In the past I have shipped to Canadian addresses quite often. Canada Post has always been something of a problem, but at times it's almost unworkable. Delivery can take weeks or even months. Worse still, parcels are sometimes returned for no apparent reason.

I tried UPS for a while, but they sometimes add fees to be collected from the customer. There seems no way to predict if this will happen, or what the fees will be. At one point they demanded an additional $41.88 to deliver a $35 dollar item, after charging $15 for the transport. Then I had to pay another $15 to get the package back after the customer refused it. When it got back it looked as if someone had jumped up and down on it. I won't be using UPS to Canada again unless the customer insists on it.

As much as I value my Canadian customers, I was considering discontining shipping to Canada. But there were a few hardy souls who contined to chance the delivery, and the situation has gradually improved. Everything I've sent recently has arrived, even if it's sometimes late (a week or two for Eastern Canada, a month or so for Western Canada). So far everything has been delivered or returned eventually, but there are no guarantees. If your order is returned to me I will refund the price of the merchandise, but not the postage. If you want me to try again I’ll have to charge you for postage on the new attempt. Aren’t I a heck of a salesman?

Update: It seems to getting better. Postal rates have gone up a bit, but everything has been getting through without problems. It's still a bit slow. In response to the higher rates I've started offering ordinary First Class as an option. There's no insurance and it's at your risk, but seems almost as fast as Priority and is very inexpensive. Perhaps I should phrase that "not much slower than Priority".