I've actually talked at length with a Gentle Giant rep regarding shipping. Bluntly it is overall significantly cheaper for them to use FedEx because 99% of their business is in the US. It allows them to use a very fast carrier that is remarkably inexpensive, much more so than USPS would be for them.
The long and short of it is for Canadians, we don't rate. We're too small a market for them to consider a switch. And I'm not sure that FedEx in Canada is directly the same as it is in the US. We see this with agriculture companies sometimes, like Bayer or Dow. They're the same company, but no more closely related than you and I Jesse. We're both Canadians and star wars freaks, but that's about it. From a business standpoint I can appreciate it, no matter how frustrating.
On the bright side, the Canadian complaining during the Luke Stormtrooper bust did reap a benefit. At that time I tried to get my bust shipped to chuckles (Jim) in Minnesota and they would not allow it because the billing and shipping addresses were different (this is different from my recent troubles with EE and SWS.com), regardless of whether I had the Minnesota address listed as a valid shipping address with my CC company. I received an email some time after the Luke "discussions" indicating that GG had changed their policy and I (and others) would be allowed to have our stuff shipped to a different address from our billing address. I consider that a win.
With the Han bust I opted for the cheapest shipping and it went to Jim's place right quick (#31
). I also win because Jim gets lots of my stuff, so he bulks it up and sends it on. I only need to have patience getting my stuff and I save money big time. I also really appreciate Jim's efforts in helping me out. But even without bulking, he could probably send it up here for $10 or less, so a total shipping cost of $15 and it ends up arriving a week later, but no hold ups like Dale is experiencing and no brokerage fees. Maybe customs fees, maybe not.
