Power of Attorney for shipping to Canada?

[REV2XHEART]

I am order some (non sledding gear) from a US company and the shipping method is with UPS. They say you have to sign a Power of Attorney over to UPS to act as your broker for shipping the goods and getting them through customs. I am sure this must be a common thing as they are a large company but just want to make sure this isn't something crazy no one would ever do.

 

[Chunk]

Don't ship anything ups to canada. If they won't ship USPS, find a different vendor. Ups will hose you on charges

 

[REV2XHEART]

Yeah I kind of heard about that. The only other options are Postal Service Priortiy Mail (2-6 weeks) and Postal service express mail (1-5 weeks). On the website UPS is in the middle of the two with "shipping" costs and takes 1-7 days. I can wait a couple weeks but 5 or 6 weeks would suck.

 

[catinthehat]

Don't ship anything ups to canada. If they won't ship USPS, find a different vendor. Ups will hose you on charges

X2 Don't use ups unless there is absolutely no other option.

 

[mathrulz]

Power of Attorney?? Wouldn't that give them full control over your finances? I've never heard of this having to do with shipping something. Maybe I'm wrong though...

 

[REV2XHEART]

Yeah I thought power of attorney was a big deal. The supplier didn't know if the postal service option would require something similar but I have never heard of that before. Its been a while since I bought from the US and had to deal with this. I bought some stuff a while back and the company had an option to take care of everything and there was no "surprise cost" at the end.

I think I will just do the longer method as after my searching online some people have said they are charged half the value of their order. My order is pretty high dollar value and that would suck! Its probably not that bad though.

 

[RZR101]

Yes UPS will rape you with brokerage fees, 20+ percent of your purchase.

 

[DaveB]

DON'T DO IT!! The stories are true. I wouldn't ship ANYTHING with UPS ever again.

 

[Lowlife82]

Depending what it is I've found the postal to work fine. Just make sure vendor labels it correctly. Had a skid held up in customs for 3 weeks due to this.

 

[REV2XHEART]

Might as well just say what it is. It is kind of high end camera equipment. Tripod, tripod head, and some other brackets that is likely too expensive but what can I say sometimes you gotta spend the cash. Its cheap compared to the new sled I want!

So shipping via lets say Postal service express you guys have done this? What is the way it works will the package still come to your door? I am actually having it shipped to a buddies place up here cause I am hardly ever home and when I am its a condo and the delivery people hardly ever get a hold of me to come down and let them in. Do you instead have to go pick it up? Do they charge you at the door when they deliver it?

I like the guarantee shipping time with UPS but 20% minimum of what this stuff costs would totally suck.

 

[Redturbo]

There is no guarantee with those clowns from ups. I ordered a header from Paul @ Impulse out of Utah. ups sent it to Iowa, then to Denver, then sent to the Twin cities, then back to Iowa, then back to the Twin cities. Then finally it got to Winnipeg, then to Edmonton onto Lloyd. I told Paul to send it USPS, but he didn't want to. That was the last time using ups, Any time I call a company south of the 49th, first question is mail it to me? If they don't want to, Im done dealing with them. Its not that hard to get of your ass & drive to the post office, put insurance on the parcel & ship it north.

 

[leadfoot33]

yup i ordered shocks for my truck, it cost me 85$ in fees from ups on top of the shipping charges, needless to say i wont do that again, usps is the only way to go.

 

[DaveB]

Might as well just say what it is. It is kind of high end camera equipment. Tripod, tripod head, and some other brackets that is likely too expensive but what can I say sometimes you gotta spend the cash. Its cheap compared to the new sled I want!

So shipping via lets say Postal service express you guys have done this? What is the way it works will the package still come to your door? I am actually having it shipped to a buddies place up here cause I am hardly ever home and when I am its a condo and the delivery people hardly ever get a hold of me to come down and let them in. Do you instead have to go pick it up? Do they charge you at the door when they deliver it?

I like the guarantee shipping time with UPS but 20% minimum of what this stuff costs would totally suck.

It will come to the post office and you have to pick it up...same as any parcel in the mail. Put insurance on it and send it. At the post office they will charge you the REAL brokerage fees of like 3 or 5 % or whatever.

 

[bigz64]

my past experience with ups is that they dont even send you a bill for the brokrage fees, they just send your instantly overdue account to a collection agency.

if you ever watch the local ups drivers they spend no time waiting for you to answer the door, i have seen them run up to the door ring the bell wait 5 second and then run back to the truck (if signature required) and off they go to the next place

i have had packages sent up by usps and yeah like said before you just have to go to post office to pick up

 

[eclipse1966]

Like everyone has said avoid UPS as much as possible as they automatically "assume" they will clear the package on your behalf then charge you for the brokerage. That is why they require Power Of Attorney which is normal (I do a lot of international trade). If you have your own broker then they have to let them clear it. It is your option. Actually what they are doing is a bit of a grey area of being illegal as they tried to send us to collections but I told them we have our own broker (which I do) and where does it show on the documents that I authorized you to be my representative for customs. They backed down and case was closed.

 

[Bnorth]

Yup fawk UPS typically brokerage and fees runs 30% of the purchase price. FedEx is just as bad. I ship everything I can USPS and it either comes right to my mailbox or I pickup at the post office. No BS.

 

[woody_tobius_jr]

Yep, UPS and FedEx are a thieving bunch of ne'r do wells with their friggin brokerage fees...you not only get it up the tailpipe from them, but they also use a wire brush to do it! I usually avoid those two companies...I just ordered some fat sacks for my boat and they were late with the order, so they thought they would do me a solid by expediting them with UPS...pffft thanks a lot guys, scared to see what I'm going to get dinged with tomorrow when I pick them up.

 

[Bnorth]

Yep, UPS and FedEx are a thieving bunch of ne'r do wells with their friggin brokerage fees...you not only get it up the tailpipe from them, but they also use a wire brush to do it! I usually avoid those two companies...I just ordered some fat sacks for my boat and they were late with the order, so they thought they would do me a solid by expediting them with UPS...pffft thanks a lot guys, scared to see what I'm going to get dinged with tomorrow when I pick them up.

You better take some Vaseline.

 

[SavageCanuck]

For those of use lucky enough to be close to the border I have my goods shipped to a US holding company.They charge $5 a package I then drive over pickup my goods and head back.Most items I get shipped for free in the lower 48

 

[snopro]

Anybody had a good experience with UPS they would like to share? LMAO!!