----- Original Message ----- From: Nitin Garg Subject: Re: Singing the praises of KEH
> Is this brokerage fee both ways ? ie, when shipping from canada to US ? You would have to check at your end. "Brokerage" is a cost that is passed on to the shippee by a company for doing the paperwork made necessary by your customs and excise laws. Canada Post charges a flat rate of $5.00 for this service. UPS, and now it seems Purolator Courier are charging a fixed % of the declared value of goods. Personally, I don't really see why it should cost more to broker a two thousand dollar camera than a two hundred dollar camera, but this is how brokerage by % works. Here is an example: I ordered an SC-69 screen for my LX from a dealer in the UK. Because of a miscommunication, it was shipped surface post. It was delivered to my door (about 6 weeks later), with no additional costs, by Canada Post. I was so impressed with this screen that I ordered two more of them for my other LXes. This time, they were shipped by air mail, and ended up in Purolator Courier's hands. I picked the parcel up from their local depot, and about 2 weeks later was invoiced for a significant % of the cost of the goods, for "brokerage". Go figure. Both Canada Post and Purolator work with the same set of import rules. Canada Post is a Crown company, owned and operated by the federal goverment. They, of all people, should be following the rules to the letter, especially when it comes to lining their employers pockets. Yet is is private business Purolator who, in this instance, decided that I had to pay brokerage. So, it seems that Purolator is now competing with UPS for screwing the customer. OTOH, Canada post is in the habit of abandoning parcels full of expensive equipment in plain sight of passers by on my front doorstep, which is also something UPS has done to me. When you get down to it, they are all stupid bastards, and I hate them all. Now, do you want to know how I really feel? William Robb - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
