Standing Rigging Tension?

[taime1]

Got my PT-1 from UPS today and got dinged with a $47 "Import Charge" from UPS. So let me see, I paid $87 for the tool, $34 in shipping and now $47 in "import charges" what is that?? The shipping and import charge are almost as much as the tool itsef!! Arggg!

[BOAT]

Hey taime1 that's not fair!!! Maybe that McClemor secret agent moderator guy can get back your money (I think he has a gun). It's not fair!! They should give you back the 47 dollars! Is that the money the government charges to "have things"? Sometimes the government will make you pay money just because you "have" somthing that other people don't have.

That's called the rule of the majority. Lots of countries do it that way.

[seahouse]

If you look on the invoice (unless they've cunningly buried it) I think you will see that it's UPS that has gouged you.

UPS is unpopular with a large portion of the population that I am in for questionable business practices. They routinely (almost every month) have charged me ($20-30) on invoices for things like address changes (such as changing "Dr." to "Drive") in the hopes that it won't be noticed and they'll get away with it. In large businesses it doesn't get noticed, or they don't bother. In small businesses, or with observant individuals, it does. Then they make it very long and involved (put you on hold etc) for you to get to someone (talk nicely to them) who can remove the charges- a half-hour of time wasted each time. Happened to me every few weeks on an ongoing basis a few years back when I was routinely shipping a dozen packages at a time, they'd "change" something every time and charge for doing it on the invoice.

They rack up huge extra profits by this one practice alone. It might be harder to get a customs brokerage fee removed, though. I've noticed that if you ship through the postal system you will most of the time avoid customs brokerage fees and taxes if the value is not too high. Some sellers don't want to do this, some will if you ask. We use Fedex whenever we can too. (But their brokerage fees can be high too).

-B.

[mika]

Whoa! What a rip off! Who was the merchant? I'm trying to understand how you got burned like that. I buy a lot on-line and the merchant always tells me what the total shipping fee will be before I consummate the order. Are you guys saying UPS added that rip-off charge after you agreed to a lower, reasonable shipping fee?

[BOAT]

Where are those moderators when you need them? I thought they were supposed to make everyone obey the rules! It's not fair - they should give taime1 some of his money back - that was mean.

[Ixneigh]

Beh I never use UPS to ship anything, and hate it when vendors use them to ship something to me.
I prefer the USPS.

[BOAT]

does usps deliver stuff to Canada too?

[yukonbob]

sure do

[BOAT]

Why are macs so popular in Canada and Austrailia but near non existant in California????

I know that the weather and conditions in Austraila and totally in Canada are WAY extreme compared to California. And Oregon coast is one of the harshest places in the entire Pacific yet there are ZILLIONS of MACs there!

If the MAC is such a crappy boat and unsafe how come the most mild places have no MACs and the most sever weather places are LOADED with MACs??? I don't get it??? You ever sail that Colombia River outlet? You ever Sail that Straits of Juan DeFuca place?? Man, I sure would not. I have been on very big boats in those places and I would be afraid to sail there. I don't get it. If the MAC is so dangerous how come so many of them thrive in treacheraous waters??? (Maybe all MAC owners are pirates). I dunno. Over here I guess if your boat is not a PAC crusier it's junk. The truth is that 99% of all the PAC crusers over here in California never cross the pacific.

Oh well - I hope UPS stops ripping off the folks up in the Great White.

[taime1]

Yeah - shipping is a bit of a pain. I've used USPS before and avoided such surprises. I will have a chat with UPS later today to see how they substantiate these charges. I did let Defender know that although they didn't charge me directly, this charge makes it difficult for me to continue to purchase from them. They offered a couple of ways around UPS, such as using USPS wich is available for some of their items. I don't think I was provided a shipping carrier option when I ordered.

Anyway, I know it's only $50, but it ticks me off.

[Catigale]

It is the carrier gouging and not the Canadian government. No duties on items of NA origin (not the same as shipped from US, btw) but they are free to charge handling of paperwork.

There is a lot of shipments made via club members across Lake Ontario from NY to TO, the greatest city in North America north of Buffalo

Your accountant can guide you on the correct procedure to ensure you pay all ap pliable taxes on these transactions not visible to taxing authorities. Your cooperation is appreciated.

[taime1]

For those interested, here's the breakdown from UPS (value of $88.74 Canadian):

COD CHARGE $4.25
This is a UPS fee, to cover the cost of collecting the funds in this manner.
COD GST TAX $0.21
The Goods & Services Tax on the COD fee.
BOND FEE $6.00
Bond fee is a UPS fee for UPS having to pay duty and/or taxes to the government on behalf of the importer.
ENTRY PREP FEE $19.45
Entry preparation charges are a fee for UPS processing the paperwork for a package to clear Customs.
BROKERAGE GST $1.27
The Goods & Services Tax on the Brokerage charges.
CUSTOMS GST $4.44
The Goods & Services Tax on the Canadian value of the goods.
CUSTOMS QST $2.96
PST QUEBEC $8.85
The applicable Provincial Sales Tax on the Canadian value of the goods.
TOTAL $47.73

UPS brokerage charges apply if a shipment is sent via Standard service, and is valued at more than $20.00 in Canadian funds.

So about $30 is paperwork/processing-related, just a little bit brutal for such a small financial transaction.

And for the record, I am actually for getting the tax dollars to the government, because they pay for infrastructure and health care and a bunch of other really important things. But, in the future, I'd be happy to arrange a delivery via a Mac-connection.

[BOAT]

BLAME CANADA! ! ! BLAME CANADA !! !!

[Spector]

I will never order anything that is delivered UPS or Fedex ( the're just as bad ). USPS is delivered by Canada Post and often times no duty is charged and if it is it is reasonable.

[taime1]

On the UPS fees, I figured out how to not pay them. It's actually pretty easy. I detailed it here: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 23&t=21962.

Essentially, you can self clear the item by refusing to pay the delivery guy or even while it is in transit (but has cleared customs). I just got a $300 bimini delivered, paid $12 is taxes directly, and got UPS to drop their $100 CoD charge. Felt really good.

Oh, and since tensioning the boat properly as indicated in this post, I get much better pointing and probably better overall performance. My sails are pretty blown out, so it's a little hard to say if I get less heeling and increased speed, but probably do. Besides, I'm not that good of a sailor yet. But for sure, the pointing has improved significantly and for me, as I sail on a fairly narrow river, pointing is a big deal.