I live in Montréal. I've made an order for 12 lbs of green beans ($60) at Sweet Maria's and chose to use UPS Worldwide Expedited ($40) instead of the USPS Flat rate box ($31), in fear of the ongoing strike at Canada Post. I've had a lot of bad experiences in the past with UPS prohibitive "customs brokerage fees" (UPS: Rates for Customs Clearance into Canada) but there are no such fees using the Expedited service (at least, so I thought). BTW, USPS/Canada Post charges for the same service are either free or minimal (<$10).

Just for fun, I also added to my order two cotton bags with the Sweet Maria's logo. Mistake...

Duties do not apply to unroasted coffee beans (neither do they for roasted coffee) (CBSA tariff 0901.11.00) but I had to pay $0.25 of duty on my two bags (value of $1.50). Beginning in June (from what they told me on the phone), UPS is charging $10 for their disbursement (hum, $10 fee on $0.25 duties, for 2 days, this is around 7000% of interest / year... interesting to the least).

I was also charged another $16, that UPS states (on the phone) is for "governmental charges", for "agriculture".

Only the sum of these amounts ($10+$16) was on the UPS Brokerage COD document under "Brokerage fees".

I hence had a total bill of $30.11 to pay on reception ($0.25+$16+$10+taxes).

When I called UPS to challenge this, the call center agent couldn't explain what these charges were exactly. They forwarded a work ticket to the billing department and were supposed to call me back today but didn't.

I called again today and a note was added to my file, indicating that I was credited the $16 fee. Again interesting.

I will still end up paying $42 shipping through my order and another $11.88 ($10+taxes) for their kind disbursement of $0.25 duties. Hence, the final cost for my two 2 lbs (empty) cotton bags is almost $7 each...

It seems that the UPS message is clear (even if I'm not wise enough to get it): please never do business again with us, or we will again charge you hidden fees, as much as we can.

Anybody know about this new fixed "$16 agriculture fee" paid to the "Canadian Government" when importing greens from the USA?

I've never heard anything about an "agriculture fee" or disbursement fee increase. $10 is pretty steep from $5.85.

One other thing you have to be careful about with UPS is ordering too many different kinds of items in the same shipment. I also usually order from SM with the USPS flat rate boxes, which means I can't usually buy any merchandise (only coffee and bags). Last time I was ordering, I got a fairly sizable amount of coffee, and they had just obtained amazing rates from UPS, so UPS Expedited was about the same price as USPS Priority. I figured I might as well add a few odds and ends I'd always wanted to try, like one of their logo espresso cups, some of those Filtropa filters, that sort of thing. When I received the shipment the COD fee was significantly higher than I was expecting.

If you look on the customs clearance rate page you posted, one of the charges is "each additional classification line after first 5 lines, $4.25/line". This means if you order more than five items dissimilar enough that UPS classifies them separately for customs purposes, they will charge you an extra $4.25 for each additional item, no matter how little it is worth, in addition to any other fees.

UPS has once charged me +100% of my purchase of a pound of coffee on top of the shipping fee. This brokerage bull that they extort us with has never been an issue with canada post nor Fedex, so I have since stopped with that absurdity they call service.

when i lived in montreal, i avoided UPS like the plague. in fact, I still do living in the States. I always had good luck with the regular mail service although, as you said, it might be a bit dicey now with the strike.

good luck
jim

In Canada the only thing that goes away if you have an account with them is the small disbursement charge for pre-paying the tax and duty. If you live near a CBSA office you can do the paperwork to clear the package through customs yourself to avoid the brokerage fee on a ground shipment, but for most people this isn't a realistic option.

The original post and my reply are dealing with UPS Expedited, which doesn't have the brokerage fees, but does have disbursement and other minor surprise fees that can add up.

As far as I am concerned, UPS Standard is essentially a scam for the average Canadian resident. Almost any item likely to be shipped by UPS will be worth more than $20. I don't know anyone who shops online and hasn't been hit by ordering a low value package and having to pay a massive brokerage fee when it arrives. I can distinctly remember my first time, and it was back in the late 90s! Sellers in the States often either don't know about the brokerage fees or just don't care. I have had people send stuff by UPS Standard even after explicitly telling them it was not an acceptable shipping option multiple times.

I once declined a shipment sent by UPS, because I would've paid 80 for an item that was being given to me. A month later UPS called me and asked me if I wanted the package...I just laughed and told them "no".

UPS is the dominant ground parcel shipper in the USA and a major force around the world; Fedex is a modest player in ground shipping, and the postal services but a blip on the radar screen.

I lived in Alaska for 6 years (1986 to 1992), and at that time the only service that UPS offered was air shipment at what seemed like ridiculous prices, so we avoided it like the plague. Alaskans are used to paying extraordinary amounts for shipping items from "the lower 48" to Alaska and try to source things locally if possible, and to find other workarounds (such as airline air freight) if not. If anything, the realities of parcel shipping between the USA and Canada are easier (than shipping to Alaska) with the exception of the fact that the parcels need to cross an international boundary in the case of Canadian shipments.

I'm no great fan of UPS (even if I like my UPS man in brown and even if we are occasional hiking buddies), however I think what is going on in Canada is not "just" the fault of UPS, but rather it is a combination of UPS and how Canada loves to tax things and how much effort the Canadian customs makes in collecting fees that would be overlooked in the USA.

UPS and Fedex, when they bring foreign shipments into the USA, are under more scrutiny from the US Government than is the postal service. I can't recall the last time that I got charged customs duty on a parcel delivered from overseas via the US Mail, however even fairly modest valuations will trigger a customs assessment were the same parcel delivered by UPS or Fedex. I believe this is because the US government (and probably the Canadian Gov't) have "outsourced" customs responsibilities to these freight carriers (UPS and Fedex), whereas the US Postal Service (and presumably Canada Post) as agencies of their own governments do not take on any responsibility. So when that $50 valued parcel comes through either of these respective postal services, either by virtue of laziness and sloth, disinterest, or whatever, the package goes through and nothing is charged except on rare occasions. With Fedex and UPS, however, they know that if they don't charge duty that when they get audited in the future they will get dinged by their respective governments.

Charging duty generates paperwork and costs man hours. As private companies UPS and Fedex try to recoup these expenses from their customers.

I think it is as simple as that.

If I am wrong, I think the proof would be in comparing UPS and Fedex to other options for shipments made entirely within Canada, where these sorts of bureaucratic annoyances are not present. If UPS is a viable shipping company for small parcels originating and received in Canada, I'd assume that the problem is just not a "UPS problem," but rather related to the demands that are placed upon it by the Canadian government in dealing with packages that cross the national border. Were I in your position, I'd do the same as you do, try to use the carrier which presents the least hassles and costs, e.g. the postal services.

ken

Canada has a very low value limit for customs charges on postal imports. Anything over $20 is supposed to be assessed for tax and duty. Canada Post examines and assesses customs fees just the same as UPS does, but their fee is $5, or $8 for express mail items (equivalent to UPS' $5.85 disbursement fee).

The issue with UPS Standard is not so much that there is a brokerage fee as that neither the seller nor the customer are usually aware of the actual cost up front unless they have previously been caught by it. Yes, the UPS paperwork says something to the effect of "customer agrees to pay all costs", but the information about customs clearance charges is not given to shippers. You must be aware up front that all UPS ground shipments are subject to enormous surcharges for customs clearance that make it a non-viable service for the average consumer importing anything of value.

The brokerage fees UPS charges for UPS Standard can often equal the value of a low-value item; for an expensive item, the overall cost may actually be more than the shipping charge for 2-day air.

When I ordered my La Pavoni I thought it was going to be shipped USPS Priority...well it was sent by UPS...the shipping costs almost doubled when I had to pay "brokerage fees" plus GST on the brokerage fees. But the actual custums duties were $0.00

I didn't make a fuss and just paid at the door because I really wanted the machine...but I'm staying away from private carriers for international shipments period...they're much more expensive and much more of a hassle than Canada Post ever was.