U.S. post office told me I could not ship a knife?

I sent a custom knife to canda . It was a $600. pocket knife from Whiskers. i received a letter from customs that it was seiezed. i sent sevral letters and no reply. That was 4 years ago now. I talked to the US postal service and they told me that since it was canada they could do nothing.

Poof it was gone!

I would advice never shipping a knife to canada .EVER!:thumbdn:
 
Rick stated it already, but Canada is very lenient with it's knife laws. If it can open under it's own weight (gravity), it's termed illegal.. As long as it's not automatic, balisong, or loose like that, it's legal. What did you label the knife as on the shipping label, and what value?

I've bought a lot of knives out the US, with no issues. My only problem with customs was a box of matches they "destroyed", and animal based food products. They once seized a can of toasted leafcutter ants I bought from Thinkgeek (who no longer ships edibles outside the US incidentally). Knives, as long as they don't fall under a illegal category, have never been an issue with me, even assisted opening knives like the SOG Flash.

colubrid said:
I sent a custom knife to canda . It was a $600. pocket knife from Whiskers. i received a letter from customs that it was seiezed. i sent sevral letters and no reply. That was 4 years ago now. I talked to the US postal service and they told me that since it was canada they could do nothing.

Poof it was gone!

I would advice never shipping a knife to canada .EVER!:thumbdn:
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It was a Whiskers custom lockback. The blade was not loose when closed.


mgysgthath said:
Rick stated it already, but Canada is very lenient with it's knife laws. If it can open under it's own weight (gravity), it's termed illegal.. and I suspect a customs agent just liked it and used that or something like it as an excuse, if it wasn't overly loose. As long as it's not automatic, balisong, or loose like that, it's legal. What did you label the knife as on the shipping label, and what value?

I've bought a lot of knives out the US, with no issues. My only problem with customs was a box of matches they "destroyed" (Read: kept for themselves I'd bet), and animal based food products. They once seized a can of toasted leafcutter ants I bought from Thinkgeek (who no longer ships edibles outside the US incidentally). Knives, as long as they don't fall under a illegal category, have never been an issue with me, even assisted opening knives like the SOG Flash.
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And the knife was worth more than $600 because had it for over 15 years. Six Hundred was just what i paid for it back then. It had my dads name , my name and my sons name engraved on the tang. It was meant to be a family airloom passed down. I sent it to my son in canada after his grandfather died. That is how customs got a hold of it.

Funny thing is my son recived the box with a note inside of it telling him they confiscated the knife. He tried on his end to get the knife sent back to me. And i tied on this end. But nothing ever came of it. They simply don't answer. Seems like you need a laywyer and a court order. But up in Canada the courts are quite different from ours in the U.S..
 
I'm sorry for your loss.. it's never a good thing when that happens, especially in a scenario like yours. They should have had no legal reason to seize/destroy it.
 
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Okay... I don't understand when you guys automatically assume that postal workers and customs agents keep siezed goods for themselves. It doesn't work like that. It is a federal offence to tamper with the mail, even for workers and contrary to popular belief, customs agents do not get to keep crap they sieze, EVER. If anyone of those people steal stuff it is because they are THIEVES taking a ballsy risk and an exception to the many good folks who do their jobs right. I have family and friends in both customs and postal positions and worked directly beside cutoms for 3yrs. You speak as if they sort through mail looking for stuff to keep.... please. It is up to YOU to be up to date with knife laws. Do the gravity test for yourself, if it fails, tighten the pivot or drip some wax in the space to stiffen it up. To complain about Canada Customs after trying to mail through a flipper doesn't make much sense.

colubrid.... do you have a picture of the knife? what material were the scales? Are you sure it was un"flick"able? I have seen old Buck lockbacks that flick.
 
I got it shipped after I talked to the manager he didnt want to ship it either they claimed it was dangerous if it got dropped and came out it might cut someone. anyway they saw how it was packaged and shipped it.
Thanks Anthony
 
Hi Bama -

Just bypass the gal altogether and log onto USPS.com, register for an account and start using click-n-ship.

It will walk you through the forms and you can print the postage, customs info and all info needed right on the label - then all you do is drop it off and tell her to have a nice day.

I have done this many times to many different countries (including Canada) recently.

best regards -

mqqn
 
Rick Marchand said:
Did it have a sheath?
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Good point, I would never ship a knife with out some sort of sheath, even if it was just a couple slabs of basswood glued together to protect both the blade and the shipper. Ideally, I would have the wooden case and a knife case to protect the knife, and a firmly packaged box to protect that. For packaging material I have been using shredded newspaper, the last two that went out were stuffed with 2 complete papers each. The way I do it is I put a thick layer in the box, then the knife it is protective casing be that the leather sheath, a temp wooden sheath, or knife case, then I stuff all around and over the knife till I think I have enough pick it up and shake the crap out of it. If I hear any movement I open up the box and add more shredded paper till I can shake the box and hear or feel nothing moving. I don't worry about the weight of the box or how much it will cost to ship, because in the long run it would cost more to replace a knife that didn't make it to is destination safe and sound. I know soon I am going to start making wooden inserts boxes to fit inside the cardboard boxes to be even safer, but I can be a little paranoid:nightmare:
 
wolffbite said:
I have always shipped a knife cross border as a "camping tool", and never had a problem. Better to not tell them you are shipping a "knife" at all... it tends to get raised eyebrows or questions like "you do know you can't ship dangerous goods?".

Find a new PO, or ship marked as a "tool" :thumbup:
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yeah the last knife i shipped was insured for $500, kinda got them thinking what kind of tool it was. all i heard was, "make sure you put one of them tracking things on there" lol
 
You have run into an idiot at the USPS similar to the station manager at my local PO. He swears that knives can only be shipped to "licensed dealers" (the postal reg regarding shipping of automatics only to FFL holders) but can't tell you what a licensed dealer is. Just go to another PO branch and find someone with a brain. I have shipped all but one of my knives to Europe using USPS Priority Mail International..
 
jdm61 said:
You have run into an idiot at the USPS
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I can attest to that fact. I have about 6 in-laws that work for the USPS or are retired from there and they're all pretty much idiots. Seriously. And the stories they tell will make you go "really and you wonder why the USPS is losing money?"

But it's just not my in-laws...for example

I mailed two blades off yesterday to Texas Knife for HT. The lady behind the counter thought they were "cute". I ask her about shipping a package to Canada via Priority and she says it'll be $11 or $4 to $5 if I use 1st Class. I go back today and ship the box and ask for confirmation. Another clerks says it will be $23! I then ask for confirmation and she says they can't get confirmation with International mail. I ask her how I could track it. She says send it "Registered" but that will cost an additional $18.60. "OR" she says, insure it for more than $200. This will only cost $5.60 more. So I insure it for $201 and mark it "cutlery" on the Customs form. Wish I'd read this post sooner, I would have marked it "tool" or "camping equipment". Oh well.

But really, my in-laws are idiots...
 
I apologize for the implication, I wasn't meant to come across as likely or common - clearly they would plainly be thieves if that happened; Just a poor choice of words. I simply meant to convey that as long as it conformed to the very few knife laws here, it should not have been seized. I've amended that post.
 
I shipped a knife to australia and just put "collector's piece" knife so it would get less slack. Wasnt really anythign super nice but figured what the hell
 
colubrid said:
I sent a custom knife to canda . It was a $600. pocket knife from Whiskers. i received a letter from customs that it was seiezed. i sent sevral letters and no reply. That was 4 years ago now. I talked to the US postal service and they told me that since it was canada they could do nothing.

Poof it was gone!

I would advice never shipping a knife to canada .EVER!:thumbdn:
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Whiskers? Whiskers Allen? Was it an automatic?
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Ask to see the Postal regulation that forbids it. We have had postal clerks and postmasters misread the regulation against switchblades to mean all knives. Ignorance can pop up anywhere.
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first time i was at the local to ship some of my first knives i had to go over this with then and then the manager came out and said knives no problem so long as there not auto

BTW if youare selling knives for $$ in a way you are a dealer/ manufacture as you make the knives adn they are sold to the end user
 
Rick Marchand said:
Infact, I disagree with declaring it as "tool" or "camp implement" because customs will be more likely to investigate a "vague" description over one that is more detailed.
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I believe Rick is right. BS'ing around the rules is a sure way to get "audited" (for lack of a better term).
 
I went through this same problem shipping a knife here in the US. It was an ignorant clerk that was misinterpeting the rules. I went to a post office where I know the postmaster and told her what the first postal clerk had said and she said "that is a bunch of bull, that clerk does not know what she is talking about." The knife was shipped without a problem. What I have run into all of a sudden here lately is paying for return signature confirmation of receipt and not getting the signature card back confirming that the person received the knife. This has happened three times in a row, and this postmaster knows what she is doing, but she cannot explain why the card is not coming back all of a sudden. Someone is dropping the ball somewhere.
 
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