What's the best way to mail to US from Canada

[dreamcoll]

I've been mailing from Michigan every week for the past 4 or 5 years but am contemplating mailing from Canada. I'm tired of all the paperwork, aggravation, time involved & expense of crossing the border.

Do most of you use Canada Post, UPS, Fedex, etc.

What problems have you run into, if any?

[whoscloset]

UPS but Fedex would probably be good if they could match the discounted rate UPS gives me. For your own sanity...stay away from Canada Post.

[futuretech_liquidations]

We use both CanadaPOST and FEDEX. CanadaPOST is exclusively used for Canadian shipment and FEDEX is used for all USA shipment.

If you sell items over US$250 then you need to get a signature so FEDEX, UPS, PUROLATOR, DHL are the only ones that offer this.

Cheers,

TIM @ FTL

[gifts_of_elegance]

Fedex collects a signature? That's a surprise. They left a $5,000 item on my front porch without even ringing the doorbell.

[gifts_of_elegance]

I have been mailing from Michigan too for the past year and like dreamcoll, I am tired of all the paperwork, aggravation and time it takes. I am not doing it anymore.

[dreamcoll]

Thanks, I'll check out UPS & Fedex next week.

Last week I was scolded by a customs officer for pulling up to the booth before a transport had completely cleared the lane. Not a biggie but it kind of ticked me off.

Yesterday I was in the PO parking lot filling boxes with packing peanuts & a few blew away on me. It was rainy & very windy. Normally I fill my boxes at home but had run out of packing peanuts. I always buy them in Michigan so figured I'd finish filling the boxes there.

Next thing I know, a police car pulled up & the policeman told me they had a complaint about the packing peanuts blowing around. Long story short..I spent 15 minutes in the wind & rain picking them up. I didn't even fill 1/4 of a small plastic Walmart bag.

The policeman said, they actually got a phone call about the peanuts & guess who called???? Someone from the USPS PO, where I spend thousands of dollars a year! Man, I was so ticked!

I had been thinking about starting to mail from Canada anyway & that just put the icing on the cake for me.

[katiusciav]

i think every company is suitable to different sellers depending on WHAT they sell. small items would be best suited for cp, as they're the cheapest...larger and heavier items for fedex etc...
i sell all kinds, so i mostly use cp, but sometimes fedex or ups all depending on size, weight and value...
if you sell only one type of product, then you should figure out based on size and value etc...which company best suits you. i have recently lost lots of respect for fedex...over a month ago, i sent two packages with them...one they lost, the other they sent back completely damaged, and i STILL haven't heard one thing from them. very discouraging.

[katiusciav]

i just looked at your listings dreamcoll, and it looks like you sell like me-all shapes and sizes, you'd probably be best off using different companies for different products...good luck...ps...don't forget to bomb proof those packages that are fragile with cp

[dreamcoll]

OMG! I just received a phone call from the post mistress at the USPS. She apologized profusely for what happened yesterday & said I was a very good customer & she would speak to the person who called the police to make sure it didn't happen again. Wow!

I'm still going to look into mailing from Canada.

[sunshine2426]

canada post only by air always.

[bamf*comics]

I agree, it depends what you sell. Most of my items recently have been small (books, video games, etc) so I use Canada Post light/small packet airmail. It is very inexpensive, delivery times are reasonable (1-2 weeks), I have always been happy with their service (I have a great post office with a very helpful staff near my work) & they've never lost a package on me yet (knock on wood)! I'll probably be starting to sell some larger items soon so at that time I'll be exploring additional options. Hope this helps!

Jason