Move US (NYC) to Canada - Shipping boxes

[Lionsdale]

Hi there Guys.

I'm a 30 year old single male, who left Canada 6-7 years ago. I've lived in NYC now for going on 4 years, and live in a 1 bedroom apartment in an outer borough, that is furnished a little more than you would expect the smaller sized apartments of Manhattan proper to house.

Suffice to say Guys, I'm ready to ship my personal effects, and lose my furniture in a hurry from this place. It took a while to consider letting go of the furniture that I and my friends worked so hard to choose out, and have served me well, but I just don't see moving it to Toronto being cost effective. (heard horror stories about U-Haul US>Canada, and can only imagine the 1000's a moving company might charge).

I am considering using one of two business I've found in NYC who buy used furniture. I'm not sure what my return is going to be, but I hope for something decent, and will be calling them soon to see.
(On a side note, a lot of my stuff is Metal,Glass - not condusive to succesful moving, and I guestimate original costs to be around 5k, if that helps in any of your advice.)
I really would like the stuff out in one shot, and am anti-Craigslist, and against the idea of having multiple window shoppers in and out for months.
Failing this idea in all seriousness, I will consider furniture donation.

My main question to you guys, is how to ship my personal effects, via boxes back to Toronto.
I am adament about not wanting to use Trucks to get my stuff across the border, short of UPS's trucks doing it for me, or another carrier that picks up.
I have considered USPS (cheap. however from what I read they don't pick up), UPS (~$341 for 20, 18x14x11 boxes of 30lb weight each by estimate), and ThePackagingStore dot com.
I haven't called into the last link yet, as I'm waiting for you guys' advice first on this, and any other options for box pickup (I pack), and US>Canada Ship.
I know a little about the B4 forms (the one I use when I drive across, and the one I use via proxy delivery) but could definitely hear more on that regard from you.

How would I list the contents of these boxes?
Eg. A Box full of electronic knick knacks ('Used electronics - value $30)?
And what would be the customs charge for this on receipt in Canada if any?
Would a UPS vs Shipping Company+B4A form in this regard make a difference?
[I have found one post on this forum that briefly mentions this scenario, but would like someone to help fill in the blanks in the questions I have. She said:
Hi All,

Just a final update of going through custom, everything went smoothly. Everyone has to fill in the declaration form. On top of that, I have to fill in the B4 form to declare my belonging items. I need to fill in two B4 forms, one for items that I'm bringing with me; one for items that I'm shipping through UPS.

At Vancouver's airport custom, they did check the items that are coming with me, then they stamped my B4 form. But for the items that I shipped, I need to wait for UPS to call me to go to their import center, then I went to pick up a yellow form from them. After that, I need to bring that yellow form along with the B4 form for my shipping items to Vancouver B.C. import custom. B.C. custom will then look at both forms, then they will stamped my UPS yellow form. Then I have to bring that stamped yellow form back to UPS so that UPS will know those items (boxes) are cleared by the custom, which means I don't have to pay tax for them.

Virginia

On that note folks, thank you for your advice in advance, and I look forward to your reply!

[Totalnewbie]

I feel compelled to comment on UPS...DON'T use them!!

I was in a similar situation (little furniture, but more boxes) except moving the other way (from Canada to US). I used UPS because it "seemed" more economical than moving companies. Sigh...it took me more than 2 months and numerous headaches to sort things out with them. Here's a short version of my long long story.

When my packages arrived, I found out that UPS damaged the corner of my TV (it was packed nicely inside the TV box, but it was cracked when I opened it). I called UPS and they picked up the TV and told me they would look at the damage. I thought they would contact me before anything else was done with the TV or sent anywhere.

After I hadn't heard from them for a few weeks, I called. Apparently the claim was denied for "insufficient packaging" and was sent back to the "shipper" in Canada (which was the UPS Store I had used to ship the TV).

So I was left with 2 problems:

1. I needed to get UPS to send my TV back to me in the US at no charge. They never asked me, they just decided on their own to send it back to Canada which made me really mad. Now it had to go across the border a third time!

2. I needed to dispute their denial of my claim. I had all the original packaging from when it was bought new. That was enough to get the TV shipped from the factory to the warehouse to the store and then to my home. UPS said that was not good enough for sending with UPS though! Ridiculous!

UPS told me that they could only put in a dispute once and only over the phone. I couldn't possibly explain everything while the rep typed it into the computer. If the claim wasn't overturned, I was told there was nothing more I could do. I was on the phone with them every other day for literally 2 months. I was bounced around from department to department, each telling me it wasn't their decision, blah blah.

After talking to a number of supervisors, one from the dispute resolution department finally said she would overturn the previous decision this one time. I would be sent paperwork, had to fill it out and they would pay the claim, but only up to $100 (yeah, I didn't like that but didn't want to argue any further). Fine - I thought it was over. I filled out and submitted everything they asked for. But no, the following week when I called to find out the status, I was told that someone else overturned that last decision and that was the end of it. Nobody even bothered to call me to tell me...it was really ridiculous.

I did a search online and found out that there are a number of websites dedicated to their bad service. One is consumeraffairs dot com. Almost every day someone posts their complaints, most of the time, the UPS excuse is "insufficient packaging".

Anyway, just wanted you to beware!!!

[Lionsdale]

Hello, and thank you for sharing your experience!

I've been lent to think of options other than UPS, by you, and a Moderator in another forum who commented on the Duty he was charged. This is going against what Virginia above said, so I'm still leaving it open for anyone to comment on the finer points of that.

After reading his (the Moderator's) comments, I started looking into Allied Van Lines, United Van Lines, North American Van Lines, and Flatrate dot com.
No quotes yet but I am going to try to get one at this rate with one of them.
I am also leaning towards Storage in Toronto (if anyone has any suggestions on that) for my Furniture and Stuff, as I don't want to inundate my Folks garage. Already its half full with their storage.

So yeah, I guess I may well be doing it the traditional way, even though I wasn't going to ship any seriously sensitive electronics via UPS, the cost and Question-marks surrounding the whole process, leave me little choice. As an added bonus I guess, I get to keep my furniture.

Thanks again friend, and I look forward to anyone's input on this whole move, companies and methods still, such that it may stand the test of time on this forum to advise Canucks abroad such as myself, and others who come across it on here - as this topic is fairly unexplored.

[Reba]

I used Allied Van Lines when I moved from Toronto to western North Carolina, and it cost me only about $2300 for a 2 bedroom apartment. I didn't move all of my living room furniture, (I gave it to friends who were in need), but brought my bedroom suite, bookshelves and boxes and boxes and boxes full of books, dvds, cds, and vhs tapes. They broke my TV, but it was really really easy to get them to pay me back, and didn't even take a couple of weeks IIRC. They had a newbie packing the truck and he dropped it. I think he got fired after that because he didn't report it himself

You should not have to pay taxes or duties on any of your personal goods at all. As a returning citizen, you are exempt from that.

[Steven]

I don't know why you're adamant about not using a truck, because U-Haul sounds like the best option in this scenario. Just list everything on B4 and B4A.

If you do it via mail or common carrier, you're going to then have to claim the duty back which is a hassle, and also you can't avoid the brokerage fees that UPS and Canada Post will charge you which will be substantial in this situation.

Far simpler just to rent a truck, throw it all in the back and present the forms to CBSA when you arrive. Then you're done. It can't cost much to rent a U-Haul truck for a day or two to go from NYC to Toronto. Or rent a station wagon from a car rental company and a trailer from U-Haul if you're worried about the truck breaking down.

[Lionsdale]

Thanks for your replies Guys. Food for thought.

One of the reasons I can't rent a U-Haul is I have a car to drive back myself. On top of that, I don't want to do the hauling myself, or inundate a relative to do the drive.

I am leaning against UPS and the like now more and more. I think I will try giving Allied Van Lines a call this week for a quote..

[Reba]

With U-Haul you can rent a truck and a tow bar, and tow your own car behind if you like.

[Totalnewbie]

I also had a similar problem because I was bringing my car with me too.

Someone recommended upack dot com to me, said they used it and it was the cheapest solution they could find (moving company wise). You could look into that.