Canada customs inspection - argh!

an interesting topic.... i spend my off time in Canada, and never get hassled at the border where i usually cross in my private vehicle. usually it's the same in my commercial vehicle with one sole exception. this was a load coming out of florida, which was some live nursery going to that company's operations in Ontario. the only thing that i knew was going to be trouble before i even left the shipper was they decided to tack on some used furniture the florida operation didn't need and send it to their good friends on the canadian side with the load.

despite NUMEROUS pleadings on my behalf that this was not going to be acceptable at the border, they went ahead and added the furniture to the end of the load, wrote in pen the items on the declaration and thought nothing of it. i pleaded to dispatch and to the international desk at my company, warning them i know how CIC (Canada Immigration and Customs) does their thing, and if they mixed used furniture with a temperature controlled load, there would be trouble at the border. nobody seemed to understand, so they had me run it, and i DID get a good PARS pre-clear number.

until i got to Ft. Erie.

the gal in the booth was polite, professional, but quite firm and sent me directly to secondary. i knew what was coming, and turned over the truck and all to the customs people. they were looking for dope, because of the shipment's origin, i was told later, and because of the 'vagrancies' in the paperwork. they unloaded and reloaded the shipment, and my company had to bill the customer $400 for that night's mess so i could leave the port (i arrived after 5 on the weekend). yes, there were a LOT of red faces to go around, but i made sure i had my rear end covered. at least i got to sit in the lobby and watch hockey night in canada and a couple of games while waiting....

moral of story... that load should have NEVER left the dock in florida, and since then i've never been back to that particular shipper. they should know better....

on a side note.... file sharing is legal in Canada. my music collection was put together there.

 

Oh no, that wasn't meant for you. It was meant for the ones that still think Canada is a third world country

 

No curling on that night?

 

nd, even if curling were a pro sport, it'd pale compared to hockey. neilsen estimated that 90% of the country watched the olympic final, so there's a good idea of how much hockey means to canaidans.... and americans like me who love it up there....

 

.!.. Canada can kiss where I sit, There is nothing that pays enough to let those brainless wimps touch anything of mine. Canada can piss off. Its just another border that should be closed. Trucks and all.

 

Well then you had better get on with that wind power and bio diesel thing. Maybe you can get pedals in your truck to reduce the fuel you will no longer have. If you get sent to a dock that does not have the equipment to unload you, then either you should bring the fork or we have telephones, and maybe the shipper should have called. Just a thought!

 

I have always found it much easier coming back into Canada than going into the U.S. and most American drivers I have talked to have said they have a harder time getting back into their home country than coming into Canada.

I don't know why people think it is so difficult to cross the border, as long as you know your paperwork, and have everything in order, 99 % of the time it should be hassle free, I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times I had been hauled in for inspections in 10 years of driving.

I have crossed at almost every border from Washington to Maine and have found the worst one to be Detroit, they seem to send all the ######## to work their, most of the smaller borders are friendlier and much easier.

 

you sound real intelligent, maybe we sould stop sending oil down their as well.