Paging Canadian collectors

[Bronty-2]

..has anyone else noticed an obscene time delay in receiving packages? :roll:

I know the canada revenue people are on strike, and that the customs people have very close ties to them. Perhaps there is an actual or effective strike at customs too? :hmm:

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Yeah. I recieved three magazines I ordered all at once, all ordered at different times, one six months late.

[Bronty-2]

hmm. I would think the six month one has to be an aberration since I wasn't having any problems until a month or two ago. Anybody else notice a real slowdown lately? I've been waiting on a couple packages forever.

[Nesmaster]

me too, ive been waiting on a package for about a month and it still hasnt shown up

[Bronty-2]

ok cool. The strike must be affecting service then... because there was a package sent to me like two or three weeks ago from just across the border (literally, a twenty minute drive!) that still isn't here :angry:

[eightbitonline]

i've just put in a PM about the whereabouts of my DP advance guide. i pre-ordered it and it's not here yet, although other canadians have all gotten theirs. i'm wondering if it could be due to the strike.

[Jorpho]

As reported at Zannen, Canada (http://zannen.pathea.com/):


Dear Canadians,

Over the last few months, Canada has made many changes to the handling of parcels from abroad. When you buy from TokyoCentral, you are essentially importing items into your country for personal use. Unfortunately, recent changes with how Canada handles imports have caused long delays with packages clearing into Canada. In addition, we have received packages back from Canada, plus a formal notice that was sent to our local post office regarding the new rules.

Unlike every country in the world, Canada is going backwards by continuing to limit your right to freely import items for personal use. Most countries have become more lenient over the years, but Canada continues to make imports a complicated matter. Canada no longer allows packages to be simply marked as “books” or “printed matter”. In addition, while every other country in the world allows a limit of 5KG of books/printed matter per parcel, Canada has restricted the weight of ALL incoming (books/printed matter included) Air Mail/SAL parcels to just 2KG. Our shop’s shipping calculations do not currently account for Canada’s unique rule. Our shop will under quote delivery if you’re buying more than 1.75 KG of books/goods. We are working on a fix for this problem.

In addition to the above, the Canadian government wants a detailed summary of each parcel’s contents. Simply stating “5 x books” is no longer sufficient. In order to force this change, Canada has informed our post office that our parcels marked with general words, like “books”, will experience extremely LONG delays upon entering Canada. It is highly likely Canada intends to tax certain books (like art books, manga/comics, etc.) while other types (i.e., text books, newspaper, etc.) may not be taxed.

If you reside in Canada, please understand: TC has absolutely zero control over the Canadian government or any country’s laws for that matter. We are simply an online shop. We can’t prevent import duty or tax. We can’t predict your situation and have absolutely zero influence on whether you are taxed. However, we can either comply with the rules or not comply. Unfortunately, if we don’t comply, you could be waiting weeks to months longer for a parcel to enter Canada. As a result, we intend to find an efficient means to comply with Canada’s new rules. It is our hope that compliance will speed delivery of parcels to Canada.

As always, for peace of mind, we recommend using EMS. EMS provides tracking from Japan and generous weight restrictions to Canada. If anything, by using EMS, you will know if your parcel is caught at the border.

Thank you for taking the time to read this notice.

Ganbatte,
TC TEAM

Not a good sign, this.

[maxlords]

I've yet to have had a problem with anything, except for two packages. One vanished, and one was mysteriously marked "Return to Sender" and went back to the guy and I never even saw it.

[Sph1nx]

6 months seems extreme, but I have been seeing a week or two delay on several items.

[Bronty-2]

Here's the word according to a friend of mine that works for the government:

"They are really behind due to some custom clearing centres in Edmonton or Calgary and Winnipeg closing.

They claim that they are working on the problem but these centres won't be reopened."

:angry:

[Dr. Morbis]

Uh oh, the Calgary one is closed :angry: I guess that explains why the 5 things I'm waiting for are taking so excruciatingly long.

I don't know why Martin doesn't just declare Canada a communist dictatorship and get it over with.

[Bronty-2]

I don't know why Martin doesn't just declare Canada a communist dictatorship and get it over with.

Totally!!!!

--also, I hear that the strike thing is part of it too. Basically it's a double whammy right now. Fewer centres open and a strike to boot :roll:

[sniperCCJVQ]

I don't know why Martin doesn't just declare Canada a communist dictatorship and get it over with.

Agreed !

[mr_nihilism]

I don't know why Martin doesn't just declare Canada a communist dictatorship and get it over with.

It seems Canadians enjoy voting for the same ol status quo. Any change is just bad!

[crazyjackcsa]

Don't look to me I didn't vote for the Liberals. I don't know why everybody but me just sits there and takes it from the Liberal government, they don't even kiss you after they're done!

[eightbitonline]

Don't look to me I didn't vote for the Liberals. I don't know why everybody but me just sits there and takes it from the Liberal government, they don't even kiss you after they're done!

yeah, and what's going on in ontario is just outright criminal. but really, what are the options, one party will sell us to the states, the other will just pay all the civil servants more to do the same amount of work (or less) with the same surly attitude (or more).

[badinsults]

There is a good reason why I don't bother to import things, unless it is something I really want.

At any rate, I bought Umihara Kawase from Japan last year, and I got it in less than 2 weeks. I spent the extra money for priority shipping, though.

[Brian_Provinciano]

Hell yeah. Delays delays, forget ordering next day shipping to Canada in this day and age! Customs holds things often for a week or more, then charge duties, erm... taxes... erm, PBB, erm.. whatever they call it to make it sound like less of a PITA. The fact they charge the tax is because they feel ordering from outside of the country takes away from the Canadian economy... but I NEVER import from Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K., etc. unless I absolutely can't get the item here. Damn I hate Canadian taxes (although I do love Canada!).

[leonk]

The thing that really pisses me off is the custom charges!

Any item valued at 20$+ shipped into Ontario gets the full 15% tax + 5$ handling fee.

At the same time, you can ship a package to the states, mark the item value at 600$ and the person will not pay a single red cent in customs!!!

At what point is private healthcare (US) better than public healthcare (Canada) ???


:angry: :angry: :angry:
:bad-words:

[maxlords]

Wow...am I the only one that doesn't really have a problem with this? I mean..the delays are ridiculous, but customs is a fact of life, and pretty much the only country in the world that DOESN'T have it is the US. Everywhere in Europe does for example. The US is an exception rather than the rule.

What I DON'T like is when customs confiscates stuff for no realistic reason, such as because it has "questionable" materials such as Jp artwork where the girls MIGHT be considered too young. It's a friggin drawing, not kiddie porn. And they're so random about it.

I also don't like delays in shipping, and the LARGE number of lost packages that seem to vanish into thin air. A friend of mine routinely loses packages or has them opened and then has things missing out of them. He's even changed addresses, names, etc, and it still happens. Ridiculous. And when they found one of the people doing it, he didn't even get fired! The union is too powerful for the company to fire him! Just nuts.

However, I personally don't mind paying the 15% sometimes on my packages, as they only get hit about one out of ten times. And even when I have my stuff marked at $40-50, I still only get hit about 1 in ten times at the most. Canada Post's gift limit is $60.00 and anything that's marked as a gift and below that value is theoretically non-taxable. Sometimes they open it and tax it anyway, but I usually only get hit with $3 in tax and the $5 service charge. I never try for the refund (which you can fill out on the bakc of the customs form when you get the package) because I don't want them to flag my account and hit me more often...which DOES happen.

But I get SICK of paying that 15% day in and day out at retail stores though! Especially if you know that it was originally added on to be a "temporary tax" and was supposed to be removed. 15% is a lot of tax, as I'm sure you other Ontario residents will agree.

[Bronty-2]

Wow...am I the only one that doesn't really have a problem with this?

Yes you are ;)

The customs charges do piss me off but I've come to accept them. What I cannot stand is the delays. They are absolutely friggin ridiculous :angry:

[badinsults]

I think the kicker for me was when I got a $10 US item, and I had a $10 charge on it. So much for free trade. :p

[Canadian Psycho]

So, is it possible that our US counterparts might have the same problem, i.e. packages taking longer than expected to arrive? On October 4, I sent this guy in California a package (eBay item, ground shipping) and he hasn't received it yet. I know I sent it to the right address. About two weeks earlier, I sent a game to another guy in California and it took about 6 days!

[maxlords]

Just depends on what processing stations it gets routed through. No two shipping times are ever the same. I've shipped two packages from here to the same place in the US at the same TIME, and had them arrive a week apart. That's not uncommon at all. I don't think it causes as much delay for US people to receive packages from Canada, being as Canada Customs doesn't touch those...US customs does. Big difference. Canada Customs only goes through inbound mail.

[Tan178]

it's bad enough that shipping within canada costs more than bringing something up from the states, especially in the maratimes

[Bratwurst]

Now and then I come so close to moving back up to Quebec but then I'm reminded how much the civil services suck. If the bus drivers aren't on strike, then it's the teachers, or the postal service, or the hot dog stand operators.

Often times when I have to ship something up there and it's moderately important I'll wrap it in brown paper and tape with the filament strands in it. If it looks remotely complicated to open and reseal customs will leave it alone.

[Dr. Morbis]

But I get SICK of paying that 15% day in and day out at retail stores though!
I don't know how you guys do it. We have no provincial tax in Alberta, just 7% for GST. But it kills me every time I go to BC and end up paying like %14 Tax on EVERYTHING I buy.

And, as mentioned, shipping times are impossible to predict. I bought something off a member here a few weeks ago who was located on the Eastern Seaboard of the US. They PMed me saying they shipped it on the Thursday. Monday afternoon, it was in my mail box! This wasn't Fedex or UPS, just regular airmail. Other things I'm waiting for are going on 5 weeks.

My final rant: Canada Post has no "small packet" size, so anything that doesn't slide through their little slot tester ends up costing $8.05 minimum. A SNES game won't even fit through that slot. However, the exact same package to the US, via international airmail, will only cost me 3 bucks. Why is the Canadian government gouging its own people like this???

:angry: :angry: :angry:

[sniperCCJVQ]

Now and then I come so close to moving back up to Quebec but then I'm reminded how much the civil services suck. If the bus drivers aren't on strike, then it's the teachers, or the postal service, or the hot dog stand operators.

You're so right man !

I live in the land of the strikers.

[omnedon]

Why is the Canadian government gouging its own people like this???


I am at the point I expect nothing less from our 'Big Government'. The easterners seem to like it though, so they keep voting them in.

We have what most of us have voted for. We definitely don't have what I voted for.

The Libs tell people in Ontario that Stephen Harper eats puppies, and they run and vote for anything but the Conservatives. From where I sit, that is sure how it looks.

[eightbitonline]

For the record Stephen Harper does eat puppies. ;)

[omnedon]

Lets not confuse the issue with the facts! LOL

[Bronty-2]

Canada post is a friggin embarassment. :angry:

[briskbc]

My only bitch about Canada post has been mentioned already. That's the cost of shipping acoss Canada versus to the US. I tell all of my sellers it takes 8 to 15 business to receive an item from Canada. 1% (if that) of my buyers have a problem with it. But these are usually idiots who don't bother to read the item location field.

After 6 years of selling through eBay I have had 4 things go missing. Oddly enough 3 of those were sent in August of this year. I even had 1 thing returned to me after being in the mail for 5 weeks. There are a list of reasons on a return to sender sticker with check boxes where they can indicate what the problem was. 3 of the 5 boxes were checked. x_x

[Tan178]

"I am at the point I expect nothing less from our 'Big Government'. The easterners seem to like it though, so they keep voting them in. "

just wondering who these "easterners" are, surely not the maratimes who all have PC governments, must be the fault of those pro-liberal ontarians LOL

[leonk]

The problem with most canadians is that they simply don't vote. Just a tad over 50% of all elligable voters actually do!

:angry:

[sniperCCJVQ]

My only bitch about Canada post has been mentioned already. That's the cost of shipping acoss Canada versus to the US. I tell all of my sellers it takes 8 to 15 business to receive an item from Canada. 1% (if that) of my buyers have a problem with it. But these are usually idiots who don't bother to read the item location field.

After 6 years of selling through eBay I have had 4 things go missing. Oddly enough 3 of those were sent in August of this year. I even had 1 thing returned to me after being in the mail for 5 weeks. There are a list of reasons on a return to sender sticker with check boxes where they can indicate what the problem was. 3 of the 5 boxes were checked. x_x

Last week, the clerk said to me that you need to add your telephone number on the shipping slip in case they can't return the package. A new policy.

[XxMe2NiKxX]

Now this... this is ridiculous. I sent out for a sealed Game Gear in the box, in a box. When I recieved it (a month later), the seal was ripped off both boxes, and the outer box was OPEN. What the fuck?

[sniperCCJVQ]

I didn't find the english version, so I did the traduction at my best.

==

International mail delay at Canada Post

Canadian Press
Ottawa

If you envisage to receive mail from abroad, arm yourselves with patience, advises Canada Post. The State company indeed recognized Monday that the delivery of the mail coming from abroad suffered from delays generated by the customs authorities in Vancouver.

A spokesman of Canada Post, Cal Binder, explained that it had now to be counted five weeks before a parcel cross the Canadian customs.

Canada Post includes/understands the needs related to safety, but judge who the incurred times are unacceptable for the companies and the citizens calling upon its services. Thus, Monday, in the processing center of Vancouver, some 150 000 parcels always waited to be treated.

Canada Post affirm to have received the insurance that the problem, which lasts since August 2002, will be regulated within one month. This problem does not affect the delivery of the domestic mail, ensures Canada Post.

[sniperCCJVQ]

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/News/2004/10/19/675554.html

Canada Post backlog 'stinks'
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau

Canada Post is battling an onslaught of complaints and a massive backlog of stinky mail from Asia. The huge cache of parcels -- some packed with perishable goods -- is piling up in Vancouver due to a staff shortage at the Canadian Border Services Agency.

"There's a health issue now, because a lot of this stuff is perishable, and it's starting to go bad," said Canada Post spokesman John Caines. "It stinks, and we have to get it out of there."

While customs officials are responsible for the delays, the postal agency is logging about 160 complaints a day from people awaiting packages in Canada or senders from abroad. Most of the mail comes from the western U.S. or the Pacific Rim and is destined for delivery points across Canada.

Noting some packages have been in limbo for more than five weeks, Caines described the situation as "out of control."

150,000 PACKAGES

Customs officials are scrambling to clear a backlog of about 150,000 packages -- the equivalent of about 45 tractor-trailer loads -- but Caines urged people to be patient.

"If they're expecting stuff from overseas, don't expect it soon," he said. "We have sea-tainers coming in, the international Christmas mail is starting to come in. We're in a real pickle here."

Faith St. John, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency in Vancouver, said the pile-up was triggered by the U.S. Postal Service decision to halt deliveries to Winnipeg and Calgary. Those customs depots closed, leaving the Vancouver site to tackle all the inbound mail, she said.

kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com

[Bronty-2]

Faith St. John, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency in Vancouver, said the pile-up was triggered by the U.S. Postal Service decision to halt deliveries to Winnipeg and Calgary. Those customs depots closed, leaving the Vancouver site to tackle all the inbound mail, she said.

kathleen.harris@tor.sunpub.com

I've heard this bullshit from every newspaper article I've read on this. I can't stand how they are trying to blame the states for the problem. Even if the states dropped it on them overnight (which I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt), they still had six months to do something about it. What this tells me is that they are supporting the revenue agency strike by letting the problem happen so that they can have leverage in wage negotiations. :angry: :angry: :angry: We really to criminalize unions right about now. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

[sniperCCJVQ]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1502&e=1&u=/ap/20041020/ap_on_go_ot/mail_to_canada&sid=81587690

U.S. to Enforce Rules for Mail to Canada

Wed Oct 20,11:26 AM ET

U.S. Government - AP

WASHINGTON - Most mail to Canada must bear the complete name and address of both sender and recipient or it won't be allowed into the country, the U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday. The tighter addressing requirements are in response to increased security.


Even such sender or recipient identifications as "Grandma" or "Aunt Ruth" can result in mail being rejected, the agency said.

All mail, except post cards, that does not show the complete name and address of sender and recipient — in Roman letters and Arabic numerals — is being denied entry.

Canada Post spokesman John Caines said that Canadian customs officials have become increasingly vigilant about enforcing the requirement that all international mail have a complete address for both the sender and recipient.

U.S. postal officials said addresses on mail to Canada should be printed in ink or typewritten in capital letters, and the last line of the address must show only the country name, written in full, and in capital letters. When a Canadian postal delivery zone number is included in the address, mailing requirements allow that number to appear as the last line of the address.

Mailers must also fill out necessary customs forms specifying the contents of parcels. General descriptions such as "gift" or "present" are not acceptable.

U.S. officials said Canadian Customs offices are reporting a backlog of incoming postal items with incomplete or inaccurate information. Canadian officials say these items will be returned to their points of origin as soon as practical.

Mail enters Canada at three points, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Caines said the Vancouver office is experiencing a backlog of parcels which have been help up because of staffing problems.

[Bronty-2]

Well Revenue must have gotten their pay raise - at least the damn customs people will be back to work now

--addendum to my earlier comments on the subject.. what an incredible coincidence that the strike is settled RIGHT AFTER the customs thing makes the front page. What a coincidence. And gee, the five week backlog measures up almost exactly with the date the strike started. Golly gee.

Advisory on service delivery
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has reached a tentative collective agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), bringing an end to the strike activities that have been disrupting some services at CRA offices across the country for more than a month. The new agreement is not final until it is ratified by PSAC membership.

The CRA thanks Canadians for their patience during this challenging time. We are already taking steps to resume our usual high level of service to the public.