Where to buy cheap sockets and adaptors?

On Aug 3, 5:43*pm, KD7HB > wrote:
> On Aug 3, 3:24*pm, " > wrote:
>
> > > Irwin p/n 93761 is a 10-pack of these available thru Ace Hardware
> > > online for $12:http://tinyurl.com/ma9cyn. * Google “Irwin 93761” for other
> > > suppliers.
>
> > Thanks, I'll search around for some other suppliers as you mentioned.
> > I checked the shipping at ACE ($20.70), but the bigger problem is that
> > it is via UPS. *UPS is just shy of a criminal organization where they
> > keep your items until you pay brokerage fees that exceed the value of
> > the items and the shipping. *I don't know why a company would deal
> > with them.
>
> Don't blame UPS for customs rules. Blame the US and Canadian
> governments.
>
> Paul

Nope - as the other fellow mentioned... it's not the governments that
are ripping us off.
Canada Post charges a flat $5 for a brokerage fee (that's sounds
reasonable to me). I have had brokerage fees from UPS that exceed
that value of the item and the shipping.
Now that I'm fired-up... UPS will keep coming to my house during the
day and they don't figure-out that most people are not home during
that time. I end up having to do their job (parcel delivery) and
drive to the next town to pickup the parcel. Canada Post (yes a
government organization) figured out a long time ago that treating
customers like that would be ridiculous and they have agents all over
the place where you can pickup your parcel near your home. Again, I
dunno why anybody would deal with UPS.

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

> KD7HB > wrote:
>>On Aug 3, 3:24=A0pm, " > wrote:
>>> > Irwin p/n 93761 is a 10-pack of these available thru Ace Hardware
>>> > online for $12:http://tinyurl.com/ma9cyn. =A0 Google =93Irwin
>>> > 93761=94 = for other suppliers.
>>>
>>> Thanks, I'll search around for some other suppliers as you
>>> mentioned. I checked the shipping at ACE ($20.70), but the bigger
>>> problem is that it is via UPS. =A0UPS is just shy of a criminal
>>> organization where they keep your items until you pay brokerage fees
>>> that exceed the value of the items and the shipping. =A0I don't know
>>> why a company would deal with them.
>>
>>Don't blame UPS for customs rules. Blame the US and Canadian
>>governments.
>
> No, the customs rules are okay. UPS charges bizarre brokerage fees to
> carry your stuff through customs... fees which FedEx Ground
> and USPS
> do not do.



FedEx Ground requires you to handle your own brokerage (we use Peace
Bridge Brokers for that) at your own separate expense. FedEx Priority
Overnight (Air) is a lot more expensive, but they handle the Customs stuff
for you.




> It's not just Canada either... UPS will charge upwards of
> $50 on packages with no declared value on which no customs is owed,
> when shipping from China to the US.



I've found that USPS has a weird rate structure that results in air
shipments to Canada usually being cheaper than ground ones.

For end-users (consumers) the cheapest US->Can cross-border shipping is
from USPS, but be prepared to WAIT!



--
Tegger

Tegger wrote:
>
> Garage sales can be surprisingly good for used tools. But get there early,
> like 6:00am.
>
So you're that $%^&*! that turns up at 6 when my sign says 8! Look
dammit, I don't sell nothing until the coffee is brewed and the kid has
come back from the store with the donuts.

Tegger > wrote:
>
>FedEx Ground requires you to handle your own brokerage (we use Peace
>Bridge Brokers for that) at your own separate expense. FedEx Priority
>Overnight (Air) is a lot more expensive, but they handle the Customs stuff
>for you.

Yup. Either way if you are shipping something that is not subject to
duty, you don't have a problem.

>> It's not just Canada either... UPS will charge upwards of
>> $50 on packages with no declared value on which no customs is owed,
>> when shipping from China to the US.
>
>I've found that USPS has a weird rate structure that results in air
>shipments to Canada usually being cheaper than ground ones.

Yes, and in fact you can no longer make ground shipments to most countries
any longer. Your choice is ONLY air now, which means Fedex and DHL
international services are cheaper.

>For end-users (consumers) the cheapest US->Can cross-border shipping is
>from USPS, but be prepared to WAIT!

I have actually had good luck going in both directions, going Priority.
Much less than the two years that UPS took to deliver a package from
Atlanta, GA to Chamblee, GA. a few years back.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

" > wrote in
:

> On Aug 3, 5:43*pm, KD7HB > wrote:
>> On Aug 3, 3:24*pm, " > wrote:
>>
>> > > Irwin p/n 93761 is a 10-pack of these available thru Ace Hardware
>> > > online for $12:http://tinyurl.com/ma9cyn. * Google “Irwin 93761
> ” for other
>> > > suppliers.
>>
>> > Thanks, I'll search around for some other suppliers as you
>> > mentioned. I checked the shipping at ACE ($20.70), but the bigger
>> > problem is that it is via UPS. *UPS is just shy of a criminal
>> > organization where they keep your items until you pay brokerage
>> > fees that exceed the value of the items and the shipping. *I don't
>> > know why a company would deal with them.
>>
>> Don't blame UPS for customs rules. Blame the US and Canadian
>> governments.
>>
>> Paul
>
> Nope - as the other fellow mentioned... it's not the governments that
> are ripping us off.
> Canada Post charges a flat $5 for a brokerage fee (that's sounds
> reasonable to me). I have had brokerage fees from UPS that exceed
> that value of the item and the shipping.



It hasn't occurred to you that there might be some back-scratching
between government departments, but not between government and private
carriers?



> Now that I'm fired-up... UPS will keep coming to my house during the
> day and they don't figure-out that most people are not home during
> that time. I end up having to do their job (parcel delivery) and
> drive to the next town to pickup the parcel.



They're not allowed to leave the parcels without somebody signing for
them. If your neighbor /will/ be home, you can arrange with your
neighbor to receive the package, and just put a note on your door
telling the driver that. All carriers I know of will abide by this
(except Canada Post).

You can register with most carriers for an account and a "No Signature
Required" sticker that goes on your door. This authorizes the driver to
leave your packages when you're not at home. I have stickers for FedEx
and Purolator on my front door at home for this reason.

Canada Post will also /not/ deliver a parcel if you're not home and it
won't fit in your mailbox. But I don't think you can register for NSR
with them. It's just a good thing for them they can use their
first-class mail infrastructure to handle parcels as well, which makes
it more convenient for you to pick up stuff they won't deliver.




> Canada Post (yes a
> government organization) figured out a long time ago that treating
> customers like that would be ridiculous and they have agents all over
> the place where you can pickup your parcel near your home.



If their customer service is so good, then why did they stop giving
direct home delivery to addresses built after about 1985?



> Again, I
> dunno why anybody would deal with UPS.



It must be borne in mind that Canada Post and USPS are not operating
under the same rules as private companies.

Canada Post, for example, is exempt from paying many taxes private
companies must pay. Plus they receive government subsidies and a
government-enforced monopoly on first-class mail. It's my understanding
that parcels are subsidized by first-class postage rates. It would not
surprise me if USPS was the same.
For these reasons (and probably others) Canada Post's parcel rates are
not comparable to those from private companies.

Canada Post in particular has raised ire among private carriers for
their ownership of Purolator Courier, a FedEx-type shipping company that
used to be private.
Private carriers are not allowed to compete with Canada Post's mail
business, but Purolator is in the market against private carriers for
non-mail business. In the past, Canada Post has been accused of using
their subsidies and infrastructure to allow Purolator to unfairly
underprice the private competition.

--
Tegger

GeeBee > wrote in
:

> Tegger wrote:
>>
>> Garage sales can be surprisingly good for used tools. But get there
>> early, like 6:00am.
>>
> So you're that $%^&*! that turns up at 6 when my sign says 8! Look
> dammit, I don't sell nothing until the coffee is brewed and the kid
> has come back from the store with the donuts.
>



T'ain't me!

My sister, a garage sale junkie, says all the good stuff is gone by eight,
so the cognoscenti show up at six, sometimes earlier.

That explained why, when I had my one-and-only garage sale in 1983 that was
supposed to start at eight, I had people ringing my doorbell at that magic
hour of six.

--
Tegger

Tegger > wrote:
>
>It hasn't occurred to you that there might be some back-scratching
>between government departments, but not between government and private
>carriers?

Maybe. But I have no problem with Fedex, DHL/Danzas, Purolator,
or Hollywood Film Transport at the border either. Just UPS.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in
:

> Tegger > wrote:
>>
>>FedEx Ground requires you to handle your own brokerage (we use Peace
>>Bridge Brokers for that) at your own separate expense. FedEx Priority
>>Overnight (Air) is a lot more expensive, but they handle the Customs
>>stuff for you.
>
> Yup. Either way if you are shipping something that is not subject to
> duty, you don't have a problem.



For us, even if it's not subject to duty, some Customs guy has to sign off
on it, so it still gets stuck if you don't have all your paperwork present
and correct.



>
>>> It's not just Canada either... UPS will charge upwards of
>>> $50 on packages with no declared value on which no customs is owed,
>>> when shipping from China to the US.
>>
>>I've found that USPS has a weird rate structure that results in air
>>shipments to Canada usually being cheaper than ground ones.
>
> Yes, and in fact you can no longer make ground shipments to most
> countries any longer. Your choice is ONLY air now, which means Fedex
> and DHL international services are cheaper.
>


For me, USPS is still cheaper to Canada than any private carrier. From a
business perspective though, only private carriers have the level of
service and urgency we need, so we happily pay the extra. Cheap is no
bargain when it takes too long to get there.



>>For end-users (consumers) the cheapest US->Can cross-border shipping
>>is from USPS, but be prepared to WAIT!
>
> I have actually had good luck going in both directions, going
> Priority. Much less than the two years that UPS took to deliver a
> package from Atlanta, GA to Chamblee, GA. a few years back.


In 15 years of using FedEx, they've only ever lost one package on me, and
the only one that was ever late was delayed on account of winter storms.
Purolator has lost several packages in that time. I never use UPS if I can
help it.


--
Tegger

"GeeBee" > wrote in message
...
> Tegger wrote:
>>
>> Garage sales can be surprisingly good for used tools. But get there
>> early, like 6:00am.
>>
> So you're that $%^&*! that turns up at 6 when my sign says 8! Look dammit,
> I don't sell nothing until the coffee is brewed and the kid has come back
> from the store with the donuts.

for what it's worth, years ago when I held garage sales, anyone who showed
up before opening time as posted was welcome to look, but prices were
doubled. if asked, my reply was "I said starting at 9AM, it's now 8AM - you
can pay the "early" price or come back" - about half paid the early price,
and about 1/3 just left, the remainder came back

On Mon, 3 Aug 2009 15:43:04 -0700 (PDT), KD7HB >
wrote:

>On Aug 3, 3:24*pm, " > wrote:
>> > Irwin p/n 93761 is a 10-pack of these available thru Ace Hardware
>> > online for $12:http://tinyurl.com/ma9cyn. * Google “Irwin 93761” for other
>> > suppliers.
>>
>> Thanks, I'll search around for some other suppliers as you mentioned.
>> I checked the shipping at ACE ($20.70), but the bigger problem is that
>> it is via UPS. *UPS is just shy of a criminal organization where they
>> keep your items until you pay brokerage fees that exceed the value of
>> the items and the shipping. *I don't know why a company would deal
>> with them.
>
>Don't blame UPS for customs rules. Blame the US and Canadian
>governments.
>
>Paul
Yeahbut UPS tacks on a $30.00 handling fee whereas anything shipped
parcel post thru USPS is subject to a $5.00 handling fee for the same
service. Government has nothing to do with it. Case in point, a recent
purchase of a set of DVD's @ $69.99 + $10.00 S&H cleared customs duty
free but subject to provincial and federal sales tax of 8% and 5% on
C$76.86 (US$69.99) with Brokerage fee of $29.55 + $1.48 tax. I ended
up paying taxes of $11.11 and UPS charges of $29.55 over and above
what they were paid to transport the goods.
Some years ago UPS tried to charge Junior $35.00 fee on a
manufacturers sample clearly labeled as such and "no commercial
value", he refused delivery and the item was returned to sender then
re-shipped DHL and delivered "NO CHARGE"
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada