The Customs House...and shippign charges
Here in Toronto area the customs warehouse is located down near Queens Quay , and is a major hassle to get to. I would willingly pay $30 to have someone go there and get something back to my house.
I was not aware that B&H ships USPS. I will look for that option next time. Then I have to go to my local Canada Post to pay the GST, PST and I think $5 for them to give me the priviledge of collecting these taxes.
Typically why I surf ebay, craigslist, etc. locally but Henrys' my local wanted $5.3 for what B&H sells for $3.65 which is quite a spread when I wanted 20 rolls. Plus B&H list colur paper on the web site. Henrys doesn't; it's special order, and getting to the person who wants to take a special order and then ship it to you is a PIA with Henrys.
As I move to well and truly to middle age I am almost happy to pay the shipping at times. I am pleased to spend $6 to have the guys across town (KBH - good guys) mail me a couple of spare bulbs for the enlarger, because when will I finfd time to get there when they are open.
On the other hand I will make exceptions. I drove 3 hours round trip to a guy in an old warehouse in Waterloo on Friday afternoon to look at and then buy lighting and background stuff that a guy sells on ebay (Studio 98). He online quotes $25 to $50 per item to ship (and the stuff is heavy, I will admit) But I picked up a 13' wide 9" high background support stand, 2 9' light stands, 2 reflector holding arms with clamps, and 2 -5 in 1 collasible reflectors (42" round and 42x55" oblong) all up with taxes $300. This beats paying the shipping by a mile.