Just received two books from MBS, the books cost less than $50.00, the brokerage fees cost $70.00. I was shocked, called MBS, they said they have a contract with UPS and there is not anything they can do about it. If I choose USPS instead of UPS will there be a brokerage fee? I believe that UPS is a big rip off in this area.
It seems really odd that there would be a brokerage fee for delivery in Canada. Maybe on another continent, but not this one. I have never heard of that.
I can confirm that UPS sucks for Canadians. I live in Canada and every time I have received a package from UPS they charge outrageous fees, basically the package is held hostage until you pay whatever they choose to charge. I've had much better luck with USPS, go with them.
If I continue with UPS the brokerage fees could probably pay for my Doctorate. Thank you, I will try USPS next.
UPS is horrible to Alaska as well. Try a 1 pound item (or less) that has around a $40-70 UPS charge. I purchased an item for work that cost around $15 and the fee for shipping was just over $70. USPS is always 1/4 of what UPS charges and sometimes even less.
I frequently buy in the US and have items shipped to .ca - I refuse to use UPS, if a seller does not offer USPS I shop until I find one that does.
My wife just shipped a small box a distance of 1,100 miles (CA to OR) - our post office ships USPS, UPS, and FedEx - they checked all options and FedEx Ground was the lowest cost shipment.
During the nine years we represented the Edinburgh Business School MBA in North America, we shipped thousands of boxes into Canada, and we never did find the 'perfect' way to do it. There was no consistency. Sometimes brokerage fees were charged, sometimes not. Sometimes GST was (improperly) demanded, sometimes not. We finally started warehousing books in Ontario, and this generally helped us and the customers. Strangest moment of this time: we shipped a very large order, more than $50,000 worth of courses, to the Bank of Mexico, which was putting a number of their people through the MBA. It never arrived. The Bank of Mexico guy traced it to a warehouse where it had been improperly diverted, and a large 'ransom' was being demanded for its release, which they (and we) declined to do. UPS insurance paid up . . . and the Bank of Mexico man requested that in the future, we ship boxes by DHL, not UPS. Why? Because, he told us, DHL has a corporate policy of paying bribes, and UPS has a corporate policy of NOT paying bribes.
