I would love to know what secret deal Vinegar Syndrome has with DHL that other companies don’t. Once they stopped having orders shipped within Canada (the guy that briefly handled that a few years ago now runs the VS store here), I’ve had all my orders with them shipped to Canada from the U.S., even though I could’ve easily cut out the risk and just had them sent to my U.S. addresses in Michigan for free. Every time a VS order ships here, big or small, I figure I’m gonna get nailed by DHL but I also assume the savings from ordering on the U.S. website (as opposed to Unobstructed View or even the VS Store) will still be greater than any fee. But time and again, no fee. And VS only charges about $12 flat rate to ship to Canada!

Meanwhile, I’ve received occasional DHL parcels from other U.S. distributors, as well as Euro and Hong Kong distributors, and as Cultshock says, it’s really a crapshoot. Probably about a 50/50 split in my experience. In these situations, though, I don’t really recall the additional fees being much more than $25 to $35. So, depending on how many discs are in the box, plus my continued inability to source them as cheaply on Canadian soil, the ‘per disc’ increase is usually still justifiable.

In the sane world I’ve known for most of my border-crossing life (even during 2016-2020), I’d automatically ship a 5-disc Criterion order like this to my Michigan address, then pick it up on my next trip back home to visit relatives. But these days, I just don’t trust the customs/tariffs situation, and I’ve saved so much money across decades of using U.S. mailing addresses that paying slightly more during this ongoing American political circus is bearable. For now.

Furthermore, because America is kinda toxic nowadays, border crossings from Canada are starting to flatline. My former routine of ordering hundreds of dollars of Blu-rays and stuff ahead of a trip back home (and across the border) but only declaring maybe $100 - $125 worth of groceries and household items I’d also buy during the trip is probably a no-go now. With so little traffic on the bridge, I’m all but guaranteed to be pulled into secondary to fork over the duties and especially the retaliatory Canadian tariffs on everything. Might as well just stay at home, have orders shipped to Canada, and pay the DHL or other courier fees, because I’d probably get hit with something either way. This method at least saves on gas and wear and tear on my car.

Godzilla, and Godzilla vs Biollante UHDs for me.

Been a minute since I picked up some Criterion discs.

Funny Girl 4K
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid 4K
Paper Moon 4K (upgrade from 2003 Paramount DVD)
Mother 4K (upgrade from 2001 Paramount DVD)
Winchester ’73 4K (upgrade from 2003 Universal DVD)
Peeping Tom 4K (upgrade from 1999 Criterion DVD)
The In-Laws Blu-ray (upgrade from 2003 Warner DVD)

I split it into 2 orders so I could both finish earning, and then use, a $50 code. I also had 3 $10 Criterion Channel coupons saved up that I used too

Altogether out-of-pocket (including NY tax), it ended up at $114.15, averaging $16 and change per title. Still seems like kind of a lot considering 50% off and $80 worth of coupons. But all but one were at the 4K price point, with Pat Garrett retailing even higher than the other 4Ks (around $70 -- it's a 4 disc set).

Too funny and kind-of cool, I just watched the recent Carrie Coon visits the Criterion Closet youtube and she picked Godzilla Vs Biollante for her son to watch as he is a huge Godzilla fan.

No Country for Old Men
The Grifters
Val Lewton double feature
sex, lies and videotape
King of the Hill

More than I sometimes get, but justified in getting me to the $50 gift card.

That was a great Criterion Closet. She’s so knowledgeable about so many films. When she looked at one of the walls and said, oh, we own all of these…I felt a little seen.

Looks like the sale is over already and I lost out.

True...(wait for it)...story.

This doesn't bode well for avoiding customs fees...

Estimated Time of Arrival
March 25, 2025 - By End of Day
Further Detail
The Clearance process for this shipment is on-going with additional details required for clearance
Next Step
The clearance process will continue once the additional details are provided for clearance

Mine says the same, but I can’t recall if I’ve seen that on previous orders, even the ones where I ultimately paid fees. I guess I must have but for all I know it was on every DHL order and I just never noticed it, so based on my experience there’s still a chance we might not have to pony up (though I’m not betting on it).

If nothing else, it will be a good test to see whether I continue with cross border DHL-shipped orders under the Trump circus, or maybe stick with my U.S. parcel place and take my chances bringing my stuff back across the border myself (opened and ‘disguised in plain sight’, of course). For what it’s worth, if and when America goes back to normal, I still strongly recommend the parcel pickup services over there if you really want to save money on collecting, at least for those within a reasonably short drive to a border crossing. For now, though, I’m increasingly loathe to even set foot over there.

I recall there being a key phrase, with Canada Post, that let you know if you would, or would not, be paying border fees. I don't recall the specifics, however, and it wouldn't apply to DHL, regardless.

I am close to the border, but I rarely go over, these days. I used to go quite a bit, but the appeal has really gone. Although, I would love to pop over and pick up a bunch of bottles of Hershey Simply 5 chocolate syrup.

FFS

On hold awaiting for payment of shipment related fees

I got the shipping email from Criterion today. I assume it will probably take about a week to arrive.

Mine doesn’t say that yet, but I’m guessing it’s coming. I assume the difference is because yours is already at the pick-up location?

^It's supposed to be delivered, so I'm guessing they're either going to email be an invoice, to be paid, or it's an internal payment before it gets sent out for delivery.

The location is shown as "ONTARIO SERVICE AREA - ONTARIO - CANADA"

After some googling, it appears that it might 'stay' on hold until I pay. I tracked down the option to pay online (search for DHL On Demand Delivery), and this is the breakdown:All charges shown are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

Other Levy Charges - CUSTOMS CLEARANCE SERVICE FEE / Frais de service de dedouanement (L1) (incl. VAT)20.34 VAT Amount 2.34 TotalCAD 20.34
Tax - GST/PST/HST ON IMPORTED / TPS/QST SUR LES PRODUITS IMPORTES (TX)17.70 TotalCAD 17.70
Total Payable (incl. VAT)CAD 38.04

Mildly infuriating that I'm paying them $20 to collect $17.70 in taxes, after also paying them $25 (in Criterion.com credit) US for shipping. Fortunately there is no duty.

I'll just view it as getting $95 US worth of media for $38 CAN, or even better, I didn't have to spend around $172 CAN when they were on sale at Unobstructed View.

It does suck but at best here it appears you paid just about the same (maybe a wee bit less?) as you might have from Unobstructed View, after converting that $95 US to Canadian. I assume I’ll see my invoice today at some point.

Based on experience, better deals can generally be had with decent-sized orders to Canada from boutiques like Vinegar Syndrome, Severin, and Kino, especially IF you take advantage of their greater-than-50% discounts during some of their sales, or at least add a bunch of those titles to their main 50% off titles. For example, the last couple of Severin sales have seen a ton of their Blu-rays for about $7.50 US. No Canadian retailer can touch that. And VS will often have 60-80% discounts in the mix, plus going-OOP stuff cheap.

Personally, I’d prefer to use my U.S. address and ‘sneak’ my goodies back across the border, but I think that needs to be put on hiatus for a while, on principle.

At least with Criterion, my order of five new-ish releases gets me the last titles I ‘need’ from their catalog for now, and the upcoming releases don’t generally interest me so I might be able to avoid the fall sale, and maybe even the next one or two after that.

^As I mentioned, though, this was all purchased with gift certificates that CC sent out over the past few years, so the $38 is my only out of pocket expense. Also, the $172 from UV would be assuming their 40% discount. The current pricing is only 20% off.

Interestingly enough, the delivery was scheduled for EOD, tomorrow. I paid the $38 around 3:30 am and the delivery actually arrived at 9:30 this morning, six hours later.

Weird, though... What if I hadn't been following the tracking, and was just waiting for the package to show up? Would they just hold it there for a while, and then send it back? I'm surprised I didn't receive an email notifying me of the fees.

Regardless, my stuff is here, but I have to say, WTF is with the Trainspotting packaging? Ugh. Not a fan of that, at all.

Forgot about your gift cards. I do seem to recall getting emails – and eventually texts – regarding fees in the past, so it’s definitely odd that they didn’t trigger one automatically for you.

My order is still on schedule for tomorrow, after going through two Ontario service areas, as per usual. Oddly, though, I still haven’t seen the “on hold awaiting for payment of shipment related fees” message on the tracking info. Maybe they’ll surprise me when I pick it up at the mall across the street, but if they don’t it will certainly prove just how random they are about applying their fees. I mean, obviously I hope they don’t charge me, but my experience in the past is that one order from, say, a European company will get hit with a fee, and then the next, similar-sized order from that same company will not, and maybe the next one will be clear, too. Like Cultshock said, it’s a crapshoot. The only constant, as noted, has been Vinegar Syndrome, and maybe I’ve just lucked out with them so far.

My order just shipped out of Louisville, Kentucky. Says it's arriving by Saturday. It's possible it could come by Friday. Not a bad turnaround.

Note to self: don't tell DJariya I received my discs last Friday.

Then again, I ordered within 5 minutes of the sale going live so mine was probably one of the first to go out.

I made the disappointing discovery that my Trainspotting cover has a slash through it.

It wouldn't be worth the hassle to try and get it replaced, so I'll just keep it and be annoyed, every single time I look at it.

All my stuff arrived yesterday. It was a trifecta. Got my CC, A24, and VS deliveries.

Save up that annoyance, and use it to sign up for a U.S. parcel pickup place when America is normal again, in four years if we’re lucky.

I can also add that I ended up getting dinged for the same duty/fee/whatever that you did, same amount, and similarly had to jump through hoops to figure out how to pay it despite having had to do this on prior occasions, and despite having no indication on my tracking that payment was due as yours did, plus no email/text updates whatsoever, which I always get on orders from other companies / countries that ultimately have no duties. Go figure. As mentioned, this brings the pricing to about the same as if I’d ordered from Unobstructed View, maybe a smidge less. Not horrible, just tolerable.

Ten to one my next Vinegar Syndrome order (whenever they have another sale) gets here hassle free, of course.

^Damn. Was hoping you'd get by without the extra charges. DHL are such weasels. It's very annoying that CC won't offer USPS, as the shipping alone would be cheaper, and we'd have a much better chance of avoiding extra fees. Although, with all the shit going on, I suspect that'll change, if it hasn't already.