Storage FAQ
How long will you hold our items?
We will continue to hold items until 6 months after the border opens back up, although they will continue to accrue storage fees.
Do I have to forward my packages?
Although that is an option, it isn’t required. We do also have several Storage Options if you don't believe it is worth it to you to have your packages forwarded.
Why don’t you just consolidate everyone's packages and not charge for it to clear out your own space?
There are multiple reasons we can't do that. First, a lot of our members don’t want to pick everything up at the same time for some reason or another. If we were to consolidate their items, they would lose the ability to "pick and choose" which so many of our members like to do for managing duty/taxes or just getting a certain parcel they need without taking the time or energy to get everything. Secondly, gathering and consolidating parcels takes time. When we gather them to bring to the counter, we don't need to do any administrative work such as changing locations in our system. We feel it is fair to charge something for this extra service so we can offer the highest level of service and most options possible. Lastly, it would violate our member's privacy for us to be opening parcels to consolidate just so we can save space in our warehouse.
What if my items aren't worth the cost of forwarding or storing?
If your packaging is a low value item that isn't worth the cost of shipping or storing, we do have a disposal option. We would just charge the parcel receiving fee and a modest disposal fee and take care of it for you.
What would you recommend/prefer I do?
For a majority of cases, especially if you have more than a few parcels, we would recommend the consolidated storage method (Option 2 on the “ Storage Options” page). It may save you the duties and taxes bill compared to if you were to forward them, not to mention the shipping fee. The storage fees themselves are nominal (probably just a few dollars a month). This will also speed up the pickup process when you are able to come down to pick up as we would only have to grab a couple boxes versus how many we would have had to grab before.
In March last year, you told us to keep ordering packages and promised that there would be no storage fees until the border opened back up. What happened?
At the very beginning of COVID, there wasn't a person that thought this shutdown would last more than 6 months, much less a year. We have done our best to continue to serve our members by creating new forwarding services and storing packages, but we simply don’t have the time or manpower to keep that maintenance up sustainably into the future without charging a little something for the extra service of keeping these thousands of parcels organized for a prolonged period of time. If we do not do this, we would mean a) stopping people from ordering at this time and b) taking several times as long to find and grab our members packages once the border does open, and we don’t believe that is a phenomenal service experience. Our solution to that is charging storage. This allows our members to continue ordering, and allows us to continue to maintain our warehouse to be able offer you a phenomenal member experience.