shipping supplies or bringing over border by small truck?

[Davidl]

Are there any benefits from bringing 2 grand of materials over by your own personal truck or a person you hire to bring it over from the border vs shipping it in?

- Is it cheaper than shipping over - are there any border fees that are waived if you bring items over for your business (USA to Canada)
- Has anyone used the nexus pass?
- When to get a custom broker?

[Fulcrum]

Don't take this the wrong way, but it appears to me that you are tripping over dollars to save a dime. Focus on what will pay your bills and get your cash flow rolling. Figure out what your time is worth producing product and managing your business. Unless you live at a border crossing you will spend more than you save by picking up your supplies yourself.

I've got over $2,000 USD of supplies arriving on Monday/Tuesday with UPS handling the honour of shipping. My time is worth more than what I am paying in shipping (around $50 in this case). I use a dedicated customs broker as I found UPS charged there brokerage fee based on a percentage of the invoiced amount. On the other hand, if you're going to the US and are in the vicinity of your supplier, than by all means pick it up and save the shipping and brokerage fee.

[Davidl]

I understand what your saying about the time involved. Id like to layout my options in front of me first then decide if they are worth pursuing. I would like to also provide a lower cost of shipping for american buyers/international provided there are enough orders that I can go over the border using a nexus pass. From there ship using USPS to potentially avoid taxes by crossing over the border myself by bringing shipments in bulk although I have no idea how the rules work and how the numbers work out right now.


Best case scenario is to be able to cut out shipping through UPS across borders and hire a friend for 2-3 hours of work (bringing American supplies in and American/international shipments out) once things start picking up. Large shipments cost 100-180 to ship to Canada from USA and 60-80 to ship domestically in USA to the USA border, but if I have a person that goes over daily they could do supplies and shipments at once. Depending on the customs fees, cost of fuel, plus the nexus pass and employee wage it could be cheaper by a few hundred a year for supplies in and shipments out since I want to provided free shipping over $100.

How much do you pay in percentage for the broker to do the paperwork? For a 2k shipment around how much would the total be excluding shipping just so I can get a quick idea.

A big thing for me are flammable liquids can't be shipped from USA to Canada (cost triple in Canada). Being 20 minutes from the border I may be able to bring them over from USA by small truck. Another thing is shipping from Canada is roughly 2 times more expensive from Canada post to international locations. Even more messed up sometimes USA to Canada is cheaper than using Canada post to ship within Canada for lighter packages.

[Fulcrum]

Don't forget about the purchase, upkeep and insurance of a vehicle. Unless you can fill a truck (53' trailer) it may not be worth it just from the vehicle costs alone (that's what my broker told me).

As for brokerage fees on $2,000, it's around $17.50. Anything over $4,000 is a flat $40.

[Cheap Freight Pros]

I would like to discuss this with you further. As a freight broker agent we get a percentage of what the load pays. We do not charge the shipper a broker fee. Feel free to contact me anytime.