With the new NAFTA agreement (July 2020) our duty free allowance for purchases from the USA rose to $150 (from the $20 it still is for most countries in the world).
Our tax-free allowance rose to $40 (from the same $20).
Most imports from the USA will attract only sales taxes, which have been payable since... well, since there were sales taxes .
CBSA made the (slightly illegal, but sensible) decision early in this century to ignore small imports valued under "a certain amount" (usually about $100) since assessing and collecting the import fees due would cost more than could be collected.
I recall a Canada Post VP telling the Globe and Mail Report on Business that about 93% of such low value packages pass unassessed.
But she was talking about POSTAL imports.
Couriers, as private businesses, must obey the letter of the law, and you will find archived some 5000+ threads complaining about UPS,etc charging both duty and sales taxes + $25 or more in customs brokerage fees.
This was pre-GSP, which itself charged those import fees on purchase (not on delivery) and charged only ~$5 for 'brokerage'. The newer eIS charges on delivery and yes, as private couriers, import fees will be assessed.
That being said.
Remember that 93%?
Your import was part of the 7% that was not ignored.
The post office, like a lot of the public service, has been hiring lately, partly to help with backlogs from the pandemic years *, and partly because we Boomers have been retiring since we turned 65 in 2011**.
*Immigration Canada is said to be two years behind on assessing applications.
** The youngest Boomers just turned 58. Seven years till we have all retired.
