u/nethead25

I've been noticing a few UPS-related posts over the past few days and just successfully had my package delivered in 3 days, moving fast via air and with no customs delay, so wanted to consolidate a couple tips:

• Ship in a UPS Express envelope, not a box. This is a big one! UPS Express envelopes will ship at the letter rates, which unlock lower pricing and move via air. Everything else is a "package" and is shipped by dimension/weight, and is quite a bit more expensive for air freight. A Legal size envelope will easily accommodate a documentation pack up to 1.5 inches thick or so. The UPS Store will provide you an envelope for free. Use theirs, not your own. I did have the store briefly question whether I could use the UPS Envelope with Worldwide Saver but they confirmed the answer is yes.
• Use Worldwide Saver, not UPS Standard or Worldwide Expedited. If you ship with Pirate Ship, this will be the cheapest option available when you select UPS Express Envelope as your shipping package.
  • Worldwide Saver is still in UPS's faster 1-3 business day category and uses air freight.
  • UPS Standard is a ground service, and seems to be taking well over a week for delivery (UPS Express envelopes also not allowed) and seems to be prone to inefficient routings. When people are complaining about packages not being scanned for days, inevitably it seems it is UPS Standard.
  • Worldwide Expedited - UPS express envelopes also not allowed for this service, and it's not much cheaper anyway.
• Don't put a customs value. Mark the value as $0. This one is important. Folks are getting held up with customs brokers by declaring a value. Description = "Citizenship application documents". Quantity = 1, or the number of applications. Mine was instantly cleared. You are sending a bunch of copies. They have no value, you can just print them again.
• Put the customs invoice on the package in the little sticky Ziploc on the reverse of the UPS envelope. UPS Store has them for free. Pirate Ship generates an invoice automatically, puts the incoterms as DDU and Sale (technically means receiver pays customs fees on a purchased item), and doesn't let you edit them. I crossed out DDU on the printed copy and put DDP (delivered duty paid, means I/PirateShip will get billed for any customs fees) and crossed out SALE and put DOCUMENTS, just to be safe. Since the value is $0 anyway, I don't think it matters, plus the customs invoice is electronically stored in the label. I did not declare a customs broker nor appear to need one.
• Pirate Ship is fine. Not being able to edit the customs invoice is a little annoying (see above). But it cost around $35 for Worldwide Saver. Can't beat it -- it's a fraction of the retail price. Make sure you select UPS Express Envelope (it is the same cost whether you use the Letter or Legal envelope, so don't freak out that it says Letter).

Obviously, YMMV and you could still run into delays doing everything right -- but I've seen enough folks running into problems with one of these bullets that I thought it might be helpful to pull it all together.

Source: https://www.ups.com/us/en/support/international-tools-resources/international-shipping-services

Hi all,

I have a copy of the Niagara Conference Methodist Episcopal Church Baptismal Register which covers 1849 to 1886 for London (1849-1886), Niagara (1849-1886), Toronto (1849-1863), Oxford (1858-1863), Chatham (1884-1886), and Hamilton (1884-1886) districts for the next week or two. It is not the baptismal records, but would help the United Church of Canada Archives locate your record.

This is just me paying it forward, so if this post is still up feel free to send me a DM or chat (or you can reply with their name and birth year) if you want me to check if your ancestor is covered in the index. I'll need their name, parents, and approximate birth year to look it up.

The index only has name, birthdate, baptismal date, parents names and location -- that's all. Similar to the Wesleyan index that's available online. So it's not documentation in and of itself, just points to the existence of documentation.

Hi all,

I have what I think is kind of a tricky scenario and I'm not sure how to proceed.

My great-great grandmother (G0) was born in Ontario in 1862, and she shows up in the 1881 census (she evidently wasn't home for the 1871 one, which sucks). I also do not have a baptism or birth record, but am working hard to trace any possibilities. She married a guy born in Kentucky* in Ontario in 1885 and I have the marriage record for that.

They moved back to Kentucky and had my great-grandmother (G1) there in 1892. At some point around 1896, dad dies and the family moved back to Ontario, and in the 1901 and 1911 Canadian censuses G1 shows up as born in the USA with Canadian nationality with a date of arrival of 1896.

G1 then gets married in 1923 in the US and starts showing up in the US census as an American with a Canadian mother. I'm guessing because she is in neither the 1920 US or 1921 Canadian census that the move to the US was somewhere around then.

Both G0 and G1 end up dying in the US, and G0 is buried in Canada.

So in my mind, there is no doubt G0 is Canadian, having been born, married and buried there. The 1881, 1901, and 1911 censuses, 1885 marriage, US death certificate and grave all consistently establish her birth date and presence in Canada. I'd love to have a birth or baptism record, but I am optimistic there's enough evidence even without it.

But her daughter could conceivably be considered Canadian too, right, since she was born to a Canadian parent, shows up as Canadian nationality in the census and lived there from age 4 to around age 29. So is she actually G0; and if so, is it a problem to base the application on the elder G0 when a subsequent generation could technically be the last Canadian in my descent line, albeit one that has a US birth certificate?

Appreciate any insight!