This is the story of a box.
The intent of the box was to send an old laptop to a student, since the new laptop was a tad flaky.
In addition to the laptop, the box had a few other items. This is the inventory:
- Pillow
- Twin sheet set
- Small comforter
- Dictionary
- Linguistics textbook
- Two paperback books
- One Frisbee
- Several empty plastic food containers
- Lei - pink
- Desk lamp
- Cheese powder packet from a box of macaroni and cheese. This item actually originated in Montreal.
- Two shirts that should have been donated anonymously
- Scrabble game, new
- Towel
Of the list above, most of the items (the pillow, comforter, books, shirts and towel) were actually packing material to cushion the computer.
So the list was written clearly, the box was carefully packed and taped, with a few friendly bits of graffiti scratched on it. It was a Raisin Bran box. I took the box to the local UPS Store because I have had very good experience with them. They know what they’re doing, they do it quickly, and the packages are delivered without delay or incident. When the Canadian Postal Service was on strike in 2011, UPS was the best way to ship items from the US to Canada.
At the UPS store, the clerk read the Canadian regulations with respect to every item on the list. The items of most concern were the laptop because of its value, and the packet of cheese because it is considered a dairy product.
She completed the forms carefully. It took an hour. And I purchased a roll of strapping tape for the box and went on my way. Total cost was over $200 to ship 35 pounds of stuff worth about $700. It was to be expedited, so the anticipated delivery date was two days later.
And I got a tracking link.
So, I followed the tracking link and watched as the package wandered around the United States and came to rest in Kentucky. Next stop was an airport in Montreal and a warehouse.
Apparently, the Canadian Customs needed to see identification before releasing the box for delivery. The recipient went to the warehouse, and was then sent to another office. This took several days, because it was over Labor Day weekend, and the recipient does not have a car. You can only go so far, so fast, on city buses.
Eventually, the box was released and delivered, intact. Everything works fine.
The next day, I received a catalog from L.L.Bean. It was full of great stuff. Remember the two shirts that should have been donated, not shipped? There were some really nice shirts in the LLBean catalog. So I ordered them. Did you know LLBean ships to Canada? For free? For less than $200, I shipped five nice articles of clothing to the same destination!
The moral of the story is:
If you need to send something to Canada, order it from LLBean and have them ship it.
* This is a joke because LLBean doesn’t sell computers, but all the other stuff is wicked good.