Fly swaps to Canada!!

Hi All,

JC - I hope that it's ok that I put this here instead of in the Fly Swap Forum. I thought
more might read it here, but if you need to move it - hey...you're the boss!

A while back I hosted a fly swap and all of the participants (except for me) were American.
The swap went smoothly, with one minor hitch: it cost me $4.50 CDN to return the flies. I
was a little annoyed with Canada Post at the time, because my American friends were able
to send me the flies for less than $1.50.

The swap participants were most gracious, and some sent extra flies and other "goodies"
after the fact to thank me for covering the expensive postage. This was not necessary,
but it was appreciated.

I recently found out something important to fly swappers. The swap participants sent me
their flies in Altoids containers (or something similar). Unfortunately, the slot through which
Canada Post slides their packages to determine postage was too narrow to accomodate
these tins. Thus, I was charged more.

Recently, I used a narrow fly box to send my flies into a swap in Michigan, and the narrow
package fit through Canada Posts' slot - as a result, the package cost $1.90 CDN (not
$4.50 CDN) to send.

The moral of the story? When possible, use a slim profile box when mailing to Canada (if
the flies in the swap permit it). That way, the host will easily be able to cover the cost of
postage.

Cheers,
Andre

If its slim enough and the envelope is business size or smaller (There are padded ones this size) its 90 cents to send from Canada to the US.

Steve

When I lived in Canada, I would send them in CD jewel cases reinforced with packing tape so they wouldn't fall apart if they cracked. They worked out fine as long as they're not used for really delicate, fragile flies. It would fit in a thinly padded envelope just fine.

I'm sure there better options, but that worked for me.

Another thing I just discovered about mailing from Canada to the USA is that the post Office can not issue return Postage valid in the USA. I have heard you can use reply cards or something as return postage to the USA but I just sent cash with my flies to the USA in the swaps I am in. Good to hear that it's cheap to send the flies back from the USA as I personally worried that my $5 can would not be enough to send my flies back. I will be looking into a slim style case for my next swaps hearing its much cheaper.......I got piles of old CD cases lying around since putting all my CDs in binders anyways.

-Hillard

I have found that the metal boxes from Colgate dental gum will fit through the slot. These work well for the smaller flies.

All swap flys sent to Canada should be sent with a declaration of no Value. I just recieved a parcel that I was charged $10 duty fees and taxes as the sender put a value of $75 US on the package. No value would have meant I wouldn't have had to pay taxes on the package. Not a big deal to pay the duty, the swapper and I worked it out.

It's just better to save the money instead of giving it to the government when there are loopholes to avoid giving it away. All in all it transfers to more tying supplys :)

-Hillard