Packing suggestions (was Re: PDP11 Redux, or Behind-The-Scenes Bull)

From: Ethan Dicks <erd_6502_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Mon Feb 25 20:07:30 2002

--- Lawrence Walker <lgwalker_at_mts.net> wrote:
> Because of my location in northern Canada, and the problems with
> shipping
> by UPS I use the postal system. Unfortunately many in the US are
> intimidated by the thought of shipping to Canada or else have a bias
> against us.

I'm not intimidated; I have numerous personal negative experiences. I
*never* use UPS to move stuff between Canada and the U.S. I always use
the Postal Service. The only thing close to an exception is for work,
and with a commercial invoice, never for personal items.

I got a call once, from a clearing house. The shipper just dropped a $70
item off at UPS with no export paperwork. The clearing house wanted
something around $80 for the "convenience" of filing the paperwork
and sending my item along. They were most suprised when not only did
I not give them my credit card but I told them to send it back where it
came from. I immediately contacted the company that sold me the item and
told them that they could either find a way to get me to item without
a service fee that exceeded the purchase price or they could refund my
money. This was _after_ I had gone downtown and paid $15 USD for a
Canadian Dollar instrument to pay them in the first place. I finally
got the item for no more out-of-pocket expenses (it's an 8-bit ISA
adapter for the Amiga 1000). It took lots of effort to educate the shipper
about how to send items to the U.S.

I have more experiences. They aren't pretty either. I'd rather ship to
Germany or Australia that Canada. I've done it. It's less trouble.

OTOH, I have not had one problem with dropping items in the USPS and
having them show up in Canada with no problems.

-ethan



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Received on Mon Feb 25 2002 - 20:07:30 GMT

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