Date:         Fri, 8 May 1998 18:04:32 -0700
Reply-To:     David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject:      WARNING: Canadians should **NOT** use UPS when ordering from the
              USA!
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

SOAPBOX MODE ON:

Today I got some parts from Velocity Sport Tuning for my 1980 Rabbit
Pickup.  They (Velocity) insisted that I ship the parcel via UPS and not
the postoffice.  Well it took 2 WEEKS to get here and I had to pay $67 to
get my parcel from the driver!  To make matters worse it is UPSs policy
**NOT** to give a receipt to the customer.  Last year I had a driver pocket
the money and UPS drag me to a collection agency because I refused to pay a
second time...

- The goods I bought came to $242US this was paid on my Visa card.  No
problem here, fair price.
- At the boarder the Canadian Government wanted $25.40 for GST on the
$242US.  There is no escaping taxes!
- UPS charged me $39 for "brokerage fees" plus about $3 in GST on top of that.

Wait a freekin' minute here!  $39 to pay $25.40 in tax!?  Where I work we
charge $50 an hour to fix computers.  Fixing computers probably takes more
smarts and education than paying $25.40 in GST.  So assuming that it is
equal or greater smarts and they do their job even BETTER than we fix
computers (It did take TWO WEEKS for the parcel to get here) lets call a
decent rate of oh.. say.. $80 per hour.  This means that it would take 30
minutes to clear my parcel in order to be charged $39!  Not likely!!  I
would say this is a 1 minute job tops seeing how they ship thousands of
parcels accross the boarder every day.  Canada post charges $5 for the same
thing and **I** get to pay the actual tax at the postoffice.  All for $5!
This is a deal.  Also, Canada Post, yes the good old mail system, is FASTER
than UPS.

So at the end of my ranting and raving..

DO NOT USE UPS FOR FREIGHT BETWEEN USA AND CANADA.  They are there to take
their time and do a fine job of ripping you off.

SOAPBOX MODE OFF:


-- David Marshall, Quesnel BC, mailto:david@volkswagen.org --
   -- 78 1.8L VW Rabbit, 80 2.0L VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KQ  --
   -- 85 1.8L VW Cabrio, 88 1.6L VW Syncro Double Cab   --
   -- Volkswagen Homepage http://www.volkswagen.org     --
     --  USE DAVID@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG WHEN SENDING EMAIL  --