FIMS Shipping

[Dennis S]

I have just seen that Freestyle has a new shipping company. Has anyone in Canada used FIMS ? What I can get they are Fedex and was just wondering are they like UPS which has that "hidden" charge when it arrives at your door ? Canada Post gives me an extra charge once in a while. The last one was for a USED camera I purchased and got charged $30 extra and they even held it back @ Customs for 5 extra days.

 

[MattKing]

Dennis:

From the Fedex site:

"What is FedEx International MailService?

How it Works
We pickup your international mail and move it to a regional mail center where we tender it to a foreign postal authority for delivery to the mail recipient. Tell me more about how it works.

What you can send
Send marketing materials, brochures, postcards, letters, catalogs, invoices, and general customer communications. You can also send low value merchandise such as DVD, CDs, samples, books, audio tapes, diskettes, videotapes."

Sounds like it is just using the mail, with a little extra bit of a fee.

Apparently it can include proof of delivery.

I would guess that you would be just as likely to have Canada Post charge you their fee for "brokerage" as for any other parcel.

And by the way, used goods are just as subject to duty and taxes as new ones.

 

[mgb74]

UPS has a similar service in the US. Basically, UPS ships the "long haul" part (from source to local - to you - mail center) and then the regular mail service takes it the rest of the way.

From a shippers standpoint, I think it's the best of both worlds. All the business to business benefits of UPS, economies of the UPS long haul shipping, and allowing the postal service to absorb the expensive "last mile".

From a recipient standpoint, I think it's the worst of both worlds. You now have 2 organizations, plus the handoff in between, to muck up the shipping. Plus it seems to inevitably take longer.

In your case, my GUESS is that FedEx is handling through customs.

 

[Dennis S]

Sounds interesting. It IS $10 cheaper (with insured shipping) than USPS delivery. The mystery of the Canadian government amazes me at times. Taxing used items...
:confused:

 

[CGW]

Sounds interesting. It IS $10 cheaper (with insured shipping) than USPS delivery. The mystery of the Canadian government amazes me at times. Taxing used items...
:confused:

They tax the declared value on the Customs declaration. CanadaPost "brokerage" is cheap, usually $5, relative to UPS Ground from the States which is punishing. I've had CanadaPost run stuff through and other times bend me over, usually on pricier items from US sellers on the Big Auction Site. They seem to be back into an "inconsistent" phase now.

 

[Dennis S]

Was not brave enough to try it this time. Stuck with the regular USPS-CPS way this time. Last time it only took 5 wrk days for it to arrive so its hard to beat that.