More of the old US-Canada postage complaint

[fohat.digs]

What happened to the North American Free Trade Agreement?

Did it not apply to postage?

I sent a small lumpy envelope weighing 2.7 oz from Georgia to Ontario (granted, that is over 1K miles) and it cost me $7.35 - cheapest rate!

I asked the PO clerk whether it would have gone to Tasmania for the same price, and she said "probably"

What the heck is that all about? It is us or the Canadians? Aren't we supposed to be "special" to each other?

Is it the same to Mexico? I never send anything there.

[Sifo]

Oh man I could go on about this forever.

[Techno Trousers]

Hence the "CONUS" restriction on a lot of sales/trades, I guess. It is a real shame.

[IPT]

i know its tongue-cheek about NAFTA, but NAFTA only applies to duty (tax) and only between companies lol.
End Users still need to pay Tax in Canada/Mexico along with GST/VAT and in the USA you need to pay sales tax.

To qualify for NAFTA, it involves a LOT of paperwork.

[Tym]

Yeah, Special arrangements between the US and other nations don't generally work out.

From a disgruntled Englishman.

[JPG]

First, shipping inside Canada is much more than within the US. It would probably cost near that much to send it from Montreal to Toronto (2 big cities not that far)

Second, well the population is much less dense in Canada than in the US. We have a few "big" cities, but otherwise the population is less dense for quite a big territory. And some laws state that the shipping cost is to be the same in all the country (I think), so basically we pay more to be able to send something far far away. Add many other factors and in the end we pay a lot more for everything.

So yea, I suspect that many Canadians "cry" when they see the price of something in the US and the price in Canada. In fact, I bought a few things recently from amazon or ebay and it was MUCH cheaper to order it from the US, pay the shipping, than to buy it from the Canada.

And I don't want to start anything here, but the American government is one of the most protective around the Globe, so these "free trades" are bull**** and only applies when they want it to. Look at the wood industry for exemple ... I don't say that they should not apply rules to protect your jobs, but don't pretend that you apply these "fair trades" (or whatever it's name) after that.

[fohat.digs]

I am in the construction industry, and we build a lot of cedar screened porches.

There has been a "cedar war" going on between the US and Canada for years.

Yes, the US is very protective, and not in a sensible method, everything here is bought and sold by lobbyists.

[eth0s]

First, shipping inside Canada is much more than within the US. It would probably cost near that much to send it from Montreal to Toronto (2 big cities not that far)

Second, well the population is much less dense in Canada than in the US. We have a few "big" cities, but otherwise the population is less dense for quite a big territory. And some laws state that the shipping cost is to be the same in all the country (I think), so basically we pay more to be able to send something far far away. Add many other factors and in the end we pay a lot more for everything.

So yea, I suspect that many Canadians "cry" when they see the price of something in the US and the price in Canada. In fact, I bought a few things recently from amazon or ebay and it was MUCH cheaper to order it from the US, pay the shipping, than to buy it from the Canada.

And I don't want to start anything here, but the American government is one of the most protective around the Globe, so these "free trades" are bull**** and only applies when they want it to. Look at the wood industry for exemple ... I don't say that they should not apply rules to protect your jobs, but don't pretend that you apply these "fair trades" (or whatever it's name) after that.

Well, first of all, Free Trade Agreements are not about "free trade", they are about making super-profits for rich people by lowering employment costs.  Free Trade agreements are a means of sending American Jobs overseas to other countries.  The motivation is twofold:  (1) it makes rich people richer, and (2) it destroys the middle class.  I don't know what protectionism you are talking about in the American "wood industry" since any manufacturing jobs formerly done in the US, that could have been shipped overseas, have been shipped oversees.  Now if you mean jobs in the lumber industry, well, those are still here in 'Murrica, since the forests (or what's left of them) are still here in 'Murrica.  And any protectionism in terms of keeping Canadian lumber out of the USA, is merely there to protect the profits of the rich people who own the oligarchic lumber corporations, not the jobs.  As for 'Murrican jobs making things out of wood, sorry but those are gone too, shipped abroad under the pretense of "free trade".  Under other so-called "free trade" agreements, the US Govt. gave the US auto industry away to the Japanese and the Koreans.  Same for the TV industry.  And the TV was invented in the USA by Philo Farnsworth!  But today there is not one TV made in 'Murrica.  That's just stupid, IMO.  (There was somebody trying to start up a company that would have manufactured TV's in Michigan, but I don't think they ever got one made, IIRC.)