The Cost of Ownership

[MiniDave]

Fascinating.....I've known that shipments into Canada were over the top expensive, especially when you add in the exchange rate - something we're dealing with more and more too as the value of the dollar falls.

A buddy of mine in western Canada crossed over into Montana to pick up something he bought (a super 7 frame) so he could avoid a lot of those fees. Apparently there's a warehouse there set up exactly for this, where people can ship stuff and Canadians can simply cross the border and pick it up, I guess avoiding excess brokerage fees?

[BruceK]

Great.  Now they're limiting you to 100,000 units Dan.   

[94touring]

"Hello Somerford, I need everything you have in your warehouse, times 2"

[BruceK]

Obviously, it's not the same thing, but when you juxtapose all the hoops that have to be jumped through, and the hassles and the uncertainty and the frustration with importing things and then compare that to the absolute ease we have of seeing something on Amazon at 7pm and, clicking on it, and then magically having it appear on your front porch by 9am the next morning it's crazy.

[cstudep]

the absolute ease we have of seeing something on Amazon at 7pm and, clicking on it, and then magically having it appear on your front porch by 9am the next morning it's crazy.

That sort of convenience is for sure dependent on where you are, generally an Amazon order for us takes 4-5 days to show up and many times even longer. Most of the time it does not even enter the shipping system (UPS, ETc...) for 2 to 3 days.

[94touring]

Obviously, it's not the same thing, but when you juxtapose all the hoops that have to be jumped through, and the hassles and the uncertainty and the frustration with importing things and then compare that to the absolute ease we have of seeing something on Amazon at 7pm and, clicking on it, and then magically having it appear on your front porch by 9am the next morning it's crazy.

I was actually thinking this earlier. I'm spoiled on my prime account where I get everything free shipping next day.

[MPlayle]

That sort of convenience is for sure dependent on where you are, generally an Amazon order for us takes 4-5 days to show up and many times even longer. Most of the time it does not even enter the shipping system (UPS, ETc...) for 2 to 3 days.

I discoverd that Amazon only marks something as "shipped" when it actually leaves their warehouse system for either delivery direct from them or transfer to a shipping partner.  If they have to move your items between warehouses to consolidate your order, they do not mark anything as "shipped" until the whole order is consolidated together.  The delays between ordering and shipping often account for the time needed to consolidate your order at the nearest warehouse.

[cstudep]

Yeah that has been a thing for a while but since 2020 it's just been complete shit in general. Prior to then we would regularly get things in 2-3 days max, since then we never get anything in less than 3-5 days regardless if it's a single item or multiple items that could potentially be pulled from multiple warehouse locations.

I'm sure it's a combination of amazon not really caring anymore and the carriers doing the same. I am rarely in a huge hurry for anything, living in the middle of nothing important has certainly ingrained in me the need to plan ahead a little better whenever possible LOL.

[94touring]

I suppose living in or near the city helps me with Amazon. Sometimes rather than leave my shop to grab various items and kill an hour or 2 of my day, I just buy on Amazon and get them the next day.

Back on the tarrif stuff. Fedex appears to have a way to pay online.  Once my order is plugged into their system it looks like I can select it and it spits out a bill. Otherwise from what I'm reading on their site is they deliver it and then send you a bill.  I'll post more info as I get it.

[MiniDave]

DHL sure doesn't deliver then bill, you have to pay first. Although, in the past when I'd get the email about customs due, I would pay it online and it only seemed to delay my shipment the one day.

[94touring]

Dhl delivered my minispares order today. So at least they're quick as usual.  The thing I'm most curious is if fedex tacks on admin fees. Or makes it a nightmare with paperwork like UPS does ordering certain items from minisport. A simple 10% bill I click pay now would be ideal in a perfect world. I don't mind 10%, but I think it's BS if shipping companies are going to add on extra fees at an unknown amount each time just because they can. A flat $15 per order for the intern at DHL to plug it into the system is OK. Part of doing business I suppose. If DHL ends up being abnormally expensive throughout all this, I may start placing orders from Somerford on most items. $140 less on the upfront shipping is pretty significant in itself.

[MiniDave]

Are their prices pretty commensurate with Spares?

[94touring]

Well spares wanted $442 for these 2 panels and Somerford I got them for $429.  The DHL quotes were pretty much identical. So tach on $140 less with the fedex option and thats $153 in savings.  I'm sure that varies between items, but worked well in this situation.

[94touring]

This is what I am waiting on to populate within fedex once they receive the package to be able to pay the duty and taxes.

[Dan Moffet]

Fascinating.....I've known that shipments into Canada were over the top expensive, especially when you add in the exchange rate - something we're dealing with more and more too as the value of the dollar falls.

A buddy of mine in western Canada crossed over into Montana to pick up something he bought (a super 7 frame) so he could avoid a lot of those fees. Apparently there's a warehouse there set up exactly for this, where people can ship stuff and Canadians can simply cross the border and pick it up, I guess avoiding excess brokerage fees?

Yep. There's probably one near every significant border crossing. Not really warehouses, but more like privately owned mailbox outlets. Also works for companies that won't ship out of the lower 48 - that's a thing too. The minister of our church would take regular trips over the border for books and other reading material he'd ordered.

[MiniDave]

They don't ask you about it when you come back over into Canada?

"You were only there for 20 min, what did you do?"

[94touring]

Canada huh, almost made it.

[Dan Moffet]

They don't ask you about it when you come back over into Canada?

"You were only there for 20 min, what did you do?"

I've not done a trip myself, but that's probably pretty much how it would go. Canada Border Services knows about these outlets and would recognize regulars. The other question would be "Anything to declare?". You'd be best telling them what you are bringing back, and they may send you in to pay duty. Of course there are random selections to "Secondary". Saying "nothing to declare" would get you short-listed. 

[Dan Moffet]

Canada huh, almost made it.

Of course you'd have to pronounce "poutine" correctly!

[94touring]

In real life I say poontine. It's just better that way.

[skmini]

Fascinating.....I've known that shipments into Canada were over the top expensive, especially when you add in the exchange rate - something we're dealing with more and more too as the value of the dollar falls.

A buddy of mine in western Canada crossed over into Montana to pick up something he bought (a super 7 frame) so he could avoid a lot of those fees. Apparently there's a warehouse there set up exactly for this, where people can ship stuff and Canadians can simply cross the border and pick it up, I guess avoiding excess brokerage fees?

Yep. There's probably one near every significant border crossing. Not really warehouses, but more like privately owned mailbox outlets. Also works for companies that won't ship out of the lower 48 - that's a thing too. The minister of our church would take regular trips over the border for books and other reading material he'd ordered.

I think it's mostly to avoid expensive shipping fees (and brokerage fees), not to avoid duties and taxes.  Shipping is often an order of magnitude more expensive for shipping internationally.  Like Dan said many US companies only ship domestically to avoid international shipping hassles, so it's kind of like using a VPN to watch Netflix shows that are unavailable where you are.  Another fun example: I wanted to add the factory trailer wiring harness to my Honda.  From a dealer in Canada, it's $500.  The identical part from a US dealer was $50.  US dealers can't/won't ship to Canada.  In the end, I made my own harness, but if I lived closer to the border I would have taken advantage of one of these mailbox services.

[94touring]

I have some things I want to send to a VW guy in Sweden. Nothing big.  It's too expensive on the shipping and would make no sense. Since it's low priority, next time I'm on a trip and end up near him I'll just toss it in my bag.  I "smuggled" back a 123bt distributor for him not long ago to send to a guy in Michigan.

[BruceK]

So ... I was thinking about my situation with UPS overcharging me on who-knows-what under the mysterious heading of "government fees" and then telling me it's going to be AT LEAST 3 months until they UNILATERALLY decide whether they 1) actually review the import charges, and 2) whether they refund a portion of the charge to me.

That's messed up.

So I've decided that I want to even the playing field a bit. I'm planning on contacting Visa and tell them I want to to dispute the $107 credit card charge I paid to UPS. I'm hope to make Visa work for me to get UPS to substantiate the charge or make it go away. 

I have no idea if this will work, but I'm not going to sit on my butt for three months waiting for UPS.   At least this way it'll be documented that the charge is in dispute because Visa has only a 60 day window for disputes as opposed to UPS's current 90 day delay. 

[94touring]

It's worth a try.

I was perusing around my fedex account while I've been waiting for the duty charges to show up.  Then I saw a bill for $59. Thinking it was for this shipment clicked on it to see how they itemized it.  Well it was duty and admin fees from a year and a half ago on another order!