The Canadian Border Services Agency seems to have a policy that small and low value items will not be assessed for duty (and by extension, sales tax).
Not just the under $20 stuff , but many other items. If the item is bulky or very high value, it will be assessed.
A GPS system is about the size of a half dozen eggs. A tablet equivalent to a thin book. The size may be what allowed them to slip through.
The principle seems to be that it makes no sense to charge duty if the amount collected is lower than the cost of collecting. Border officers are in the $20 to $40 an hour pay rate. If they can't collect at least their wages in duty every hour, they are wasting the taxpayers' money.
Common sense from the public service. Who da thought?
But commericial shippers, like DHL, UPS, CanPar, must obey the law. And the law is duty is assessed if the value is over $20 Cdn /$18US.
Even though their workers are probably paid less ($15 to $25 an hour perhaps), it is likely that the commercial carriers are still losing money on these low value packages. That would go a long way to explaining that infuriating $25 on the doorstep or no package brokerage charge that so many Canadians complain about.
Are you a thief if you do a job that you are required by law to do and charge a fee for doing it?
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