WTF Dhl

[PeteLFan]

Oh man these horror stories have me freaked now.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

UPS just royally screwed me as far as I'm concerned.

I bought an item off ebay (moderate size) and paid $50 for UPS to ship it to me. It took just under two weeks to arrive (saw the paperwork jumping all over the US and Canada during that time)...

and when it arrived there was a $40 "brokerage" fee.

Will never use UPS again for anything.

If this was like anything else I've ordered off of eBay then $40 of your shipping cost went to the sellers pocket and $10 went to the actual shipping cost.

[Hack&Lube]

I ordered something via DHL from Germany and it arrived at my Canada Post post office a few blocks from my house. What?

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Captain_Obvious

UPS just royally screwed me as far as I'm concerned.

I bought an item off ebay (moderate size) and paid $50 for UPS to ship it to me. It took just under two weeks to arrive (saw the paperwork jumping all over the US and Canada during that time)...

and when it arrived there was a $40 "brokerage" fee.

Will never use UPS again for anything.

other then it taking a while (not sure the service you chose), whats the problem?

you paid for shipping, not customs clearance. do you got a restaurant ask for pepsi and expect they will just give you a donut too?

brokerage is a service and they are entitled to charge for services. isnt that how business works?

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Drury18

DHL, UPS and FedEx are all crooks when it comes to collecting Duty and imposing their "Brokerage Fee's". And also extremely questionable with their fee collecting. I had a parcel that I paid the fee's on through one of the above, had proof on my Visa statement I did and still got a call from their collections department 6 months later threatening me because I hadn't paid. It took me two weeks to get it cleared up, with daily calls threatening me, even after sending them the Visa Statement several times showing payment on the invoice they had in question.

I refuse to do business with anyone that ships via this method. If I'm buying from the US, I request shipment through USPS even if it will take longer. I've yet to pay any Duty or Tax on a package from the US to Canada that goes through USPS/Canada Post. Never had an issue with UK Royal Air Mail either. Waiting a little longer is worth not dealing with those a-holes.

did you know the reason USPS and Canada Post dont have to charge the same fee's and dont have duty and taxes (as often)?

a) because they are subsidized by taxpayers, they dont have to earn a profit

b) customs gives them preferential treatment for clearance.

so, sure take advantage of this, but dont accuse the private for profit companies of ripping you off, its not the case. they are in business to make a profit and dont have the benefit of customs overlooking the process for the mail.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

did you know the reason USPS and Canada Post dont have to charge the same fee's and dont have duty and taxes (as often)?

a) because they are subsidized by taxpayers, they dont have to earn a profit

b) customs gives them preferential treatment for clearance.

so, sure take advantage of this, but dont accuse the private for profit companies of ripping you off, its not the case. they are in business to make a profit and dont have the benefit of customs overlooking the process for the mail.

I'm sorry but claiming a ridiculous amount of money for "brokerage fees" when in most instances you are not actually doing any work is ripping you off. All businesses are motivated by profit; not all businesses rip you off at every opportunity.

The brokerage fees are being charged on top of the actual customs you pay and in many cases exceed the customs charges.

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by blankall

I'm sorry but claiming a ridiculous amount of money for "brokerage fees" when in most instances you are not actually doing any work is ripping you off. All businesses are motivated by profit; not all businesses rip you off at every opportunity.

The brokerage fees are being charged on top of the actual customs you pay and in many cases exceed the customs charges.

do you know what you are talking about?

Brokerage is a service. they need to prepare an A8A for each shipment or depending on the value, they might be able to clear as an OIC. Mind you, its been a while since i was involved in courier imports, so they could be using different terminoligy now.

Either way, they need the technology to communicate electronically with customs, they put up a bond with customs that customs takes every penny of duty and taxes from immediatly upon clearance.

there is an example of two costs they have to factor in to their overheads in order to handle your shipment.

$40 for customs is CHEAP! on the cargo side, we typically charge well over $100 per entry.

also, when the freight arrives, there are other fee's that customs charges that have nothing to do with the transport. such as MPF, bond fee's and the list can go on and on.

typically, you should see 4 charges for clearance:
brokerage
duty
tax
advance fee

so how are you being ripped off? why not go and ask a commercial broker for their service to clear customs and i guarantee you it will be much higher then the $40.00 UPS or DHL or FDX charge.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

did you know the reason USPS and Canada Post dont have to charge the same fee's and dont have duty and taxes (as often)?

a) because they are subsidized by taxpayers, they dont have to earn a profit

b) customs gives them preferential treatment for clearance.

so, sure take advantage of this, but dont accuse the private for profit companies of ripping you off, its not the case. they are in business to make a profit and dont have the benefit of customs overlooking the process for the mail.

So I should pay private for profit companies fee's for stuff I can get done for free and done quicker?

I'll first pay those companies more to ship to me and then pay them again for something I would have gotten done for free and MUCH cheaper using the public system. Alright then. That's a sound logic.

And it's not rocket science to clear a package. You can go down to the Airport and clear it yourself in about 5 minutes. No technology needed, no "brokerage fee'", none of these other fee's you list off. You clear the package and pay the duty and tax. Brokerage's Companies are preying on the lazy.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Drury18

So I should pay private for profit companies fee's for stuff I can get done for free and done quicker?

I'll first pay those companies more to ship to me and then pay them again for something I would have gotten done for free and MUCH cheaper using the public system. Alright then. That's a sound logic.

And it's not rocket science to clear a package. You can go down to the Airport and clear it yourself in about 5 minutes. No technology needed, no "brokerage fee'", none of these other fee's you list off. You clear the package and pay the duty and tax. Brokerage's Companies are preying on the lazy.

I'd happily pay $40 before I'd drive down to the airport for a giant f-around.

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Drury18

So I should pay private for profit companies fee's for stuff I can get done for free and done quicker?

I'll first pay those companies more to ship to me and then pay them again for something I would have gotten done for free and MUCH cheaper using the public system. Alright then. That's a sound logic.

And it's not rocket science to clear a package. You can go down to the Airport and clear it yourself in about 5 minutes. No technology needed, no "brokerage fee'", none of these other fee's you list off. You clear the package and pay the duty and tax. Brokerage's Companies are preying on the lazy.

as long as you understand that the postal companies are being subsidized by your taxes. so dont blame the private companies as crooks when they dont have a fair playing field. they are simply in business to make money, thats not a crook. if you want to talk about crooks, Bell Canada are thieves, but thats for another thread.

brokerage companies are not preying on the lazy, they provide a service to those who need it. if you dont need it, dont use it.

thats like saying restaurants prey on the lazy who dont want to cook dinner. if you want dinner cooked, served and cleaned up for you, it costs more then making it at home.

no?

[Drury18]

I've never had an issue doing it myself. I went up to the desk, filled out a form and handed it back along with payment. It couldn't be more straightforward.

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Drury18

I've never had an issue doing it myself. I went up to the desk, filled out a form and handed it back along with payment. It couldn't be more straightforward.

great, that doesnt equate the brokerage companies being crooks.

[Flames89]

Are you sure it wasnt sent to Ontario, CA? (CA= California)

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

as long as you understand that the postal companies are being subsidized by your taxes. so dont blame the private companies as crooks when they dont have a fair playing field. they are simply in business to make money, thats not a crook. if you want to talk about crooks, Bell Canada are thieves, but thats for another thread.

brokerage companies are not preying on the lazy, they provide a service to those who need it. if you dont need it, dont use it.

thats like saying restaurants prey on the lazy who dont want to cook dinner. if you want dinner cooked, served and cleaned up for you, it costs more then making it at home.

no?

Yes and? I pay taxes so I might as well get something out of it. By using a private company I'm still paying the same taxes to the public company and then paying the private company to run their business. Why not just support the public system my money is already going to? There's no reason to pay a private company to do the same thing we are getting done for free and without unreasonable extra costs.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

great, that doesnt equate the brokerage companies being crooks.

When's the last time you told your client they had the option to go to the Airport and do this themselves for a much more reasonable cost?

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Drury18

When's the last time you told your client they had the option to go to the Airport and do this themselves for a much more reasonable cost?

all the time ... but i dont actually work in the small parcel business anymore and try to stay out of the customs part of the business as its a major pain the butt.

however you think its as simple as walking up to a counter. have at it!

in fact, you should open up a brokerage firm and do it for free or $5.00 or whatever you think is the fair price. and hey, dont worry about investing in the technology required to do multiple transactions and hope you at least $50k to put into a bond for the government.

but ya, $40.00 is thievary!

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

in fact, you should open up a brokerage firm and do it for free or $5.00 or whatever you think is the fair price. and hey, dont worry about investing in the technology required to do multiple transactions and hope you at least $50k to put into a bond for the government.

Why? You just said we have a public system that handles those things that is subsidized by taxpayer money. I pay my taxes, they can do it.

[Julio]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

did you know the reason USPS and Canada Post dont have to charge the same fee's and dont have duty and taxes (as often)?

a) because they are subsidized by taxpayers, they dont have to earn a profit

b) customs gives them preferential treatment for clearance.

so, sure take advantage of this, but dont accuse the private for profit companies of ripping you off, its not the case. they are in business to make a profit and dont have the benefit of customs overlooking the process for the mail.

Canada Post doesn't get direct funding from the federal government. It is given a monopoly on certain types of deliveries in exchange for providing service to rural areas, but in fact has even given dividends back to the federal government (although not in the past few years).

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by Julio

Canada Post doesn't get direct funding from the federal government. It is given a monopoly on certain types of deliveries in exchange for providing service to rural areas, but in fact has even given dividends back to the federal government (although not in the past few years).

are yuo sure?

anyhow, whatever the case, they are allowed to provide certain services that the private sector cannot.

example, i had a client back in teh day who shipped 400 parcels a day to the USA. it was mail order prescriptions.

technically, the US would not allow this in the country, so no commercial operator could handle as it would never clear US customs.

however, since the AARP is such a strong lobby and they wanted these cheap medicines, the govt would turn a blind eye if it came through postal customs. so they only company in canada who could offer service to this client was Canada Post.

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

other then it taking a while (not sure the service you chose), whats the problem?

you paid for shipping, not customs clearance. do you got a restaurant ask for pepsi and expect they will just give you a donut too?

brokerage is a service and they are entitled to charge for services. isnt that how business works?

The problem is there's no set brokerage charge or a clear indication of what you will most likely pay when your parcel crosses the border.

If I understood it would cost me $X dollars to get this ship to me from the US then fine.

I've had a few things shipped via UPS to me, sometimes I pay $18, sometimes I pay $40, sometimes I pay nothing. The items are similar value. They don't list what I'm paying for either. Just a $X dollar charge.

To the consumer, it seems like a random number they pull out of the air. If they were transparent about the costs then I'll be perfectly fine with that.

Listing that you paid this much GST for your item, this much for processing and this much for services.