Heads up to those who ship video games to Canada

[Esc]

CANADIAN OFFICIALS STRICTLY ENFORCE CUSTOMS, ADDRESSING REQUIREMENTS FOR INBOUND INTERNATIONAL MAIL

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Postal Service is alerting customers mailing items to Canada they must comply with strict Canadian Customs and postal administration addressing requirements.

 

All postal items (except postcards) that do not display the complete name and address of both the sender and the recipient -- in roman letters (A, B, C) and Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3) -- are being denied entry into Canada. Sender or recipient identification such as "Grandma" or "Aunt Ruth" are not acceptable and are among the causes of mail being returned.

 

According to Canadian officials, this action is pursuant to the Canada Customs Act and reflects heightened security measures.

 

Accordingly, addresses to recipients in Canada should be printed in ink or typewritten in capital letters, and the last line of the address must show only the country name, written in full, and in capital letters. When a Canadian postal delivery zone number is included in the address, mailing requirements allow that number to appear as the last line of the address.

 

Customers also are reminded that complete and legible customs declarations -- along with required import documentation -- must be provided to specifically identify the contents of any package. General descriptions such as "gift" or "present" are not acceptable.

 

Canadian Customs offices report a backlog of incoming postal items containing incomplete or inaccurate information. According to Canadian officials, these items eventually will be returned to their points of origin for correction by the sender as soon as practical.

[FireTiger]

they're kidding right?

[Atari Charles]

I wrote this article when I was pissed off at Canada Customs Greed and how they lost a boxed Space Invaders game. Hence that is why I usually only buy or trade with Canadian sellers. It is just way too much hassle to have to screw around with the Greedy Money Grubbers at Canada Customs. Oh, and the post offcie told me they are actually stopping the packages because they want to make sure they tax every package that is taxable. Seriously, that is what is causing the backlash. GOVERNMENT GREED!!!

 

Now for my article:

 

Disclaimer: Everything in this post is my personal opinion and may or may not be fact. I have a right to express my personal opinion even if it differs from those in ivory towers or those with dimished brain capacity or zombified brains.

 

Hi,

 

I just have to vent about these jacka$$es. I've heard stories of Canada Customs losing and or damaging items coming into Canada from the U.S.. It happened to me recently. They lost one of four items. They opened the pakcage, there was four item, they selaed the package with Canada Customs tape and there were only three. It must be magic. :0

 

I phoned them on numerous occasions looking for a refund. This is at Zombie Station 419. I got the usual lip service a number of times until I spoke to a supervisor. He was polite but unwilling to do anything, even after I explained to him the entire story and told him how the box looked and lots of other data to prove that they lost the item. Of course, he wouldn't do anything as he couldn't personally look at the box, etc. He had made up his mind even before speaking with me(he returned my call) that Canada Customs wouldn't do bugger all. I even mentioned for him to possibly improve his staffs work habits, he defended them, etc.

 

Absolutely useless to deal with. My father had a saying. He would say something is PI$$ POOR if the quality was a zero out of ten. Well, Canada Customs falls into this category(again in my opinion). I dodn't care if they are an government agency. I believe that if they screw up, they should be held accountable like the rest of us. But of course, because they are an automic arm of the government, they feel responsibility to no-one except those higher up the food chain.

 

All, I can suggest, is that if Customs damages or loses something of yours, keep all records and complain. Eventually they'll have to do something, like fire the Gorilla's that lose and break things, or fire the Zombie-Drone Boss man who sits in his office all day eating twinkies and dingdongs.

[Esc]

Yes, its not a joke.

 

I've had several instances where Canada Customs decided to value the goods to whatever they feel its worth. A couple of times when the value was clearly indicated on the customs forms, they instead used their own inflated values.

 

Unfortunately, you can't dispute this charge when you receive the package (unless you deny the package) . So you have to pay up front, then make a claim to Canada Customs. One claim I made took them about 6 months for me to get a refund. However, they did pay me pennies interest for the long wait (which of course they noted that I had to declare that interest on my income taxes)

 

I've never had Customs damage or lose any package yet -- yet I cringe when I see that yellow tape "Opened by Canada Customs"

[Mindfield]

I had Customs destroy a package on me. They opened a NIB set of Keyboard Controllers. By the time it got here, and after it had been opened and mauled by Customs morons, it arrived here with the box all but useless.

 

The CCRA are greedy, useless morons who wil do anything for a buck, and now they're delaying all kinds of packages coming here to make sure they squeeze every last ounce they're "owed" (read: "want") and thus making packages take two to three times as long to get here. It's really pissing me off; I'm having all sorts of parcels take forever to get to me, and because of PayPal's rules I have to take it out on the seller sometimes if I want to make it in under the 30 day limitation. I had two packages delivered from one seller, the one mailed three weeks after the first. They both arrived on the same day, over a month after the first was shipped - and customs opened both packages from both ends.

 

This on top of Canada Post's ever-inflating shipping rates, is effectively making trade between nations so much of a pain in the ass that it's almost not worth it anymore.

 

I even bought one thing from a seller in Vermont who literally drives across the border to mail stuff within Canada so she doesn't have to deal with Canada Customs.

 

And with these new rules it seems packages are going to be delayed even more -- and for absolutely no good reason. Sersiously, there is virtually no benefit whatsoever to enforcing that the telephone number of the sender and full and correct name of the recipient be on the package. It does nothing for security, not a single damn thing, and yet it's going to create this gigantic backlog at the border that will pretty well ensure that if your packages arrive at all, you may be too old to enjoy them by the time they do.

 

Fucking morons.

[sku_u]

I've shipped Atari stuff to almost every country in Europe, most South American countries, Australia, New Zealand, Tuvalu, and several Asian nations and I've never dealt with anyone worse than the Canadian postal service. They have to be the biggest bunch of morons in the world and the most inefficient on top of that. I've sent things to Canada via airmail that have taken longer to get to the recipient than things shipped ground to Australia which is really sad considering I can drive to Canada in about 5 hours.

 

I think most Canadians will agree with me here when I say the Canadian postal service is the worst in the world.

[Artlover]

Note to self: Scratch Canada off places to move to.

[SimonTemplar]

 

I think most Canadians will agree with me here when I say the Canadian postal service is the worst in the world.

 

 

I think it is worse in Cuba, I tried to send some pictures to a friend down there and he never received them.

[Esc]

I think most Canadians will agree with me here when I say the Canadian postal service is the worst in the world.

 

 

Tell me aboot it...eh

 

and they want to go on strike this month too.

and rates are going up again next year. (that's a given)

[thx1138]

of F__K!

 

I just mailed 45 famicom games to someone in Canada.

[thx1138]

Hopefully, it should be okay. I sent two packets, and printe the address lableb in large font on my printer. And I have my own sticky address lables, and i didn't claim it was a gift.

[Atari Charles]

There is a difference between Canada Post and Canada Customs, even though they are two government agencies.

 

Canada Post has always done right by me. I have never had a package damaged(unless it was packed really poorly), and I have never been charged brokerage fees(unlike UPS which totally sucks a$$). Canada Post has no choice but to abide by Canada Customs regulations.

 

Canada Customs is full of people who say "Just doin' my job." They are in essence brainwashed zombies going about a repetitive function. But they have to listen to our GREEDY(see Greedo from Star Wars) government who wants to drain every last drop from the tax payer. Again, a head honcho at Canada Post told me that the real reason Canada Customs is stopping every package(and letter too!!!!!) is because they felt they were losing too much money by not catching every package to go through the border. The Canadian Government is greedy and what's worse is that they budget their(our) money really poorly or beaurocracy.

 

The Canada Customs in British Columbia(I think Vancouver) is not too bad. But the Canada Customs in Station 419(somewhere in Toronto) is headed by an individual both arragant(spelling?) and incompetant. I spoke to the guy for almost an hour(on his dime) and it was like talking to a wall. Somehow in Canada, the most useless, non-thinking zombies get into the best paid and most lucerative government jobs because they do their orders without questioning them.

 

I have had great expriences buying things from the states, but now I only but from Canada, because I can't take the chance the Canada Customs with rip-me-off on bogus taxes and destroy/steal/lose items sent to me.

 

Make no mistake, Canada Customs Motives are GREED, not security.

[SimonTemplar]

The Canadian postal service is ok, the real troublemakers are the goons at canada customs.

[Mindfield]

That much is obvious. How they manage to spin "making sure every package is charged proper duty" into "tightening security" is something only the most deranged government spin doctor could manage. Yeah, I'm sure they're worried that every package contains a small, open vial of bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- all they really want to do is charge the recipient duty according to what they think it's worth on the open market.

 

"Hey, Al. What's 30CCs of mad cow going for these days?"

"I dunno. Fifty bucks?"

"US?"

"Yeah, sure."

[tapitty tap tap] "Done. What's next?"

 

I should ask someone to send a package from and to a bogus address and have them write "anthrax" on the customs form with a value of $50, just so that they can call in the EPA to open it up and find a bootleg copy of "Peace Sells, but Who's Buying?"

[Mindfield]

Whoops.

 

That should have said "a bootleg copy of Spreading the Disaease" ... PSBWB is Megadeth. :-P

[Atari Charles]

I made a new post describing in detail how a package from the U.S. to Canada should be pakaged, labelled, decalred, etc.

 

I created a new post because it is very important info and this post is more about complaining about Canada Customs and Canada Post, which is fine too!!

 

 

 

I've been #ucked a few times by Canada Customs, so I did research and leanred what works and what doesn't work in avoiding their greedy hands.