UPS Brokerage fee, should it be this high?

[kazibole]

Interested! The fear of high brokerage fees is preventing me from complete my order shipping to Canada.

[cloverandmills]

Canadian here! I just received my very first TB order. I ordered 4 items and the brokerage fees were about $35.

I wish I had seen this thread before ordering because I was not expecting any additional fees; I order so little across the border and thought the fees were covered by TB per their FAQ.

Slightly naive on my part to not realize there is another level of fees, but I'm still thrilled with the purchase. I've been coveting the Synapse 19 for about 5 years, and I'm so delighted by it already. There is one more order I'd like to make eventually, and it sounds like if I keep the order under 5 items, I'll be safe. I'm also close enough to the border that, when it eventually reopens, I can make an order to an address on the US side and pick it up.

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[BihnBag]

Mike in the shipping dept. mentioned they were in talks with UPS about this still, but this got interrupted by the covid situation.

I just did another order myself and the number of lines was only 4, so I only got hit with the standard $10 brokerage fee (plus actual taxes of course) for a total of just under $60.

[cucumber.sandwich]

Any updates about this? I would like to see USPS shipping to Canada for bag orders, with or without prepaid taxes. UPS and FedEx are notorious for excessive brokerage fees.

[Darcy]

No updates, I'm afraid. We are still unsure about shipping bigger orders via USPS, especially given all of the delays and issues folks have been experiencing.

We haven't forgotten this, though, and will share more news when we have it. (Feel free to check in again as well!)

[Cristina]

No updates, I'm afraid. We are still unsure about shipping bigger orders via USPS, especially given all of the delays and issues folks have been experiencing.

We haven't forgotten this, though, and will share more news when we have it. (Feel free to check in again as well!)

@Darcy do you know about how long orders are taking to get to their destinations these days? My mask head strap was last scanned in LA on Dec 30, no tracking since then.
Edited to add: I’m not in a rush and I’m not asking about my specific case as much as I’m looking for a general temperature check on the mail situation. I can wait :-)

[Darcy]

@Darcy do you know about how long orders are taking to get to their destinations these days? My mask head strap was last scanned in LA on Dec 30, no tracking since then.
Edited to add: I’m not in a rush and I’m not asking about my specific case as much as I’m looking for a general temperature check on the mail situation. I can wait :-)

It's really all over the place, but USPS International is sometimes taking 1-2 weeks longer than usual. It's also common for the tracking information not to get updated until the package arrives or even days after. This is worrying for a lot of folks because they think the package might be lost, though it's most likely the case that tracking just hasn't been updated :/

[G42]

I've had an Etsy item on order from Lithuania since 12NOV... only took the company a couple days to ship it, but there were no updates from 15NOV - 28DEC when it showed as finally being in Chicago. Then nothing until it departed Chicago on 11JAN....

I'm waiting for the package still and/or any updates...
Things are very very slow right now in shipping in general due to volume, the holidays, Covid affecting personnel, and in the US FedEx and UPS are air shipping vaccines which bumps some more volume to USPS.

[cucumber.sandwich]

I would personally rather have a delay than a large brokerage fee. Canada post via USPS only charges local taxes plus $10 brokerage for US made items, and a lot of the time items are able to get through CBSA without even being assessed for taxes and just arrive on my doorstep with no extra charges. Plus the actual shipping costs are usually lower as well.


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[moriond]

Hi All,

I thought I would share a recent (January 19, 2021) NY Times article, The Postal Service Survived the Election. But It Was Crushed by Holiday Packages., that describes how the rate of on-time USPS deliveries changed over the course of 2020. In case access to the full journal article turns out to be limited, or declines with time, I’ll include a few screenshots that make the key points, with the proviso that these are the statistics for first-class mail deliveries:


The first plot is a graph of on-time deliveries over time, with the black curves showing the national average, and the colored curves showing the northeast region (dark blue) — separately broken out so you can see the effects of the period in the Spring when New York City and its surroundings showed peak numbers of Co-Vid19 cases for the US — the eastern region (red), and the pacific region (golden orange).

For the timeline, most of the dates are self-explanatory, but mid-June is when a new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, was appointed; and in early July, he instituted major changes in operations, and there was an immediate performance drop.

Here’s the graphic showing distribution of performance delays by region in the US, with darker colors indicating higher percentages of delayed deliveries


We’d really like to see statistics for packages, which have gone up by about 25% since Co-Vid19, while first class mail use has gone down. But these should give people a feel for the kinds of delays that have taken place. @Darcy may have a better idea of how retailers have been impacted by these shipping problems (and possibly lost parcels).

I’ll also point out that we’re due for a postage increase starting Sunday.


HTH

It's really all over the place, but USPS International is sometimes taking 1-2 weeks longer than usual. It's also common for the tracking information not to get updated until the package arrives or even days after. This is worrying for a lot of folks because they think the package might be lost, though it's most likely the case that tracking just hasn't been updated :/

I've had an Etsy item on order from Lithuania since 12NOV... only took the company a couple days to ship it, but there were no updates from 15NOV - 28DEC when it showed as finally being in Chicago. Then nothing until it departed Chicago on 11JAN....

I'm waiting for the package still and/or any updates...
Things are very very slow right now in shipping in general due to volume, the holidays, Covid affecting personnel, and in the US FedEx and UPS are air shipping vaccines which bumps some more volume to USPS.

I would personally rather have a delay than a large brokerage fee. Canada post via USPS only charges local taxes plus $10 brokerage for US made items, and a lot of the time items are able to get through CBSA without even being assessed for taxes and just arrive on my doorstep with no extra charges. Plus the actual shipping costs are usually lower as well.


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[zkai5]

I'm not currently living in Canada, but I am also interested in having more shipping options available. I travel a lot for my job, and carriers often add extra unnecessary fees for international shipping, handling, and brokering on top of the taxes and import duties. If not, it is usually a hassle to get my packages delivered.

Also, in terms of long shipping waits, I agree with cucumber sandwich. I'd rather have the item take a few weeks to get to me, than pay huge fees and still have a hassle to get my package.

Thanks moriond, that is very helpful information.

[Cristina]

It's really all over the place, but USPS International is sometimes taking 1-2 weeks longer than usual. It's also common for the tracking information not to get updated until the package arrives or even days after. This is worrying for a lot of folks because they think the package might be lost, though it's most likely the case that tracking just hasn't been updated :/

My mask head strap arrived today, which is about in line with a 1-2 week delay. Thank you!

[Surrealle]

So, the post office is giving us lower performance and higher prices? Sigh. Gotta love those government organizations.

[G42]

I've had an Etsy item on order from Lithuania since 12NOV... only took the company a couple days to ship it, but there were no updates from 15NOV - 28DEC when it showed as finally being in Chicago. Then nothing until it departed Chicago on 11JAN....

I'm waiting for the package still and/or any updates...
Things are very very slow right now in shipping in general due to volume, the holidays, Covid affecting personnel, and in the US FedEx and UPS are air shipping vaccines which bumps some more volume to USPS.

Random update, this package arrived today - 19 days from Chicago to the SF Bay area, so I assume it was one of the thousands of packages backlogged that USPS is slowly digging out from under. It was good condition - definitely not jammed/stuck in a machine somewhere.

[bartleby]

Kudos to UPS: TB shipping confirmation from 28th January (last Thursday) delivery is scheduled for tomorrow morning! Less than a week! Guess what it is? I'll post some unpacking pics...