Any tips for a USA Driver crossing into Canada?

Tim Hortons has great coffee & donuts. Get some.

 

Get a phone number for the company driver that goes to Canada last or often.

When you come back into the US you may need a form (it's probably online) & US use to charge a fee to come back to US. I think it was $5-10.

 

You can take food across, but if the customs officials are hungry, they'll confiscate it.

 

Yes, they speak normal English, even in Quebec but people in Quebec think it is beneath them to do so. French signs are easy and most signs are dual language even in Ontario. Pretty easy, it is not like being in Mexico.
Oh and they misspell a lot of words, like Colour and Cheque.

They could but most likely not. If you have something to hide, get rid of it before you go.

AND they can ripped the entire sleeper or for that matter the entire truck apart if they suspect something is hidden, and they don't have to put it back together or compensate you for it.

Pocket knife is a trade tool, put it in the tool box.

You pay the fine.

Don't know, I never had to deal with one nor has one of my drivers have.

Canned produce, bread but no meat.

If you get a chance, get something to eat there.

You serious? Yuck!

Bad advice, if they suspect meat products, they can go as far as they want to make sure nothing is being hid.

 

Resets are also 36 hours here, not 34. Have to keep the last 14 days worth of logs as well.

You can't run on recaps forever either. Don't hold me to it but I think you need to show a consecutive 24 hours (or something like that) off duty every so many days. You'd have to look it up, I never bothered since I never went long enough to worry about it.

 

Worked for the US branch of a Canadian carrier and the ONE thing to remember IF you are asked 'were you ever arrested' answer 100% truthfully as the customs man is already looking at your whole file and everything shows.

 

24 hr period off in the last 14 days.

 

The U.S. Border guards are a lot meaner than the Canadian guards. Not that the Canadian guards are nice, just less mean.

Also, good luck figuring out the weigh stations. I remember seeing signs that have a picture of a truck next to one of those old timey analog scales that looks like a clock... That kinda threw me off. Thank god they were closed when I was there!

 

If it’s obvious it’s for your own consumption I never had any issues. Back in 2017 and 2018 I was crossing 2-3 times per week.

 

It's been a couple of decades since I crossed at Detroit, but I remember that the guards on the US side were very unpleasant, to put it lightly. Absolutely no sense of humor or customer service. Also, those suckers made me pay $7 cash to get back into the US.

I can't imagine what might have happened if they discovered my cat napping in the sleeper.