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Collector Zone _ Ask the Experts _ Postal Service Question

Posted by: Icrackwax Jul 12 2012, 09:26 PM

I recently sold an autographed baseball to a person on another site who lives in Canada. No big deal, I thought. So I gladly sold it and shipped it to Canada. It costs a couple bucks extra but that was no big deal.

After two weeks, the person asked me where their baseball was. I looked it up on USPS.com by typing the customs form number. It says it went through a USPS Origin Sort Facility on July 3. Everything seems normal except for the fact that it went from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Miami, Florida on its way to Vancouver, Canada.

I'm just wondering if this is standard practice for international mail. It seems a bit odd that they would go 4000 miles out of the way before delivery. Should I be worried?

Posted by: Krusin Jul 12 2012, 10:35 PM

Canadian shipping can (not always) take a month or more & that's using a bubble mailer. I'm guessing a package can be as long & no doubt it'll be checked/opened by customs (this is usually what causes delays in Canada), buyers there can be charged taxes/duties on imports. I wouldn't be worried about it just yet, if the buyer has bought US goods before he should know sometimes it takes a bit between the 2 countries.

Posted by: Tarasadie17 Jul 13 2012, 12:26 AM

Bud nailed it. I ship to Canada frequently, and it is a crapshoot as to how long it will actually take. And two weeks really isn't that long in the big scheme of things when shipping there...

Posted by: urbanmonk Jul 13 2012, 01:20 AM

Two weeks is typical, sometimes only 10 days but that minimum and other times I have had them go three weeks to just go over the border into BC (which is only like 500 miles from here or so). So yeah give it a bit longer and if they ever got stuff in US they should know that.

Posted by: Icrackwax Jul 13 2012, 03:08 AM

Okay. Thanks for all of the information. I've only shipped international a few times. I shipped to Korea about a month ago and it only took about two weeks. Never shipped to Canada though.

The person is a new trader so they didn't know either. It just seems ridiculous that they would send to Miami for a package headed to Vancouver. Seems like Seattle or any sizable city in the northwest would be a more efficient choice.

Also, one other question: I had to cut a box down to make it a more appropriate size for shipping the baseball. In doing so, the box was uneven in one place and looked terrible all over. So, I wrapped it in brown paper before shipping. I've done this before on domestic shipping with no problems but since they open and search international packages, should that be a problem? I assume at the least it will cause a delay?

Posted by: northicehero99 Jul 13 2012, 05:31 AM

I have had packages mailed within the US take a month, so no surprise. Sounds like a clear case of why the USPS has to increase rates as they like giving your packages a vacation. Seriously though there must be a reason they route it that way. Maybe all packages to Canada have to go to a certain import area first then go to the local post office.

Posted by: CardsFromTheAttic Jul 13 2012, 06:27 AM

I don't think brown paper wrap is an issue, I've done it plenty of times and seen it plenty of times for international shipping.
As far as going to Miami before Vanc. that is standard. A friend of mine owns a shipping business and I once shipped something in state (Mass). Depending on where it is he said I could said it on a 2pm afternoon, it would be in Nashville at midnight, and back to Mass by noon the next day. Bizarre, but it works out to be cheaper on the aggregate for the companies

Posted by: urbanmonk Jul 13 2012, 07:02 AM

You did put a customs form on the outside? As that speeds it up instead of putting on inside as sometimes it will pass thru w/o getting opened/looked at. Also I have had things go to Russia or Czech Republic faster than to Canada, only thing I can figure is oversees it goes on a plane so that speeds it up, and over the border I think they use dog sleds or really slow hitchhikers sometimes