cross boarder shipping

[cosmic]

 I recently order 3 shirts from WIT winnnebago. they are the old school retro Winnebago shirts. The cost of the 3 shirts was 65 dollars U.S and like 10 bucks shipping. I missed it when it came to who was shipping it. I just assumed it would be shipped by USPS and that Canada post would ship it to my door. Oh how I was wrong.   Last night a brown truck (similar to a old milk truck showed up at the door wearing his brown uniform and persisted to tell me that I owed him 57 dollars for customs brokerage fees for picking my parcel up at the boarder..
I told him to go to  and take it back were it came from... I then did a little research and found out I could clear my own parcel at any Canada customs office. Fortunately for me the office was 5 minutes down the raod at my local small airport. it took me all of 2 minutes and I had to pay the GST (sales tax) on the goods and that was that.$10.00  now the brown currier company must bring the package back. free of charge and wave the 57 dollar fee..
lesson for all. use the USPS for all cross boarder shipping and not the brown company or this is what you get to deal with...
I swear these guys get a free licence to steal. N:(

[Oz]

Wow!  I've never heard of such a thing.  Unbelievable what crooks will come up with to rob us of our money!  Thanks for telling us about this.

[TerryH]

I've heard about this practice quite a lot, particularly when shipped by the "brown trucks".
If you can specify USPS you should.
If I think there may be a problem or the company won't ship to Canada (Harbor Freight is difficult), I use a Pick Up service close across the border and bring the items across myself. Fortunately I am very close the  border. Often I'm waved right through.
Also as per NAFTA anything manufactured or assembled in North America is duty free.
Terry

[LJ-TJ]

Yeah! I hate to jump on the band wagon. I am fortunate enough to live 2 hours away from the U.S. Canadian boarder. So I make a weekend of it,have it shipped to a U.S. address and then drive over with the Winnebago put up at Walmart and pick up my treasures. A lot easier than messing around bonding and customs.

[cosmic]

I here ya fella's I too have a U.S. address and for bigger more expensive items I do make the drive over the boarder. but for 10 dollars shipping I thought what the heck. Its So cold and crappy out there and to be honest I really desperately  wanted to wear the new retro Winnebago shirts.. 
This will not happen again. if they don't ship with USPS then I wont order..