Originally Posted by ecmoore
It's a smart thing not to drive packages into Canada if you're the vendor, without doing a full declaration. The border guards get REALLY picky about that. When I worked for our family business, and would go down to the states to visit my mom's mom, they would ALWAYS ask me if I was bringing anything over. I never did, but I know that during the mail strike a few months ago, some small business owners just had to chance it. Similarly, marking as a gift when it's not - they check the return address to see if it sounds "businessy."
Oh no ... I was NOT suggesting that it be brought across as anything but legitimate.
Rather that some vendors are bring their shipments to the border, declare them, clear customs ... then ship it in Canada. Many are doing it as a regular side of their business, just so they know that it gets processed correctly, quickly and in the right classes/categories to keep the customs fees at a minimum and with no surprises for their customers. That way, they know once it's in the mail/courier, it'll soon be in their customers' hands.