PCB Layout for Musical Effects

[electrosonic]

Can you vote?

Not sure what you mean by that?  Kind of a drag that the post office seems to make more than the author though.

[GGBB]

$28 shipping to Canada! 

Can you vote?

Not in the USA.

[Kipper4]

In my opinion worth every penny of the postage.
I won't say how much postage to the uk is. And my copy is not signed. All I can say is thanks the Steve for making it available and to RG for writing it.

[smallbearelec]

My shopping cart can't tell the diff between a book--which can sometimes go in an envelope at a lower rate than goods--and components that go in a box. If you want to order the book only, please write to us at smallbearelec@ix.netcom.com. We will quote the lowest possible shipping.

SD

[Mac Walker]

$28 shipping to Canada! 

Can you vote?

Not in the USA.

I think it's coming from your side of the fence, it's essentially a tariff on imports, related to the exchange rate.  Your economy is more of an export based one, it's not used to products coming into the country....

[R.G.]

The comment about voting was based on the import tariffs going into Canada. Some countries impose big import duties or create conditions where shipping into the country is expensive. Voting in the USA won't help you. Nor, it seems help us much. 

[Mustachio]

Ah yeah the import duty fee's at customs in Canada are a pain. When I lived up in Vancouver BC I got burned a few times by those fee's once I had my computer from the states shipped to me which was broke during shipping and I had to pay something like 400 in duty fee's just for them to break my computer hahaha. I about had a heart attack when my employer had a very expensive mocap system sent to my name , Customs where crazy!

I hope small bear still has some of these books in stock when I have enough cash to buy one! Been wanting a copy of this book for a while!

[GGBB]

The comment about voting was based on the import tariffs going into Canada. Some countries impose big import duties or create conditions where shipping into the country is expensive. Voting in the USA won't help you. Nor, it seems help us much.  

What does the shipping charge have to do with import tariffs?  The $28 is merely the USPS shipping rate charged by Small Bear.  As far as I know that has nothing to do with duties or taxes.

But lets have a look anyway.  According to the Government of Canada (http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/dte-acl/est-cal-eng.html), Canadian import duties and taxes on that book would be $4.74, which is 13% of the book's value in Canadian dollars which I estimated at $36.44.  13% is the HST amount for goods brought into (Ontario), leaving zero charged for duty.

The problem here appears to be Small Bear's shipping rates to Canada.  According to the USPS, First-Class Package International Service to Canada for a 1lb. package not longer than 12" or more than 36" overall is $10.95, and 2lb. is $16.55.  I can understand a small upcharge for packaging, but $28 total seems rather excessive.  Maybe USPS prices have gone down since Steve last updated his online charges.

Unless the book is really heavy, or I'm just plain wrong.  

I've ordered lots of stuff from the USA and other places, from various suppliers big and small, with order values high and low, and Small Bear's shipping rates are IMO on the high side.

And on the subject of fees, when shipped via USPS, I have only once been hit with any duties, taxes, or brokerage fees.  UPS, FedEx, and Purolator is another story.

[davent]

I periodically get notices of free shipping to Canada for books from various independent booksellers in the USA, Great Britain.   

I don't think the sellers would be willing to absorb those extra costs if they were in fact present.

Have yet to have to pay anything extra on any books ordered, big or small coming in through USPS.

[smallbearelec]

The problem here appears to be Small Bear's shipping rates to Canada.  According to the USPS, First-Class Package International Service to Canada for a 1lb. package not longer than 12" or more than 36" overall is $10.95, and 2lb. is $16.55.

There are reasons, and I discuss this some in How To Order:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/servlet/Page?template=policy

If you look at USPS.com and ask for a price to ship a pound to Canada by International Priority Mail, you can spend $20 for a small box or $30 in your own packaging. A flat rate envelope is $20. While the shipping tables in my cart are pretty flexible, they Can't account for every possibility. If we ship everything First Class, we get complaints when packages disappear, can't be tracked and don't carry insurance. If a quoted shipping rate seems unreasonably high, please e-mail and we'll do our best to accommodate.

[Jdansti]

USPS has special rates for educational books called "Media Mail".  The book has to be packaged so that it can be inspected by USPS.  I'm not sure whether the special rates apply to international shipping.

[pappasmurfsharem]

The cheapest option to Missouri for me was $9.50 shipped Fedex.

$10 - USPS

Seems a bit high, but I don't know the dimensions of the book, just that its 14oz.

Also
They went from 100 in stock to 99 meaning that only I have placed an order.
C'mon people! GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

[davent]

Will ebook ever be an option?

dave

[pappasmurfsharem]

Will ebook ever be an option?

dave

Doubtful, to easy to turn into shareware then...

[R.G.]

Pretty much every time a new shipment of books gets printed, the question comes up.

The short answer is that I won't do it as an ebook, as nearly all ebooks wind up being pirated onto the web for free. I estimate that from the time I ship the first version as an ebook, it will be pirated within a week, possibly within a day. From there, all proceeds dry up. Sadly, the effects-hacker community contains a sizable fraction of people who really do believe that they're entitled to all information for free, all the time, and are *offended* if anyone suggests otherwise. It has a chilling effect on precisely this kind of information, as people decide to do as I've done and limit availability, or to simply not make the info public, as I've also done in some cases.

I really, really wish I could ship electronically. Given the way the net is, it stays in hard copy. I do apologize for that. The extra costs of a hardcopy book amount to a kind of unintended tax on honest people, which is very sad. But it is the way the world is. I know the economics - ebooks at a $1-3 per book would result in a whole lot of sales at first because they're cheap and easy.

"PCB Layout" is printed in 100-unit batches, which means it never gets to rock-bottom publishing prices like mass-market books; that is because I front the publishing expenses for each batch, and don't want to place a 1000 to 5000 unit bet and a real publishing run of 10,000 to 100,000 is out of the question. A normal publisher would not touch this book, as specialized as it is. I'd have to go check my publishing invoices I think total sales to date are under 500 copies over the several years of publishing.

I make a few bucks a book, and it pays for some parts and every so often pays for some instrument upgrades for the bench. That's how I bought my PicoScope, which I love.

So - sorry; I don't think putting it out electronically would be a good thing to do. I apologize for the trouble and costs that inflicts on all of you honest people. I wish it were different.

[SmoothAction]

^ Truth. Also, bummer.

[Jdansti]

I just went to the USPS and Canadian customs sites and used their calculators to calculate the postage and tariff.


To ship the book in the US costs $2.92 using Media Mail (Book Rate). That includes tracking.




For this book, and assuming that it's going to Ontario, the Canadian duty is $0 and the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is $4.73. The total cost for purchase, shipping, duties and taxes is $44.37ca.


I think the trick is to ship it using USPS Media Mail and declare it as a science or technical book for Canadian Customs.

[GGBB]

I think the trick is to ship it using USPS Media Mail and declare it as a science or technical book for Canadian Customs.

Declaring it one thing or another doesn't affect the shipping rate, which is the real problem. 

Customs (duty and HST charges) isn't an issue as far as I am concerned.  If they hit me up I'm happy to pay - well maybe happy isn't the right word but it won't bother me as I rarely get hit so if it does happen I just average it out with all the other orders that haven't been charged and it becomes nearly nothing.

If a quoted shipping rate seems unreasonably high, please e-mail and we'll do our best to accommodate.

Steve - I'll e-mail you shortly.  And for the record I do like dealing with Small Bear.

[monksanto]

Oh cool, I'm gonna grab me a copy of this!

[Jdansti]

I think the trick is to ship it using USPS Media Mail and declare it as a science or technical book for Canadian Customs.

Declaring it one thing or another doesn't affect the shipping rate, which is the real problem. 

Customs (duty and HST charges) isn't an issue as far as I am concerned.  If they hit me up I'm happy to pay - well maybe happy isn't the right word but it won't bother me as I rarely get hit so if it does happen I just average it out with all the other orders that haven't been charged and it becomes nearly nothing.

If a quoted shipping rate seems unreasonably high, please e-mail and we'll do our best to accommodate.

Steve - I'll e-mail you shortly.  And for the record I do like dealing with Small Bear.

USPS shipping rates are lower for books than other items.