops.  Don't ever challenge those guys, just smile and follow their instructions.  Cheers.

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anyone that live in a border town use usps?

You will never know until you try.  I shipped successfully from USA for years.  I live in Sarnia.  Then all of a sudden everything changed,  I had to get a transponder, had to go through the trucker's lane, fill out a manifest (very itemized), stand in line in a hallway with a sign saying "Do not lean against the wall", sometimes for hours.  Dealing with the person at the counter was like playing ping pong.  I was told to do it one way then told that was wrong and should do it another way and back to original way, back and forth.  It made no  difference it was never right and they would hold me up until after the post office closed.  I appealed to a supervisor and had him set down rules how they wanted it done.  Then they started demanding that I hire a broker and pulled my parcels apart.   I printed out the law that said I did not require a broker, that I could clear my items through customs myself and took it with me.  The next time my husband took items through, they slapped duty on the items.  All in all, they were very rude to  us and I think that the  fact we had expensive  items (lots of Swarovski crystal) created the hostility.  The stress got to be so much that we decided never to ship from USA again and we have been shipping from Canada since.  

 

There are still lots of Canadians shipping from there.  Their items are not as expensive and they have no problems.  As for us, I think it worked out for the best  Yes, it costs us more to ship and often we don't have tracking on most of our items, but we can ship every day without stress.  No more do  we waste two or three afternoons a week to go  to USA, no more endless paperwork, standing in line on the bridge to cross, and deal with rude people.  All we lost is stress and we now support our own postal system and help keep Canadians in work.

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anyone that live in a border town use usps?

The fee has not been $5.00 per visit for years.  It is now $10.25

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anyone that live in a border town use usps?

Didn't know that, I've been in Nova Scotia for 8 years, so never go to the US anymore.

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