Returns/Shipping/Tariffs

 Canada Post is striking  and while they things work out I will be using other carriers. This means you can continue to place order from Canada or from the USA as usual. However  I am told deliveries may be a slower during the strike because of the extra volume for the other shipping carriers.

You will receive tracking from the shipping carrier company when your order is handed over to them.  For the first few weeks of this strike it may take longer than usual for me to get orders to the carrier, there are a lot of new details to figure out to prepare shipping to different locations,. The carriers and customs all have their individual requirements.

If you have had an order filled recently ( after around May 12) and the tracking says it is not yet been submitted to the post office, thats a good thing, it means I still have it and am in the process of changing the shipping to a different carrier. This means your order will be late arriving but at least it is not going to be trapped at a Canada Post facility for the duration of the strike! 

Tariffs & US shoppers:  this continues to be is a changeable situation so I can't say how it will be when you are reading this.  Tariff fees, like shipping costs, are your responsibility but I have not heard of my products incurring any tariff fees at the border to date.  Also, the US dollar continues to be 25 or 30% higher than the Canadian dollar, which is like a 25 - 30% sale on everything you buy from Canada using US dollars. So if  your US government customs does put the 10%  tariff fees on your order, you would still be paying around 20% less than the Canadian price :-)

Below is my standard shipping information before tariffs and strikes. Fingers crossed we will be able to return to it soon.

 

Shipping:

A Threaded Needle ships to anywhere in North America. The cost of shipping to other countries makes it impractical for customers in other countries. 

When the strike is over I will return to Canada Post shipping with tracking to send your orders.  I do this because Canada Post will ship to post office box numbers and rural areas where other shippers may not. 

Delivery times: Expect 3 or 4 days for your order to arrive at our shipping drop off and start its journey to you. I try for two days but it's not realistic to say I can always do that. Once your order is at the drop off location it will be scanned and your tracking will tell you where it is and when you can expect it to arrive at your address.

About the cost of shipping:

• I know the cost of shipping is hard to swallow, especially if you only need a small item.  I'm sorry for this. I get a bit of discount from Canada Post and I pass that on to you, but I know it doesn't help much. 
• If I offered free shipping I would have to build it into my product prices so it would come to the same thing. I choose to keep my prices as low as I can and to charge you exactly what the post office charges me for your order, and I have no added handling or packaging charges.
• If I shipped very large volumes of packages, the Post Office would give me very large discounts and I could absorb the cost of giving free shipping, but I don't so they don't :-) 

The best suggestions to reduce the cost of shipping I have to offer are:

• Wait to place your order until you have several things you need because the shipping rates for Canada Post parcels starts at a flat rate and goes up from there by weight increments. This means you can usually order a sizeable amount for the same shipping cost that you would pay for some threads and a pack of needles. (I know, it seem wrong- but it costs the same for the trucks and employees and so forth to move a letter from one place to another as it does for a shoe box size package, for example)  
• Another option (which uses the same logic as the first :-D) is to order with a friend, or with your quilting guild or you sewing/stitching group and share the shipping cost.  

For local customers: Why I don't offer local pick up: 

• I regret very much that I can't. Basically I'm too small and too niche a business to afford the rent and overhead to pay for a storefront location. Instead, I work from a strata situation. This means  insurance doesn't cover customers coming here, and by-law won't allow extra traffic. 

 Returns & Refunds: