I hate being near a mall probably by the time it is mid - November so I always try to get my shopping done early. In the past few years, I have loved doing shopping on-line. No line ups, you see what is in stock and you can do it all from the comfort of your home.
One place I love to shop on-line is Amazon.com The US site is great and has alot of great variety and selection. There is a Canadian site (Amazon.ca) but I find there is much less selection. The one bad thing about buying from Amazon.com is that many of the sellers who make their products available for sale on Amazon, may not ship to Canada. I was faced with that dilema this Christmas as there was something my daughter really wanted and I found it there, but I couldn't get delivery to my home.
I had heard many of my friends mention a place in Niagara Falls, NY called CBI USA, that is a postal outlet that you can send your parcels to and for a nominal fee they hold it for you to pick up. Well, wanting my daughter to get the exact things she wanted, I thought I would try it out and have the parcel sent there. I now have it set up on my Amazon profile as an alternate shipping address. I placed the order... tracked the packages (the items came from 3 separate suppliers) and when all of them had made it to CBI, I waited the required 24 hrs so that they can log it into their system and I planned my trip across the border.
From Waterdown it is only about 45-60 minutes to the Rainbow Bridge crossing. Traffic was fairly light and moving at the border and I was through in about a half hour. From the border, the CBI location is only about 10 minutes away. It is a residential neighbourhood but the building is a warehouse and there is a parking lot across the street and up a little bit. I did have a bit of trouble finding the street as the street sign had been stolen.
Once inside there was a very long line, but at least it was still in the building. I understand that Saturday and especially before Christmas the lineup can be out the building and can be upwards of an hour. In all, I think I was in line about 20 minutes. Once up to the counter, you give them your name and 2 pieces of picture ID and they check the system for your parcel. All three of mine were successfully retrieved in under 5 minutes.
I do suggest that when you place an order on-line to pick up there, print out your invoice which hopefully breaks down the cost of the merchandise, tax and shipping charges and bring with you for the border. Depending on the value of the item, you may get away with not having to pay duty at the border.
CBI USA runs like a well oiled machine and the staff there were fantastic. I highly recommend that if you want to save yourself the crazy custom charges that some on-line sites charge you to ship from the US, next time consider CBI USA postal outlet. For more info on CBI, their hours and address please visit their website... http://www.cbiusa.com/
