On March 22, 2004 17:12, Mark Dapoz wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Mar 2004, Moose wrote:
> > That's crazy. I've bought lots of used stuff from Canada. The sellers
> > used regular Canadian Post Office and I've never had any charges, it
> > just arrives in the US Mail. I don't remember details, but there is an
> > international service that gets things here in a few days for a
> > reasonable price.
Indeed, it seems the post office can cross the customs barrier with relative
ease. Canada Post charges me $5.00 processing to collect the 14% Canadian
sales taxes on shipments from the U.S. So I don't understand why the private
"customs brokers", can't do the same, or since they are private, and
therefore supposedly "more efficient", for less. Unless of course, they are
in fact just efficient "privateers".
> It sounds reasonable to me given the tendancy of our government to tax
<<snip>>
> Don't blame the messenger (Purolator) for the government
> policies, they're only doing what they have to do.
I don't know about Purolator, but the "customs broker" PBB they use is in my
opinion, an extortionate pirate. I once shipped a magnetic tape cartridge
containing my software to a U.S. customer by courier.
There is a U.S. duty on magnetic tape calculated by tape area. For this tape,
the rate (set in the fifties or sixties, when tapes were big) times the area
came out to ten cents.
Here's how the bill worked out:
0.10 - US customs duty payable
21.00 - Processing fee paid to US customs ("cost" of customs taking $0.10.)
10.50 - Additional classification/MPF lineage (it was hard figuring out what
to charge)
5.00 - Cargo selectivity (selecting my package from the conveyor)
3.50 - CIF stat data (putting above into computer)
3.00 - Disbursement ("cost" of paying out $21.10 to US customs.)
43.10 - Total
When I objected to paying a 43000% surcharge on the 0.10 duty, PBB told me
politely
"By signing a Courier airwaybill, the shipper has given he carrier the legal
right to arrange customs formalities in the country of destination..."
I took the position that while this is so, that this did not mean that I was
obligated to pay any fantastic concoction of numbers the broker could put
down on paper. My fax to PBB gave them a reasonable offer ($5.10) and
concluded with
"If your firm is unable to recognize the unreasonable nature of these
'processing' charges, I can only muse that for a country founded on the cause
of the Boston Tea Party, you have certainly come a long way."
> > jascione@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> > >customs and brokerage. I think that's outrageous. There bill seeks $30
> > >as an appropriate allocation of their surety bond on a $250 value of
> > >shipping. I will let you know how I fare in fighting them.
It is now more than eleven years later, and I am still waiting for their
Attorneys to call.
Lesson learned: Use the Post, Luke.
--
Parzival Herzog
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