Perhaps Canadian readers will be interested in my recent experience.
I ordered some stuff from Woodsmith costing $42.90US and they were about to charge me $21.49US for handling and shipping via UPS. I felt this was excessive (50% of the value of the order) so I asked them to ship it USPS instead. They agreed and said the charge would be $16.25US. I found this still to be expensive but I agreed to the price.
I received the package today with a charge of $12.94CAN. This is $3.70 Federal Sales Tax plus $4.24 Provincial Sales Tax plus --- wait for it --- $5.00 service charge!!
So now I have paid $16.25US plus $12.94CAN via the postal service versus $21.49US for UPS. I don't know if there would have been additional charges by UPS (taxes etc). Perhaps someone can enlighten me on that point.
Even without tax considerations, it cost me $16.25US plus $5.00CAN instead of $21.49US. Not much of a saving considering the current exchange rates and a big loss if UPS does not collect tax.
Best Regards, Jack Fearnley