Shipping to the US? Don't use Purolator, or UPS

[ENT]

It turns out that if you ship a package from Canada to the US via Purolator it's actually handled by UPS on the US side of the border.

UPS brokerage fees are outrageous. It's costing almost as much for brokerage as it cost me to ship the package in the first place!

 

[pingu81]

Brokerage should be paid by the receiver, not the sender, correct?

 

[GECKO]

Brokerage fees are paid by the shipper if sent fully prepaid and when you use a door to door courier service (Fed Ex, UPS) then these charges become yours. The best way to ship small parcels from Canada to USA (or reverse) is to use Canada Post. They charge a flat fee of $5 handling, and then depending on the value declared you will have to pay HST. Most items from USA are imported duty free, and same goes for shipping from USA to here - use USPS. It may also be cheaper to send by air freight as then the brokerage is included and it's not that much more depending on the size.