Masters of the Air

    Super simple. Jeez....



    A forward sortation area (FSA) is a geographical region in which all postal codes start with the same three characters.[29] The first letter of an FSA code denotes a particular "postal district", which, outside Quebec and Ontario, corresponds to an entire province or territory.


    The large populations of both Quebec and Ontario cause both provinces to be subdivided into three and five postal districts, respectively, and each has at least one urban area so populous that it has a dedicated postal district ("H" for the Montreal region, and "M" for Toronto). On the other hand, the low populations in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (NWT) mean that even after Nunavut separated from the Northwest Territories and became its own territory in 1999, they continue to share a postal district.


    The digit identifies the FSA as urban or rural. A zero indicates a wide-area rural region (or, in rare instances, a special-purpose code);[30][31] all other digits indicate urban areas. The second letter represents a specific rural region, an entire medium-sized city, or a section of a major metropolitan area. In the extreme case, some FSAs in downtown Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are assigned to individual buildings. Rural FSAs also vary widely in population, with the Northwest Territories' X0G covering only the hamlet of Fort Liard, but adjoining X0E covering every other community in the territory except Yellowknife.

    A directory of FSAs is provided, divided into separate articles by postal district. Individual FSA lists are in a tabular format, with the numbers (known as zones) going across the table and the second letter going down the table.


    The FSA lists specify all communities covered by each rural FSA. Medium-sized cities may have one dedicated FSA; larger cities have more than one FSA within their limits.


    For FSAs spanning more than one city, the city which is allocated the most codes in each such FSA is listed. For cities with a small number of FSAs (but more than one), the lists specify the relative location of each FSA in those cities. For cities with a large number of FSAs, applicable neighbourhoods and boroughs are specified.

    I've mailed stuff to Canuckistan and it doesn't get past the local post office.


    Return-to-sender, with the postal code circled in red pen by Yolanda the post office worker "WAT DIS ? N'Valid addres".


    etc lol

    Quote from Gina

    I don't care what logic might be behind their postal code, when you see it written down or typed and can't tell what is in zero or an o or an l or a 1 an I, the system is fucked.


    United States doesn't seem to have that problem. Lol

    It's so fucking convoluted and overthought. Like you said, what happens often is the confusion of "1" vs "l" (written in pen etc). Someone transcribes it to a computer wrong - and BZZZZT error FUCKEM - back to sender. It's very much over-engineered - I mean 99% of Canadians live in like what 3 cities ? The vast majority of Canada is uninhabited tundra.


    Try to import a car - like say you were like me - and worked in the USA for say 5 years, and decide you want to move back - and bring your US car with you...


    Well, unfortunately your car's dash is in miles, not the metric system. You then have to pay those hidden taxes that get baked into Canadian market cars - I think 20 years ago that was something like $6 or 8 grand (flat fee), and then of course you gotta pay duty (3% or something like that), then %15 GST/HST tax. There's brokerage fees galore as well.


    Other way around ? You can go to Canada, buy a car, and drive it back to the US with minimal paperwork. There would never be a reason to however - cars are MUCH MUCH more expensive up there. Only an utter fool would do that. Maybe a rare collector car or something - thankfully a Canuck car that old (pre 1980) would be in Miles not Kilometers.


    They imported Soviet cars up there in the 80s - maybe someone here has to have a Lada lol.

    Everything about it is fucked. When I left, I could not set foot in the country for three years, lest I have to pay Canadian income tax (while still paying American income tax).


    I filed for a status used by the Merchant Marine (Overseas status). That took 2 years to go through - a simple letter request. Like think what a fucked up system they run, that you have to use those old laws to avoid bullshit. Anyways I didn't set foot there for 3 years. Kind of like a Covid lockdown, but lockdown by paperwork/red tape.


    Corrupt governments are run that way - they have convoluted processes that require you to jump through hoops and pay out the ass.

    I tried to sell lures on eBay but people who were already doing that were selling in bulk at ridiculously low prices and with eBay's fees it just wasn't worth it to me. I mean, who is going to buy untested colors (the ones I came up with) in bulk? No one, thats who.


    eBay used to be a pretty cool place to sell stuff but then they got greedy with their fees. They were going to include shipping fees as part of the sale price on a bag of lures. Fuck them.

    I remember about fifteen years ago? EBay got a new CEO who changed their business model. She said they no longer wanted eBay to be a growth business. Basically she felt thet had enough sellers and wanted to concentrate on quality sellers over quantity of sellers. That was the day eBay stopped being a place for people to have a side hustle selling things and became a haven for Chinese knockoffs and corporate clearing houses. If you didn't steal it or it wasn't given to you, the only people making money from your sale is eBay and the shippers. For the last year or so, I have been pulling old written off parts off the boat store parts shelves and listing them on eBay. After a year the numbers said it would literally make better business sense for them to give me the parts than to pay me to sell them.

    All Government is Organized Crime.

    Quote from slamfire

    My Bro in law has a US Post Office Box right on the NY Border. He makes the drive over periodically to pick up stuff he buys online and just drives it over the border. Round trip, about an hour.

    There is a US mail station drop just south of Coutts AB in Sweetgrass Montana. 90 percent of the business they do is from people in Alberta driving down to pick stuff up. I used to do it every 2 weeks back when my company was doing a lot of LE sales circa early 2000s. Clearing customs with an in person agent was so much less hassle and worth the drive, money, and time.


    GG what do you sell - blades, for what exactly? Interested, I haven't been around enough know what everyone is up to.


    One of my postal codes ends with "2S5". So, if you have messy handwriting, its pretty easy for orders to get fucked up - I rarely have anything sent to that house. Had Canadapost literally lean a 1301 Beretta tac shotgun in its box up against a neighbors houses because the driver couldn't figure it out (simple), and he/she just gave up and mark it "delivered". Good game, assshat.

    G, my first frustration with the USA importation deal was back when I was boxing.


    Ok so, back in the 80s, the only boxing gear you could get was this terrible brand manufactured in Montreal called "Genesport". It was garbage... perhaps a little better than Everlast (if you could find it) but otherwise terrible stuff - and very pricey (monopoly situation).


    Well, I read American boxing magazines a lot, like Ring Magazine or KO. In there I found ads for a new company called Ringside. Just from the pictures, I could tell this stuff was dynamite quality - leagues better than anything ever made prior, anytime, anywhere.


    So, I clipped out an order sheet, and bought a full set of bag gloves, mitts and sparring equipment - the whole kit.


    Boy was I excited... quality leather, the newest space age filler... everything double stitched... hand made in Lenexa Kansas(!!!)... man what could be better...


    Well, this was in the days of "4 to 6 weeks" was a fast response time - like don't even think of making an inquiry until at least 6 weeks (preferably 8 weeks went by). Well, something like 3 months went by. Finally, my letter was returned, with my check - with a letter saying I had to re-order, using a Canadian distributor - a man in Montreal named Russ Anber. Russ would go on to become very famous in Canada, becoming a TSN Sports Commentator on Cable TV, basically the go-to boxing analyst. Anyways, they just gave me his home phone so I called him.


    Long story made short, he was a manager back then looking for talent, and we ended up talking for like 3 hours, and I gave him a lowdown on the local scene, up and coming guys etc etc - and yeah, he took my order - like my original order and I mailed him the cheque - although his prices were more than double what they were in the USA (!!!!). FUCK!


    Fuck - I felt so ripped off, but really where else could I go ? Anyways, it took another 8 months for the shit to finally arrive, and they sent the wrong gloves - so to get everything right, took over a year end to end.


    But that gear was epic quality - I was the coolest guy in the gym, the only person who could get my hands on such gear. 30+ years later, I still have it and it's still in great shape. I was unable to damage or wear out that gear. Compared to Everlast - I could rip apart their gloves after three workouts.


    When I moved to the USA, I bought a bunch more from Ringside direct this time OMG I was in heaven - cheap prices, top notch quality - I went nuts and bought like 3 of everything - enough to stock a gym (which actually was a good move because I did teach boxing for a few years in TX as a side hobby).


    It was a good move as well because like all other companies, Ringside eventually basically went under and restructured - half the company tore itself off and founded Title Boxing (also Lenexa Kansas), and both companies ruined their incredible product, moving all manufacturing overseas (Pakistan, China). The stuff is still ok, but it's not of the same quality as when it was US made - and the prices are actually HIGHER now than they were when shit was made in Kansas. All the stuff I have is collector grade now.


    But yeah - shipping from the USA to Canada is a nightmare - always has been, and probably always will be. "Free Trade" my ass.

    Quote from Toad

    Shoulda called me. I lived in Lenexa mid 80s. Almost bought a Title franchise when they first opened those up too. Glad I didn't now.

    Man that's awesome. You couldn't just google shit back then, so what was Lenexa to me, but a black point on a map. I wondered if it was some kind of manufacturing mecca, or just like a warehouse between corn fields, with little old ladies sewing leather. Anyways, the quality of the stuff they were putting out in the 80s has never been repeated. The only thing close to it today is Cleto Reyes in Mexico.


    Same old story though - they got famous, and could only put out so much with the same QA. Then probably investors bought them and made them go big time (as in move everything to Pakistan/China/whatever).

    On the other hand.. If you're an American? And you drive to Canada? You'd better have your papers in order or good luck getting back in. Holy fuck. American border agents LOVE to fuck with Americans trying to get home. My uncle got detained and almost arrested because he didn't have his three year old daughter's birth certificate. She's STILL traumatized by the ordeal, nearly twenty years later. It USED to be no big deal at all.. We would cross over at Windsor and drive up to Sarnia to cross back over to Port Huron... No big deal at all. Now? Holy fuck you'd think you were trying to get in/out of NK.

    All Government is Organized Crime.

    I actually considered driving down to Lenexa to stock up. I didn't think the K-turd was up to that challenge though. I should have gone down, filled my trunk, and sold it all from the parking lots outside of gyms.