WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

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DianneB
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WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by DianneB »

I need some 1/4" Type L copper pipe for my current project and I can't find any in Canada! :cry:

So, I looked on eBay - it is there at about $8.00 per foot but they want up to $56 to ship a few pieces to Canada! :shock:

I tried McMaster & Carr and they WON'T SHIP TO CANADA (unless it is for business or education). :evil:

What the bloody hell is the deal with Canada???????

If anybody in Canada knows where I can get 1/4" Type L copper, please let me know!
John Hasler
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by John Hasler »

You'll have to ask your government about that.

A workaround is to have the stuff shipped to an address in a border town and then go across and pick it up. There are companies that make a business of that but I don't recall any names.

BTW can you become a business for shipping purposes?
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DianneB
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by DianneB »

The border is about 3 hours from my home so that's a 6 hour round trip!

As a "business" I would probably have to have an account with McMaster & Carr.

Maybe I will have to find a friend in the U.S. who will receive the package and send it on by mail.
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liveaboard
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by liveaboard »

And you really can't use 6mm instead?

I had a similar thing, I needed some 1/4" mild steel rod to replace a sheer pin on a US made windmill I was repairing here.

I was able to get it from the UK.
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DianneB
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by DianneB »

liveaboard wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 4:44 pm And you really can't use 6mm instead?
No. The tube sheet is already made to use .375 O.D. (the diameter of 1/4" Type L).

American sellers have gone NUTS about dealing internationally!
Carrdo
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by Carrdo »

Dianne,

Any decent plumbing supply house (where the plumbers go) should have it.

Don
TRX
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Post by TRX »

I used to ship stuff to Canada. So long ago it was on floppy disks... I sent stuff all over the world - African countries I'd never heard of, the USSR, East Germany, Egypt... the *only* packages that never made it were the ones that went to Canada; about one in four simply vanished after they left the US postal system.
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mcostello
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by mcostello »

You need help, let Me know.
Downwindtracker2
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by Downwindtracker2 »

It's too much bother filling out the customs declaration form.

The one that annoyed me was the $75 shipping (UPS rates)on a $50 part. The part was for 1982 Mercury outboard, and it was the last one in the system so $125 wasn't a deal breaker. I live 27 blocks from the border and have an address at a parcel place. But the supplier would only ship to the billing address on the card. Flat rate shipping in the US was only $7.95.

If I talk to a human being ,I can usually get them to ship to Sumas and then I can walk it across.
A man of foolish pursuits, '91 BusyBee DF1224g lathe,'01 Advance RF-45 mill/drill,'68 Delta Toolmaker surface grinder,Miller250 mig,'83 8" Baldor grinder, plus sawdustmakers
Inspector
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by Inspector »

At the bottom of the page in the link is the contact info for the Canadian Copper and Brass Development Association. Try and see if they can recommend members that sell small amounts.

http://en.coppercanada.ca/pdfs/28e.pdf

Acklands Grainger have it in 100' coils.

https://www.acklandsgrainger.com/en/pro ... RCTK6-100A

Grainger in the US have a bigger selection of lengths and may ship to Canada but you may still have the issue with shipping costs.

Pete
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DianneB
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by DianneB »

Inspector wrote: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:00 pm At the bottom of the page in the link is the contact info for the Canadian Copper and Brass Development Association.... Grainger in the US have a bigger selection of lengths and may ship to Canada but you may still have the issue with shipping costs.
We have Acklands-Grainger up here to but their Canadian web site says the .375 OD tube is "no longer available".

I am just going to contact a couple of my American friends and see if I can get them to receive a package and re-post it to me.

Who'd'a thunk it would be so hard to get copper tube here! The copper ore probably comes from Canada in the first place LOL!
pete
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Re: WTF is wrong with shipping to Canada???!!!

Post by pete »

Fwiw I feel, understand, and whole heartedly agree with your thought's about that damned shipping up here to Canaduh Dianne. I used to haul truck loads in and out of the U.S. There's a couple of good enough reasons for the issues and both the U.S and Canadian governments can be blamed. Canaduh needs to make the paperwork much more simpler (anyone remember them flapping there lips about that "free trade"? ) And I know of at least two examples where well known, trustworthy and honest company's had employee's make a slight error and they got caught shipping high tech sensitive products to a few country's that were on the restricted and banned list for any transfer of information with products like that. The fines and getting a few years of forced into limited trading within North America cost them a whole lot. So every company is now more than a little nervous about what and who they ship anything to. 9/11 bites us again. :-(

Mitutoyo was one of the company's that got caught maybe 8-10 years ago I seem to recall. I guess some of them are just playing safe like McMaster since shipping to someone without a business account could mean the goods might or might not get shipped to one of those countrys on a banned list. Unlikely I guess and who says a phoney company couldn't be set up to do the same? But I do mostly understand there point. Refusing to ship simple low tech parts isn't within my understanding tho. And a great many Ebay sellers won't ship up here either since they just don't want the hassle of the extra paper work. Fedex, and most of the freight businesses slap a $50-$75 surcharge on most shipments no matter what the value is just for filling out one piece of paper. When possible I request USPS since then there's no brokerage fee. A lot of companys aren't set up to allow that and one of the fast freight bandits has to be used. Even with that plus today's money exchange and that GST our Government has done zero to earn, it's still cheaper to buy from the U.S. than pay what KBC Tools wants for almost everything up here.
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