Canadian Buyer boarder pickups

Canadian Border Pickup tips

Another cheap way for mail order is to ship the goods to US-Canadian border and pick them up yourself. There are two obvious advantages.

Shipping cost is lower or often times free within US mainland.
You don’t have to pay the outrageous brokerage fees.

To do this, you need to find a parcel service shop near the border. A UPS shop or any local mail shop will do. They normally charge around $5 per delivery.

For instance, if you live in Ottawa, Brockville or Prescott, you can use “Roethel’s Parcel Service” in Ogdensburg a town in US just off the bridge between New York and Ontario on Highway 416/16, less than 1 hr drive from Ottawa. Your mail-order should be addressed to,

Your Name
CO: Roethel’s Parcel Service
1801 Ford Street
Ogdensburg, NY 13669
Phone: 1-315-393-4770
Hours: 9am-4:30pm

They like you to do a prompt pickup but delaying a week or so is acceptable, in which case do call to inform the owner, a very nice lady.

When you cross the border, let the border guards know that you are going shopping (do bring your passport these days). Open your package before you return and make sure all the parts are there and nothing extra. Declare the goods with value shown at the Canadian border and pay the GST/PST, and duty if the goods are not made in US/Mexico. Duty for Japanese electronics is normally 6%.

Shopping this way, people reported saving at least 40% buying a boat and a set of 4 winter tires.

If you live in other areas, you can use Google to search for UPS stores in the desired cities. Most UPS stores are friendly and reliable. For example, for UPS store in the Niagara Falls NY is:

UPS Store
1623 Military Rd
Niagara Falls, NY 14304
Phone: (716) 298-4461
Opening hours: 09:00 AM – 07:00 PM, closed on Sunday.

The store was rated “Very friendly and helpful” by other users.

This update will hopefully be helpful to anyone else in Canada who is thinking about purchasing a JBJr and wondering about how to avoid the brokerage fees imposed by UPS.

Here is another way to pickup at the boarder

Find a close US Kinek shipping address https://www.kinek.com/kpointC/DepotSearch.action

1) Sign up for a free account with Kinek https://www.kinek.com/kpointC/Home.action.

2) Picked Wellesley Isl. Bld. Supply, 44482 County Route 191, Wellesley Island, New York, 13640 as my Kinek location.

3) Ordered the JBJr and accessories I needed and had John ship it by UPS to my Kinek location. John also sent me an invoice clearly marked "Made in the USA"

4) I got notified that my parcels were in on the same day my shipment arrived at Wellesley Isl. Bld. Supply in NY. They keep the parcels in a secure, dry and heated storage area in their main store, where I picked them up.

5) On the way back into Canada I declared them at the border and paid the HST. Since the JBJr is made in the USA there was no duty. Free trade gets my vote.

John was great to deal with and quick to answer all my questions. He shipped my JBJr when he said he would and he even attached an extra copy of the invoice to my shipment which proved helpful at the border. My shipment arrived at my Kinek location on time, intact and with no damage.

Patti, who handles the Kinek parcels at Wellesley Isl. Bld. Supply, was very personable and helpful. Must be a good place to work as everyone was cheerful.

Overall a great shopping experience and highly recommended. The JBJr is extremely well made and should last me a lifetime. Now, all I have to do is put it together when the weather warms up, it was -20C last night and my garage isn't heated.

Special thanks to the JBJr customer that posted these helpful ideas

Johnny B