Tell me about charges for shipping to Canada!! Not too long ago I sent a "Pay it forward" box to Canada and ended up paying over $20. for it. Never again.....

when asked why answer is handling they have to pay what they call pickers to select and pack said order

I got 5 yards from Whittles Fabrics last week, and the flat pack postage to Australia was $13.45. Fabric was $17.50. Even at $30.95 including postage, it was still a lot less than paying the $25 - $35 per metre we pay in Australia for the same fabric.

One place over here has a flat rate of $7.50 postage - even for ONE reel of thread! Expensive thread. AND it is only 40kms away. Problem is, they only do mail order. I definitely don't buy from them.

I always check shipping and handling beforeI even start browsing the site. I hated the fact that I got all excited about the fabrics, then to find the astonomical figure of shipping for it.

Oh how familiar are the stories and experiences. I too watch packaging and postage to OZ. I find Jinny Beyer and a couple of other sites are really good at keeping postage prices to a minimum. I have frequently challenged a projected postage value before actually submitting the order. On most occassions the supplier was able to reduce the $$ value considerably.
I only purchase when the exchange rate is reasonable. It's amazing what the exchange rate can do to the final $ value.
However when all is said and done the US$ price of fabrics and notions are so much lower than we are urged to pay in OZ. I will continue to look at US web sites and when possible, buy from reputable US stores.

I work in Shipping for my company. We do not use USPS because we can not track the package. We've had to many customers say that they never received the package using USPS. When they loose the package and the customer service from USPS SUCKS!!! what good it flat rate postage. My company has negotiated rates with UPS and FedEx even with that we can't ship anything for less than $11.00. And then if it is a residential address and out of the 'normal' zone (whatever that means) then there are extra charges. And if you are shipping outside the continetal US the charges are way higher.

I, on behalf of my company, have spent hours...days...trying to find ways to reduce shipping costs. Most companies loose money when it comes to shipping.

Just FYI from someone on both ends of the Shipping debate.

I`m from Canada also and agree you have to watch the shipping.
I have gotten patterns shipped for 3.00 other places charge oputrages.
As for fabric got beautiful batiks and large backing on sale at fabric depot and shipping is about 7.50 I think connecting threads who I orderd a few years ago is also reasonable.
Gale

when I order fabric and they charge so much shippingcosts I always sent them an email and ask if it's realy that much to ship it to France. Often I get mail back that I have to put: please put it in a Flat Rate Priority envelope in the commend bar. The last order was 7 yards and I payed almost $14 for it.There are 7 or 8 yards going in such an envelope.

Just got an email from
fabric closeout and 1-8 yards is 10.50 to canada not bad
Gale

Hello btiny36,
I feel like ranting with you!!!!
A couple of months ago I ordered some Jinny Beyer fabrics, which I can't buy in England. I ordered $63 worth because My shipping would only be $8 ( an offer for July only! ).
When eventually 4 weeks later I received a card from our local post office informing me they couln't deliver my parcel untill I had paid the customs charge of £15 , about $22 !!!! To cut a long story short, it turned out that half of it was VAT and the other half was Roial Mail charges!! Needless to say , I won't do that again. Mad Gertie from Kent