UPS, Brokerage Charges and Foreign Lands

I can't speak for those in other countries, but up here in Canada,
UPS take some liberties with our money.

Canada Customs have a rule that "commercial" shipments must be cleared
through a broker (at least with a lot of forms and formality, if not
a real, licensed broker).

UPS have apparently taken the approach that they do not differentiate
between "commercial" and "non-commercial" shipments - they're all
commercial, no matter what might be written on the package. As
one result of this, they feel obliged to use their in-house brokerage
service to extend customs-clearance services to EVERYONE, for a fee
that seems to start at CDN$30.00 and ends near the sky. They
have the gall to blame Canada Customs' policy for these charges.

So, I insist that US shippers use USPS. While Canada Post will
eventually get the package and store it for a week before sending
it out to a 7/11 store (franchisee) run by an Algerian terrorist with an
attitude, no parking and hours incompatible with working folk,
but eventually I'll get it. I'll be charged only for our wonderful
GST and possibly provincial tax. NO BROKERAGE charge.

I'll assume that UPS have a similar strategy for extracting surprise
charges from people in other countries, and I'm told that the
postal services in Italy, for example, might be less reliable than
those in North America, so each of us will have to make our own
decisions. I have no knowledge of FEDEX policies, by the way, but
am told that they at least respect the non-commerical status of
incoming packages.

Another one I've used in the past is DHL, but after paying for next
day delivery in a few cases, with DHL giving the package to some
local schlock with a weekly schedule in whatever town, I won't use
them for anything.

My first UPS surprise came with a shipment from Sherline years ago,
and they may still be conditioned to ask before they ship UPS
into the great white north. /mark