Aircraft Spruce

Well , I can only hope that we finally have a ACS warehouse in Canada. I've inquired several times before and they had practically nothing I needed at that time. I called the toll free # last week with over 20 items to order. Some were pricey items, and never did I expect the responce I recieved. The Brantford store had all but two items. One of them a Dynon roll servo kit, was not in stock in any of their warehouses.
The order was shipped out of Brantford the day I made the order with freight prepaid by ACS and the two items that were back-ordered will be shipped pre-paid when they come in. The difference in cost ( US/ CDN ) isn't much more than what my credit card charges for exchange. I don't get taken by brokers as they are already in Canada, and no freight.
The postal service is a little slow but still faster than a courior dealing with customes. Tracking allows progress to be monitered.
Today I needed six AN509-10R69 bolts so I can finish the cabin top. Brantford had them, and placed them in the mail for just over ten bucks. Much better now, ACS keep up the good work. I did send an e-mail out to Jim Irwin last week thanking him and got a reply today from him. I've been dealing with ACS a fair amount for the last twenty years.

Aircraft Spruce double gouge

I just completed a test order through ACS using their Canadian ordering facility. They charge a premium for handling Canadian orders, but their website is extremely vague on what happens after you order.

It turns out that I receive my goods relatively quickly, but in addition to paying the Canadian premium above the exchange rate (about 5%), I had to pay $27.83 for shipping on a $57.58 order!

This is not what I expected based on the information on their website. I expect the 5% premium to be the only surcharge for Canadian orders, not the excessive shipping costs via UPS.

ACS has left a bad taste in my mouth. I know they can't control the International shipping costs from UPS, but why do they charge an additional premium for Canadian orders?

I'll go back to having deliver made to my US post box... and ordering from Van's or Wicks.

Vern

Hello Vern
ACS charger a premium for the exchange rate, their brokerage, and shipping up from the US. If you order using a credit card, I find that VISA charges a high exchange rate almost as high as ACS premium charge. I can't get a handle on how custom brokers do their billing, I've asked and the only answer I get is it pertains to the cost of the shipment. So I asked my broker, (I just picked the first item that came into my head that I thought would be hard to bring into a country) what they would charge to bring in $1.00 worth of uraninm. Oh but that would involve a lot more work and time and we would have to charge accordingly. My question is if a $10.00 shipment cost $25 for brokerage fee and I order another item that requires the exact same form and takes the same worker the exact same time to process but cost several thousand dollars why do they charge $75 bucks and up. They get a VISA # before they clear the package to cover their fee, taxes due and duty if applicable.Anyway now I don't have to deal with a broker thru ACS and am loving it. Just placed my third today. I use the postal service and it's much more reasonable, and I take advantage of ordering over $500 and ACS coveres the shipping.
I still use the 1-877 # and deal thru the US stores to make the order as they have more information on hand but then it's passed on to the Brantford warehouse. I would like to see the online store reflect the stock in Brantford, then I would use that method of ordering.
Ron

Hi Ron. I expected ACS to be like Digi-Key. Place your order, pay $8 shipping and receive your parts the next day.

Paying ACS both the premium and the high UPS shipping cost is outrageous in comparison. It's UPS that handles the customs clearance, not ACS.

A better comparison is that many of the products that we sell from Vx Aviation are shipped free to most places in the world! We've figured out how to get the cost down to the point where it makes sense not to charge for it.

So if anyone from ACS is tracking this, how about fixing the business model? The Digikey model is the way to go... and they use UPS as well and ship from the US overnight. There is a premium on the parts price (about 5%), but the shipping is reasonable.

As I said in my earlier post, this was a test case for direct delivery, and ACS has failed the test. Companies that want to do business in Canada need to do better.

Vern
It's funny you mention Digi Key. A month ago I ordered six $1.24 switched for a total of $7.44 USD. Without thinking I hit Fedex for shipping, Digi-key billed me $54.00 USD for shipping for a total of $7.44 of goods. I had placed the order after 10:00 PM here and after going to bed I thought about what I had done. I contemplated getting up and e-mailing Digi-key and ask them to use the mail, but delayed this until before 8 AM the next morning. My responce at noon was they had shipped last evening. Good service but very expensive.
That's the problem everytime you ship/recieve something the rules or policies change. It appears all shipping companies will charge the unexperienced premium prices unless we arrange ahead of shipping.
Ron

shipping from h*ll

guys,
same lack of a warm fuzzy with shipping from the states.

Local pilots use a shipping depot in Oroville, and bring the goods across themselves into BC.

As&s also burned me on shipping, by charging for a Back order that shipped out of their Georgiea warehouse 2 days after my main order left CA. the goods went to Ontario, then re-shipped to me. got the stuff 2 weeks later, with all kinds of extra charges that I had to fight to have reduced, not refunded. No logic at work there at all.....Back-orders are supposed to ship pre-paid, " but not internationally." Like it costs any more to ship to Canada?

All I can offer is to try to use the post office, who ain't cheap anymore either, do larger buys, or use a depot.

I've started buying 2 of everything, then flogging the 2nd one at the next club meeting to help defray the shipping....

by the way, anyone want a Fumoto quick-drain????

...actually gave in and got it from a truckers supply in Chillwack!

UPS Shipping

I have not ordered anything through Aricraft Spruce but I have a far amount of experience ordering from other places in the States. UPS normal ground shipping is great until a border is encountered then it is awful and very expensive. Fed-Ex can actually be cheaper occasionally.

Digi-Key has been very good shipping from their Canadian outlet. I have had just great service from McMaster-Carr. Often their orders from Chicago arrive quicker and cheaper than if shipped from downtown Vancouver.

For those of us close enough to the US border we can ship to a UPS or other shipping location on the border. There are a lot of these setup just for this purpose, pick it up and do everything ourselves at the border. If the item is made in North America there is seldom any duty, just GST and PST in BC that is 5% + 7% = 12% total

The US Postal Service, if you can get the shipper to use them, have been quite reasonable, however it can take several weeks to cross the border. Likely due to Canada's very efficient border services!! My experience is that USP gets it to the border in at most 2 days, the rest is the Canadian bureaucracy living up to its Third World reputation for efficiency.

So if I can, I order from the US Supplier and deliver it to Point Roberts then do the Customs thing myself. Just as a note, many suppliers when shipping to a US address do not include an invoice with the shipment, that is emailed to the customer, just remember to take that invoice to the Customs people, it gets messy if you forget it at home, I know.

Bob Parry

Going to the border has never been an option for me. I might just as well go all the way to the US supplier and pick it up myself after I get to the border, unless I fly across the bay.

Aircraft Spruce Canada has greatly increased the list of items they stock. In their early days, I found that they only had the very high volume items. But things have really improved. I put an order in two weeks ago, with many odd ball items, and everything was in stock in Canada, except for one very strange tool that I really didn't need (I dropped that item from the order). The order arrived via Canada Post two days later, for only $9 in shipping charges.

Recieved another order today. It was shipped on Thursday, due this Thursday. Must have kept moving over the weekend. Fairly large box $21.00. I'm still very pleased. Keep it up ACS Canada.
Ron

I have been corresponding with Jim Irwin from ACS and he has provided me some suggestions that make sense.

First of all, he says to choose the "FOB Canada" option when checking out (not the UPS duty paid option). Also choose "Ship Complete" to make sure that you don't pay multiple shipping fees. ACS Canada will consolidate the order and ship everything at once.

I echo the "don't use UPS over the border" sentiment and I gave that opinion to Jim.

He seems pretty sincere about getting this to work, and I hope that the ACS website is updated to provide clear directions on this.

I've used CanAmer in Blaine, WA for years, but I'm moving soon and getting over the border will not be as convenient.

In my avionics business, I have a flat fee for all shipments (including free shipping on many items). Excessive shipping costs are just an impediment to business. I've found a good method of getting the cost out to make it a benefit to my international clients.

Vern