Canada My last trip to Canada was my last trip to Canada

[dancorn]

Took a load from Chicago to Quebec City, crossed the border at Port Huron and all was going well. I delivered 12 hours early and was advised to return to the US by the Cat if I wanted another load out. The closest border crossing was Jackman, Maine so there I went. The US customs asked me what I had acquired in Canada and I told and showed them the $40 worth of gifts I had purchased for Sweetie, there was nothing else. I was told to leave the keys in the van, go inside and pay $10.75 and wait. An hour later an officer walked in carrying 5 cartons of cigarettes. They asked me why I had not declared them when I first arrived at the border. I explained that there was nothing to declare as I had brought those smokes into Canada from home in Mississippi. I told them they were a four week supply for my own use. They were not duty free or Canadian, they were American. They said I might be held in custody for smuggling. After the second hour I was told they may only confiscate my smokes and fine me $38 a carton with no arrest. After the third hour I was called to the desk and told to take my cigarettes and go and to drive slow because of the moose wandering the roads south of there. During the three hour ordeal of sweating bullets there were only two vehicles that passed through customs at this remote location.


Here is the $64 question. How can I legally carry enough cigarettes with me so I do not have to buy those expensive northeast smokes. I only pay $22.50 a carton vs. $70-$90 in some states. Leaving them at a locker in the US won't work unless I return to the same location which is not always feasible. Until I figure a way I am staying south of the Canadian border.

 

[piper1]

Did you declare the smokes when you went IN to Canada to Canada Customs?

If you didn't that is likely what tripped them up. Canada and the US share an awful lot of border data and if you didn't declare the cigs on the way in...the US guys likely figured you bought them there as there was no record of them entering Canada from the US.

At the border it is a good idea to think of it all as one country because what you tell one side....you tell the other.

 

[Turtle]

The rules are pretty clear on things like tobacco. 200 cigarettes can be imported into the US if they were previously exported. Meaning, if you bought them here and then took them into Canada, that's when you previously exported them. You can then import them (bring them back into the country with you), but only up to 200. If you previously exported, say, 1000 cigarettes (5 cartons), then you are allowed to import 200 of them, and the remaining 800 previously cigarettes "would be confiscated."

If you have a carton and a half, maybe two, and you go in and out of Canada a lot, if you have a FAST Card, they might not make much of an issue out of it. But it's 200.
Determining Duty - CBP.gov

 

[moose]

Sooo....
you drive slow in Maine ?

 

[Deville]

Aren't the bottom of all packs of cigs stamped with each individual states tax stamp to prevent them from being purchased cheaply in an other state & sold at a higher price in another? Why couldn't the agents just look at the bottom of one of the packs.

 

[Turtle]

A State Tax Stamp just means the tax was paid in a given state. It is not the same thing as an Import Duty, and more than 200 cigarettes being imported are subject to the import duty (or confiscation, depending on where they originated). I'm not sure why that particular number was settled on, but it's nearly uniform the world over.

Countries within the EU, you can go back and forth between those with up to 800 cigarettes, but if you arrive in a EU country from a non-EU country, it's 200 cigarettes. I think Australia is 250. The US, Canada and Mexico, it's 200 cigarettes.

At all border stations they have a booklet kit thing they will give you that explains it all, everything you can and cannot import and export, and the quantities and dollar amounts that are exempt from duty and tax. It's also online at the link above, but each section is broken down into individual PeeDeeEffs and Web pages.

 

[pjjjjj]

Our government is being oversensitive and overzealous regarding their interest in cigarettes lately, I've been hearing a lot of trucker stories of being harassed by police for carrying minimal quantities. There is a lot of smuggling and contraband activity going on, and they're cracking down. If you're coming into Canada, I would suggest just keeping enough with you that you can easily justify smoking during the trip you are on. Get a locker or something and leave em on your side of the river.

 

[jimby82]

Or just give up smokin'

 

[hondaking38]

dont no why panther wanted you out of quebec, we get loads to detroit from quebec and montreal quite often.. but i stopped canada again a couple weeks ago.....90% of loads were from grand rapids to windsor...then if ya dared cross the border back into detroit,they would mini you to death with load offers going over the border that drivers dropped off at the ole aluma bunk bld......you could get 5 refusals in as many minutes..

 

[guido4475]

Even with the most pleasent and cooperative attitude,there seemed to always be a problem of some sort getting back into my own country.So now when signing on with a country that goes to Canada, I stress that I will not go and if it comes down to either go or leave, I'll pull the stickers off of the truck.That is what happenened with me and Bolt in 2001.It is my vehicle.Now one can or will force me to go where I dont want to go.It seems as time goes on, carriers are forgetting that we are a small business within a business. Instead, they want to treat us as a company driver, and alot of us go along with that type of treatment, which I believe is wrong.Alot of our rights as a independent business went down the toilet the minute people started agreeing to this type of treatment.It's about as bad as some of these lease-purchase deals you see out there from major trucking co's.Or bringing your semi over to sign on with one of them, but you have to govern the speed to what their trucks are set at.I know it is an insurance thing, but it is the point of it is OUR truck, not theirs.Sorry if I went off of the subject at hand a little bit.Anyway, back to our regurly scheduled post...

 

[LDB]

Jimby gave the sensible answer. +1

 

[usafk9]

I also have thought twice about continuing loads north of the border. I get treated much better by Canadian Customs and their citizenry, than I do by our own CBP agents. I guess it's no matter that I'm a military veteran who took an oath, probably identical to theirs to sacrifice in the name of our nation. These bas***ds know this when they wave my passport's RFID tag in front of their not-so-super-secret reader.

My last time through, I was asked new questions (and I have been across the border hundreds of times). "Have you ever been to court? For what?" When I responded they were for civil matters (I believed they were looking for criminal problems), he asked, "For what?"

I came a hair's breadth from telling him it was none of his da**ed business. Because it is.........none of his business.

I don't need to wait in line 2.5 hours to be treated so poorly getting back in our own country.

I'm still riding the fence. Someone push me one way or the other......please.

 

[jujubeans]

Remember the slogan from the sixties?

Hell No, We Won't GO!

 

[touble]

guido,you are correct with your statement. I do not understand why driver put up with all the crap being shoved up our a***. I did Canada years ago, but no longer. We have enough trouble in the USA, with everything coming at us, to add more by going to Canada. I understand the need for rules, but in some cases things can be handle in a kinder way by these officers.

 

[Darmstadter]

Or just give up smokin'

Right on. Other than Morton Downey Jr, (is he dead now?) I can't think of anybody that would need to have 5 cartons of smokes on em at any given time. Might be time to cut back a bit.

 

[greg334]

Some of you guys are funny, these people can ask you anything they want, they can rip your truck/van apart and there is nothing, not a d*mn thing you can do about it. They don't even need to tell you what they are looking for, you don't seem to have the right to do a thing except listen to them. If you present yourself as a professional, act accordingly and listen to them, it will go smooth.

I don't like it a bit to be asked personal questions but I know the game, I know what they are trying to do and how they catch people. Out of the hundreds of crossings I made, once I had serious problems because of the person I was traveling with, he didn't actually answer the quesiton asked. Another time I went over to Sarnia with my dumba** boss ten years ago (he was drivnig so I didn't have a choice), I told him not to tell the US customs officer what the trip was (it was to buy kitkat bars for his equally dumba** wife) and not to say a word about the tools in the trunk we used to install a network in port huron. He opened his mouth, 7 hours later I was released and had to have my wife drive up there to get me, my dumba** boss had a $300 fine, his car ripped apart and then detained for 24 hours. The customs officer who released me said that if he said nothing but we went to the casino, he would have not had a bit of a problem. What really got him in trouble was the tools, seeing that he said we worked in Port Huron and then went to Sarnia, they assumed we worked in Canada without the decalring the tools on our way in.

 

[PyleDriver]

Unfortunate situation you had coming back home. But you learned a good lesson. Had you not had the smokes, there wouldn't have been a story.

Don't limit your future income by not going to Canada, there's money to be had up there.

Better luck next time

 

[Mdbtyhtr]

The reason the States are pursuing the cigarette issue is revenue. I am a Bail Bondsman and have bonded out many people buying cigarettes in large volume at 1 or more big box stores in VA, and get busted coming into Maryland. The MD tax authority Police seize the cigarettes and sell them at auction. If the haul is large enough, they will seize the vehicle too. The subjects go to jail. The MD tax authority Police sit in VA at these Big Box stores and look for out of state tags, either from MD or North of there. People buying cigarettes in large amounts get them placed into a black shopping back (not their choice) and the cops are watching for the black bags. They radio ahead with the vehicle descriptions and bust them when they cross into MD.

The rule is that you cannot transit through MD with more than 2 cartons. If you are a MD resident, you can only bring in 2 packs of cigarettes purchased outside of the State, the only exception being active or prior Military, with the cigarettes purchased duty free on post, and then you are limited to two cartons.

On the lighter side, 2 Charles County Sheriff's Deputies flew to Washington State to transport a Fugitive back to Maryland. They arrived on a Sunday and could not recover the defendant until Monday. They crossed into Canada and went to an Indian Casino. When they came back, the USBP would not let them back as they had no passports or birth certificates and their "Brass Passes" did not work. They called their supervisors and raised a fuss, it seems the USBP enjoyed it. So don't feel slighted, they mess with anybody, why? Because they can!

Scott

 

[Turtle]

... and the cops are watching for the black bags. They radio ahead with the vehicle descriptions and bust them when they cross into MD.

Oh, I could have some fun with that. Imagine the varied things you could stuff into black bags.

 

[usafk9]

Must be that word "entrapment" is conspicuously missing from MD dictionaries, eh, Scott?