Receiving mail from the USA has also become difficult and the extra security imposed on packages at the border has beome onerous and expensive. UPS charging $40 in brokerage fees and then the Canadian taxes and charges of an extra $20 on a purchase of $75 of bobbins, thread, and pins. And a wait of almost a month for delivery of a package that was comming from less than 300 miles away.
I don't think I'll be ordering anything again from the US any time soon. And yes, I know that the postal service (USPS) is not UPS but the custom and brokerage fees when there is a terrorism scare are just as large. International post is no better: I had a $20 British purchase of a bobbin opened at the border (after a white powder scare in England) last year and the handling, custom and taxes came to over $40. In the quiet periods between scares, parcels clear Canadian customs without delay and with almost never any additional charges. I wish we could find some serenity. In the 1970's, the various European terrorists (German, Basques, Irish, others) caused much more death and destruction than today's terrorists and many more planes were blown up. Somehow, I don't remember people, and governments, being so fearful and frankly, paranoid. International police and security forces are doing a good job of detecting and defusing threat and / or re-establishing order. Notice the number of successful raids in Europe and North America. Who was it that said "All we have to fear is fear itself"? Was it not an American president? I wish we could find some serenity. That's what I'm aiming for in the New Year, that and a lot more lacemaking. Lucie DuFresne Ottawa Canada - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com
