FYI for Canadians . . .

Ordered a Straight from SRD on the 17th and a Strop Kit from Whipped Dog on the 18th.

SR shipped on the 19th from Ohio, and the Strop from Texas on the 20th.
SR arrived in Canada on the 22nd and has been in "Customs Clearance" since that time.
Strop Kit arrived in Canada on the 23rd and shows as being out for delivery today.

First off, I would like to thank BOTH suppliers for their great service in shipping my orders out quickly and efficiently.

But, have any other Canadian members experienced this kind of "hold" for razors before? Just trying to determine if this is an unusual delay, or if it is going to happen every time. I cannot think of ANY laws or regs by which they can justify anything other than, "yup, it's a razor" and passing it along for delivery. CBSA is such a pain in the butt at times.

Can't answer specifically for a straight, but my son recently ordered a bunch of t-shirts from the US and they managed to sit with a status of "Customs Clearance" for 5 or 6 days, so I mark that down to general inefficiency rather than anything specific to the razor. Hope it won't be much longer for you.

Anything that has to go through custom takes much longer than a local parcel. I had everything from 4 days to 7 months (no kidding) and, of course, package lost.

I've had things in customs sit for a few weeks. Only had one item ever go missing coming to me, and luckily that was something worth less than $10.

There are no certainties with customs. They can hold things for as long as they want and sometimes delays do take far too long for those of us waiting for packages. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do sometimes. They just single things out randomly for closer scrutiny on occaison. I suspect this is the same anywhere in the world.

Luc said:

Anything that has to go through custom takes much longer than a local parcel. I had everything from 4 days to 7 months (no kidding) and, of course, package lost.

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I "get" that there will be a delay . . . but how long does it take to run it through the scanner, see that it's a razor, and move on to the next item? Also, my strop had to go through Customs at the same facility in order to get to me, and it "passed" my razor on the way.

At this point, I am just hoping that no CBSA drone decided to "play" with it during the inspection/clearing process and pooched it.

Attila said:

There are no certainties with customs. They can hold things for as long as they want and sometimes delays do take far too long for those of us waiting for packages. There is no rhyme or reason to what they do sometimes. They just single things out randomly for closer scrutiny on occaison. I suspect this is the same anywhere in the world.

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Oh I know . . . I went through this before Christmas with a package. Thought that incident would be it for me for a while. OOPS . . .


Next purchase is going to family in the US and they can bring it home when they visit.

Orville said:

I "get" that there will be a delay . . . but how long does it take to run it through the scanner, see that it's a razor, and move on to the next item? Also, my strop had to go through Customs at the same facility in order to get to me, and it "passed" my razor on the way.

At this point, I am just hoping that no CBSA drone decided to "play" with it during the inspection/clearing process and pooched it.

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There's more than 1 package on that belt. I do not have the knowledge how they process a truck filled with goods (if they sort them by size and a smaller size/weight just goes through or if they put everything in a pile and they get to it when they get to it regardless of the order).

What I do know is what was declared will influence a lot if they hold on the package or not. Meaning that they must have some kind of algorithm that checks the product, determine the size/weight and if your package does not fit the bill, it's processed manually. If what was written is identified as "taxable", it's processed manually. If the package has a declared value higher than $20 for documents and $50 for gifts, it's process manually.

Hope this helps.

I understand about volume, as the Postal Station in question handles about 70% of all mail in Canada. That makes you wonder why the CBSA portion is not more efficient, no? So, yes, lots of stuff on the belt, but only a small portion gets set aside for CBSA scrutiny, and an even SMALLER percentage of those items for manual inspection. Makes you wonder is all . . . frustrates you, too, when it is the second time in less than two months.

Were your orders shipped by USPS or some courier?

USPS and Canada Post deliveries always get to me quickly without customs hassles.

Many couriers have their own brokerage business and always send merchandise through them even if they know there is no duty.
They will then then charge a brokerage fee of, perhaps $5 or more.
I always refuse such packages as I instruct the vendors to use USPS.

Mickey

USPS . . . I despise the use of other carriers for the reasons you mentioned. It just seems that two out of three of my last shipments have been given "special attention . . . lucky me.

On the plus side, my strop kit was supposedly delivered to my home today, so I have something waiting for me after work (I hope).

My experience with shipping to Canada as been good not great.
The times I've shipped USPS it tends to take a minimum of 4 weeks regardless if of which "type" delivery.
UPS as been quicker in general, only taking about a week.
That being said, I had one within the last couple of weeks that was pretty bad.
It was a non folding razor zip tied in it's own box with a stand.
The package stayed in custom for a while. Once it was released and picked up the box had been opened, the razor box had been open and the zip ties had been cut as well. That being the case the box had been handled rough enough to have the tip of the loose razor cut through the razor box along with dinging in a couple places.
I've shipped to a lot of countries and this is the first time I'd had a razor unboxed and left loose inside.

Not helping my mood, MM60 . . . lol. Strop Kit did arrive from WD as stated. Oiled the strop and gave it a good rub with my hands. Now, if only I had a razor to go with these goodies.



Also . . . I will NEVER make a purchase that requires using UPS. there is a reason the trucks are brown, and that is because their service is . . . well, you know.

.... camouflaged?

My experiences with razors from the USA have been no different than anything else from the USA. Customs will delay things, seemingly , at random.

My whipped dog razor shipped and arrived within a week. Though status showed in Chicago for about three days before it got into Canada.

Don't fret it. USPS is still, imho, the best way to get from the USA to Canada with the least hassles. It might not, however, be the fastest way.

Never shipped to Canada, but had several packages from Canada to The U.S. and never had it held. Maybe the Canadian Post is just being careful.

On the other hand I had a Silver Plated AutoStrop razor set shipped from the U.K. and after holding it for 6 weeks in customs they reported it as lost. I was furious, and considered it a loss. It then magically showed up at my door about 3 weeks after that. I was just grateful that it made it to my door after 9 weeks.

SRD repacked my razor after honing it in plastic so I know it was not tampered with. I generally have no problems shipping to Saskatchewan, sometimes a week or two slow...

I've not run into those kind of "holds" on razors, and I've picked off quite a few of the bay..

Now mind you I'm still waiting for a Gold Dollar to arrive from china... and from McVeymac.. so... dunno...

I've bought stuff from Whipped dog repeatedly and never had issues from him.

I have had stuff shipped to Canada arrive in 4-5 days, some a few weeks-no explanantion for it really.

I ship USPS

That is just the thing . . . it is not a post office issue. It's Customs (CBSA). The razor arrived on the 22nd . . . and Customs has had it ever since. The most frustrating thing is the inability to access info. concerning the "why"?