Shipping to Canada-need advice

J

Justin King

Well-Known Member
I have a customer in Canada who is a member of the Canadian military, who would like to purchase a knife from me. The catch is that he is deploying in just over a month. My experience tells me that there is about a 15-25% chance that the knife will be delayed in customs and he may not recieve it before he ships out. Does anyone know of a way to insure that the knife is not help up in customs?
Alternately, can anyone give me some info about shipping items to deployed Canadian military personell? In case it works out that I can send it to him after he deploys? I do this regularly for U.S. troops but have no idea how to go about sending to Canadian troops in forward areas. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I wish I could offer you good news, but nothing I have ever shipped to Canada has missed being held up in customs. Most recently was one of my angle peen forging hammers, sent to a client in Vancouver....that's about a 13 hour drive from my house, and it took the hammer 1 1/2 months to reach him! EVERY package I have shipped to Canada in the last 2 years has had no less than a 2 week delay in customs.

I've not personally had any experience shipping to deployed forces outside of US troops, but if Canada has a system like our APO, that is MUCH easier and more reliable to ship through than standard Canadian Post
 
I'm worrying over a similar problem. I am sending a wiring kit and VFD bracket to Canada. I have marked the package that it contains wiring and a bracket. With my past experience I want it insured and am having a problem finding out how to get and how much the insurance is. They have Express International Mail that includes $100.00 insurance but the cost of shipping is in the $40.00 range, they also show insurance for Priority International Mail and insurance rates. The cost is still about $40.00.
The First Class International Parcel rate is about $10.00 but the USPS web-site does not show insurance for this service. My Postmaster doesn't know either. She is trying now to find out.
 
That's another issue I have found with shipping to Canada (or any other international location) via USPS.....once the package leaves USPS control (leave the US), insurance and tracking are essentially null and void. You can insure the package through the roof, but if it's lost/stolen/damaged, you will never collect anything. (it happened to me twice, before I realized that I was just spinning my wheels)

About the only way to have insurance and tracking work with international shipping is to use UPS or Fed-X.....then you have to deal with the crazy high costs of shipping.

I generally will give international customers a choice.....if they want the package insured and/or tracking, then they must pay the cost for either UPS or Fed-X. If they want lower cost shipping, I use USPS, but make it clear to the customer that any loss, damage, or theft will not be covered, and they (the customer) assume all responsibility.

It's not something I enjoy doing, but over the years I have found it a necessary evil when it comes to shipping internationally.
 
I appreciate the replies. Any tips on the item description on the customs form? I don't want to be misleading but also don't want to attract undue attention.
 
Ed thats the only way you can do it your not in buisness to throw knives in the mail and have them damage them or loose them and expect you to flip the bill . I shipped 10 knives off for heat treat had extra insurance and they were all damaged .It never covered the total cost but since they were not finished I reground the the tips that were broke and finished them . I add extra insurance now when shipping with in Canada its only 1 dollar per hundred coverage .Fed ex is better than UPS ups has crazy high brokerage fee s that near double fed ex .
 
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