Importing to the USA from Scotland

[The Wizard of BC]

I always - ALWAYS - insist anything coming from one country to another be shipped via the mail services.

I never use the courier services such as FedEx, UPS, Purolator etc. The courier services have contracts with the countries they operate in. They are paid by a percentage of the amount of duty, taxes and broker fees they collect. It only makes sense that they would then charge the maximum amount to the customer.

I have seen these fees, especially the brokers fees, equal the total amount of the customer's purchase price. And quite often the courier's bill does not come until much later in the mail. You don't even know until it is too late.

I actually ended a contract with one UK based company that refused to ship via Royal Mail or Parcel Force. They felt that their US based customers preferred the duty, tax and fees to get one or two day faster service by the courier services.