I would list it as 'fabric' on the form if that is what you are worried about. Other hints for pkgs within the USA: I always mail a quilt Priority or Express...they travel through less machines and get better handling. Make sure it's insured & needs a signature for delivery and keep your mailing receipt in case of loss so they can trace it. Take a picture of it before mailing & like others have said make sure you have addresses inside & out of the pkg. Contact the recipient to let them know when you send it & keep track of it online. If you think it may be lost, contact your local PO & see how soon you can put a tracer on it. Make sure your boxes are sturdy & well taped, too.
I've never had any problems, yet.

I think you'll find it is not FedEx, but the government (national and provincial) that imposes taxes and duties in Canada. FedEx (NYSE: FDX) is a publicly held corporation and has no power to tax anything but a customer's patience. :D They also own Kinko's.

They use a broker. And the broker is generally known for gouging people like crazy. And believe it or not, UPS is actually worse. That's why I very, very rarely will ship quilts cross-border, and instead maintain both US & Canadian PO boxes for that purpose. While it's true that FedEx itself doesn't charge these insane fees, from what I've heard, they charge a fee to use their broker, and then the broker works with Canada Revenue to apply the "correct" duties & taxes (in quotation marks because it's been wrong in my case so many freaking times.)

I would be very hesitant to indicate on the customs form that what was in the package is not exactly what is in the package. I have sent handbags to Germany and Poland; soon some to Denmark and Norway. The bags breezed through German customs and arrived safely in about two weeks. The bag in Poland was held up in customs for almost a month after its arrival. The lady that purchased the bag had to go to the customs office twice, and pay an additional $30 to finally be able to bring it home. I always fill out the forms honestly. The forms for Germany and Poland were basically identical, yet for some reason there was a major issue in Poland. I was in frequent contact with that customer during the ordeal. I felt so bad for her...

I feel exactly the same way. I become very attached to my quilts.

I just went over and read that article and looked at the video. That is really something...sad.

Wish we had the WAR AMP thing for keys here though!~that's kind of cool!~if you find them, drop them in a mailbox and they will scan the little bar code and get them back to you.

I can't even imagine someone throwing a quilt away that is lost at the very least they could give it to charity it's not like it's going to hurt someone. What a shame to waste something so valuable. Makes me wonder who makes that dumb rule and what a waste. Sue