"What's In The Box?" Canadian-Russian Edition

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10 Missing Preliminary Strange Deaths, Thwarting Scam UPS charges, and a bit more!
Hello everyone,

Much to our relief, packages continue to trickle in to their destinations, getting us closer and closer to complete campaign fulfillment. However, we do have a few straggling items to address.

First, I've talked to a handful of you affected, but we were missing a small box of Preliminary Strange Death books-- ten in all. These are being replaced and will be sent out as soon as the replacements arrive, hopefully in a week and a half! Sorry about the delay. We sent out the packages without these books so you could get the main book as early as possible.

Second, our backer C.F. has brought it to my attention that UPS, which we used to ship a handful of packages to Canada and Europe, attempts to charge "brokerage fees" in what amounts to a quasi-legal criminal shakedown. It's truly shocking, and we NEVER will use UPS again for anything now that I know this is going on.

However, it appears that their "brokerage fee" scam impacts the US to Canada shipping route the most. And fortunately, it looks like their scam is avoidable. Below is some info I copied from a Reddit post on the matter which details how to get your package UPS without paying these "fees". If you're in Canada, and have been affected by this, please note the info below. Anyone who was affected by this, please accept my apologies. There is a long learning curve on fulfilling this kind of campaign, and unfortunately this has been part of that curve.

Lastly, if anyone has any other issues with their packages, or the way the campaign was fulfilled, please do let me know with a KS message. I will try to respond as soon as I'm able.

And keep an eye out for the digital "PRELIMINARY" next week!

All the best,
Sean

So many of you may know that UPS (and other for-profit couriers) charge a 'brokerage fee' for shipping anything cross-border. The recipient of goods shipped cross-border has to pay duties and taxes. UPS takes it upon themselves to process the transaction for you (i.e. you pay them, they pay the CBSA). For this "service" they charge a fee - for brokering the deal. This is true, keep in mind, irrespective of whether you have to pay duties. And it is true no matter how little the value of the item being shipped.

If that wasn't bad enough, the brokerage fee is charged as a percentage of the value of the item shipped! The minimum fee is $10+GST, but if you ship something worth several hundred dollars, expect to pay well over $100. I think the fee approaches 20%.

I probably don't need to explain what an absolute racket this is, but keep in mind that the 'service' they provide is the same every time: they pay the fee and sign a document. That's it. There is no more or less work based on the value of the goods.

Anyways, I recently ordered some art for my girlfriend from the US. It was $250USD. A few days later I got a call from UPS saying it was being held at the border and I could go online to pay the fees to have it released. On the website, they showed the HST payable (there were no duties) and then a whopping $110+GST for a 'brokerage fee'. With no explanation of what it was or why I had to pay it.

I didn't pay, did some research and came across this article: https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-avoid-broker-fees-just-in-time-for-online-xmas-shopping/

Turns out, you don't have to pay the brokerage fee as long as you clear the item with CBSA yourself.

Clearing customs yourself turns out to be pretty annoying if you don't live near an inland CBSA office (their basically only at airports), because you do have to physically go there to pay the taxes/duties. However, once you do, you just send UPS the stamped form and they have to release your package.

The key to remember is you can't ever accept the brokerage fee. Even if they show up at your door and tell you to pay. Say no, I'm clearing it myself. Ask them for the paperwork. They legally have to give it to you. They won't send your package back, they just have to hold it and wait.

The fact they're not legally obligated to advise you of your right to self-clear is criminal to me.

Funnily enough, a few days later I received my Secret Santa gift via UPS, valued at a whopping $12, for which I had to pay $16 in brokerage fees/tax. Not much you can do here unless you live literally next door to an airport. But for the $100+ brokerage fees - consider clearing it yourself!!

tl;dr: You don't have to pay UPS's scam brokerage fees. If they are crazy high, you can go to a CBSA office and self-clear the item. Here's how: https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/how-to-avoid-broker-fees-just-in-time-for-online-xmas-shopping/ UPS must provide you with the paperwork if you request it.

Happy shopping, shipping, and Christmas everyone!

EDIT: Turns out there was a class action against UPS relating to its brokerage fees. Never made it to trial but UPS paid out $6.8 million in a 2018 settlement. Congrats to anyone who received a cheque!

Pleased to announce that #StrangeDeathofAlexRaymond is now available as a digital download exclusively from the LTL store! Also featured-- You Don't Know Jack, the 48-pg 2020 collaboration between Carson Grubaugh, Dave Sim, and Jack VanDyke. PDF + CBZ