Gladius lost in mail to Mike for Seoul mod.

It looks like my Gladius light is lost on its way to Canada for Mike's mod. Anyone know how long it should take from U.S. to Canada. It has been one month since I sent it. The USPS said it should take 7 days. I didn't insure it because they wanted $40 to insure it for $150. That is one reason why I do not like to do business in foreign country even Canada.

byron8 said:

It looks like my Gladius light is lost on its way to Canada for Mike's mod. Anyone know how long it should take from U.S. to Canada. It has been one month since I sent it. The USPS said it should take 7 days. I didn't insure it because they wanted $40 to insure it for $150. That is one reason why I do not like to do business in foreign country even Canada.

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I was hessitant also sending my flashlights out of the country. I eventually did but ended up using UPS. It took about a week to get there.
What method did you send it by? Standard airmail takes the longest. 2-3 weeks..sometimes even longer.

I used USPS and they said it would take 7 days to Canada. I sent something USPS to Asia and they said 7 days also, but took over a month to get there. Canada should not take that long.

i would not give up now, i'm sending and receiving quite a lot stuff to and from over the world since 10 years or so, and fortunately nothing gets lost or damaged until then.

i waited 7 weeks for an express mail package once, so i would give it a few more weeks to show up

If you don't fill out the cn22 labels correctly things can hang around till someone can be bothered to sort it out! Its always good practice to make things as unappealing as possible i.e. Used flashlight $5 value as opposed to luxeon digital flashlight $250 value!
It's best to send via a track (ems) system as it's harder for 'people' to steal these items. Give it a few more weeks before you right it off
Hope it comes through…

Depending on the distance travelled, I find packages from the US usually take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to get here shipped USPS (typically under 2 weeks). Likely holdup is at customs/inspection, where you are at their mercy if they choose to open or not.

As mentioned, make the custom tag as uninviting as possible, and always use a tracking service if possible. Also, make sure batteries are never listed on the custom tag - I had a $45 battery CR123 battery order from Amondotech disappear once. Discovered afterwards CanadaPost doesn't allow primary lithium batteries through the mail (but Li-ion is ok, go figure).

On the plus side, for the hundreds of items I've received from the US over the years with USPS, only one other item ever went AWOL (aside from the battery order). You should be fine - good luck!

don't believe the 7-10 days delivery times... maybe for express mail?

shipped hundreds of packages to cpf'er all over the world.
shipping to canada has been the slowest. shipments via reg mail and GPM have typically taken 3-6 weeks to arrive.

express mail (insured) is aprox. $25 to canada.

std mail pkg coming from canada to US have reached me in 7-10 days

I get lights from the U.S. usually between 5 to 10 business days. As mentioned previously incorrect labels or customs can hold things up. I hope it turns up soon! Good luck!

I quit buying from Canada. They usually take a month or more. Don't worry yet.
Mike

Always..., Always insure and track (DC)

Since you have no insurance, have them use the DC to try to locate it if they can.

Never..., Never mail a $200 light without insurance. The first time you do, the mail folks have a field day.

On the bright side, mine took longer to arrive than it should, but it did arrive.

We wish you the best. I know first hand how stressfull this can be.
(luckily, you have 1 light, I had 2 out at the time, and, GLADIUSX1 was watching and checking on the package like a champ until it finally reached me.

You may have to file a loss for the package and that may help??

Well I mailed mine FedEx international ground for just under $14 and I was able to track it and it was covered in case of loss or theft en route. Took 12 days to get there. It would have been 9 days but noone was there to receive it the first time. It says they dropped mine at the front door with no signature about 15 minutes ago.

I've had a few packages to Canada and the UK go "missing" (with correctly filled out customs forms)...since that happened, I now only ship registered to outside the US. No more missing packages since. Expensive and slow, but at least the dang packages actually get there eventually.

JM-99

that's good information to know. $14 is the cheapest I've heard of so far for tracking to canada.....

DevL said:

Well I mailed mine FedEx international ground for just under $14 and I was able to track it and it was covered in case of loss or theft en route. Took 12 days to get there. It would have been 9 days but noone was there to receive it the first time. It says they dropped mine at the front door with no signature about 15 minutes ago.

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This is how I shipped a bunch of things to India over the years with no problems. Registered mail with no insurance works well to prevent postal employees from stealing it. Declare the value at less than $20. Declare it as used and as a present. If it's new, remove the original packaging, just in case it gets examined by customs, so they won't require a duty tax. Often times I would just declare electronic, or hi-tech products to be 'personal items'.

4 weeks is long enough to start worrying, but pkgs do sometimes take longer than that.

DevL said:

Well I mailed mine FedEx international ground for just under $14 and I was able to track it and it was covered in case of loss or theft en route.

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Good option, but we Canadians need to be careful using FedEx for purchases from the US. Depending on value, the brokerage fee can be quite high (unless you have the option to avoid it, which I've heard you can with some pre-pay). CanadaPost only charges flat $5 fee +GST on goods >$20, but UPS and FedEx express shipments can be quite exhorbitant, depending on item price.

Not sure of current FedEx rates since website now requires a login for US intl shippers, but I once got nailed $40CDN with UPS for a $70USD item (rates are much better now, but still higher than regular post).

I have had two packages take over a month to get to me from Canada. Never taken that long from Europe or Asia, i'm convinced something about things going in and out of Canada is very prone to delay.

Keep waiting, it will probably show up eventually.

schiesz

Thanks for the feedback. I will wait a little longer before I give up. The USPS wanted $40 just for insurance. I will never send anything without tracking again. No lithium batteries was sent.

I live in "New" Mexico, but the post office is definitely Old Mexico. I hate even to order from US vendors who use "Priority" mail. Fedex and UPS are more expensive, but you can track your shipment every step of the way and they are not so rediculous on insurance. Save the post office for Christmas cards and electric bills.

byron8 said:

Thanks for the feedback. I will wait a little longer before I give up. The USPS wanted $40 just for insurance. I will never send anything without tracking again. No lithium batteries was sent.

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I hope it shows up soon.
The 40 dollars for insurance must be a mistake, express mail with insurance doesn't cost that much.

EMS for 8 oz insured $200 w/tracking to canada is $17.30. still not cheap, but better than $40. values cannot be declared less than insured amount. this makes shipping to canada for mod work very expensive!

http://ircalc.usps.gov/intl_extras2...alue=200&AssessedValueRequired=True&x=29&y=14