Great way to buy from the US for Calgarians!!!

[schwarzie]

Hi there, this is not a coupon, but if you are looking to save some money buying things from the States, there is a place in Sweetgrass, Montana (about an hour South of Lethbridge) that you can have your purchases shipped to. They will accept them, email you when the shipment arrives, and hold it until you get there!

My parents are renovating their bathrooms etc and the sinks, toilets, faucets etc they wanted were over $3500 if they bought them in Canada! I had given them this info and the ended up buying everything for $1600 and the shipping was free within the US. My dad and I (Calgary) drove down when it arrived and crossed the border and picked it all up. They charged him @ $50 for receiving and holding everything and it was extremely well run. Don't be put off by the look of the place!

We also made the 70 mile round trip (approx 115 kms) to the closest "city" Shelby, MT to hit the Albertson's (a condition of my taking the day off work)! Bring a cooler!! You are allowed to bring back 20 kgs of chicken, beef, etc per person and the chicken was $1.99/lb for boneless skinless breasts - about half the cost of here - and you are allowed to bring back $20 CAD worth of cheese! The Kraft shredded bags and blocks were on sale for $2 so I filled up! I asked the person in front of me to scan their Albertson's card so I could get the sale prices, but they will give you one almost on the spot if you want one. Plus, you get all the snacks that they just don't have up here!

Finally, if you want to stop at the duty free on the way back, each legal adult is allowed to bring back 45L of booze every 90 days. You have to pay the duty, but if it is on sale, it is way cheaper. I got 120 Bud Light Limes for sale at the duty free for $50 and had to pay another $6 per 24 duty. Only $80 for 120 beer that would cost about $240 or so up here!

When we got back to cross into Canada, my dad just had to pay the GST on the stuff he bought which ended up being around $80. The items he had were not subject to duty so the only duty we paid was for the beer!

FYI, appliances etc are not subject to duty, only GST.

The whole trip took us about 9 hours door to door and that included a restaurant lunch and a stop at the Nanton candy store.

I am not sure if I can post a link so if you google Montana shipping outlet, you will be able to find it I think. If not PM me!

[PurpleChocolate]

WOW! Thanks for posting this info! It never occurred to me that there was a shipping outlet that would offer this service. Keeping this info for future use!
I've always been a bit irritated (to put it mildly) by the fact that the US has such great deals in their stores compared to Canada, and that when on-line shopping, being in Canada meant I could never take full advantage of the great deals on the US side of the border... Not anymore!!!
A grateful fellow Calgarian!

[schwarzie]

You are very welcome! I got the info from a friend who has things shipped there all the time. They will hold smaller items for as long as you want and larger items that require a pallet they hold for 30 days (I think). My friend even had dirt bikes shipped there. She told me about the Albertson's. She actually ended up buying a cooler down there to bring everything she bought home. If you choose not to go the grocery store route, the warehouse is within about 2 minutes of the border. To go straight there and back would be about 6.5 hours with loading time. Also, the border is apparently quite busy on Fridays and Saturdays (the warehouse is only open one or two Saturdays a month) so if you go during the week it is much quicker to get through. We went on a Thursday and only had to wait about 15 minutes each way.

With the prices down in the US compared to here and the dollar the way it is, this is really a great option! I think the gas was about $80 round trip in a guzzler. Worth every minute, even if you decided to break up the trip and stay in Lethbridge for a night, you will still save a lot of $$$.

[fame4ever]

wow this is amazing. I live in Lethbridge. I need to check into this place. I get material shipped all the time and UPS costs you an arm and a leg. Wonder if the material would be duty free. I love the idea of Albertson

[mummy_r]

Awesome! Thanks for the tip; could you please pm me the info?

[schwarzie]

Do you mean material as in to sew with? LOL please clarify and I will try to find out for you!

[Gumbi24]

Awesome! Please PM me too!

[mhk]

Thanks so much for the info Schwarzie. Can you please pm me the info?

[sandrawenz]

Thanks for this great tip, can you e-mail me the info where I ship to.

[minouchefreedom]

I see renting a large passenger van, and a group trip to Montana in some of our futures...lol!! What a neat idea!

[jchandler]

Yes, I've needed to order lots of books etc... and the shipping was going to be something like $500, so I had everything shipped to a UPS store in Montana, actually. Then, some relatives picked it all up on their way back to Calgary. Ended up getting free shipping...