If you cross the border to pick up US packages, the choice usually comes down to two destinations: Point Roberts (where In Out Parcel has served cross-border shoppers since 2014, with a 4.9★ rating from 700+ reviews) or the Blaine crossings most Lower Mainland drivers know. Price barely separates them — both run pay-per-use with no monthly fee — so the real question is geography: which is the shorter, calmer trip for you? The honest answer depends entirely on where you start, so here are the actual driving times.
The head-to-head: drive time before the border
These are real driving times from each city hall to In Out Parcel (Point Roberts) versus 24/7 Parcel (Blaine) — before any border wait, which varies by crossing and time of day:
| From (City Hall) | Drive to In Out Parcel (Point Roberts) | Drive to 24/7 Parcel (Blaine) |
|---|---|---|
| Delta (Ladner) | ~12 km · ~17 min | ~33 km · ~28 min |
| Richmond | ~23 km · ~30 min | ~40 km · ~38 min |
| Vancouver | ~33 km · ~40 min | ~49 km · ~47 min |
| Surrey | ~33 km · ~35 min | ~26 km · ~37 min |
| Burnaby | ~39 km · ~44 min | ~40 km · ~42 min |
| Coquitlam | ~50 km · ~53 min | ~39 km · ~44 min |
The pattern is clear once you read it by region — so let’s go through it honestly.
If you’re in Delta, Richmond, or Vancouver: lead with distance
For the western Lower Mainland, it isn’t close. From Delta (Ladner) Point Roberts is barely a third of the distance to Blaine — about 17 minutes versus 28. From Richmond it’s ~30 minutes versus ~38, and from Vancouver ~40 versus ~47. You’re saving real driving time before you even reach the line.
Then the crossing stacks on top. Point Roberts is reached by the small Tsawwassen / Boundary Bay crossing. Because Point Roberts is a tiny community with little through-traffic, that crossing generally sees lighter traffic and shorter lineups than the busy Peace Arch and Pacific Highway lanes a Blaine trip funnels you through. Shorter drive, calmer line — for this part of the map Point Roberts is the easy call.
If you’re in Surrey or Burnaby: it’s a wash — so decide on the experience
Here’s where we’ll be straight with you: from Surrey, Blaine is actually a bit closer by distance (~26 km vs ~33 km), and from Burnaby the two are within a kilometre of each other. But look at the times — Surrey is ~35 min to Point Roberts versus ~37 to Blaine, and Burnaby is ~44 versus ~42. On the clock, it’s effectively a tie.
When distance is a wash, the tiebreaker isn’t kilometres — it’s everything else about the trip:
- The calmer crossing. Tsawwassen / Boundary Bay typically runs lighter than Peace Arch or Pacific Highway, so the part the table doesn’t show — the border wait — often tips toward Point Roberts.
- 24/7 pickup. Most Blaine receiving shops are counter pickup during business hours, which forces you to cross at the busiest times of day. In Out Parcel’s 2,000+ automated lockers are self-serve, 24/7 — enter your 6-digit PIN and you’re back on the road in under a minute, any hour. You can cross off-peak, when the border is emptiest.
- Full service. More on that below — but if you ever want mail scanned or a package forwarded instead of driving down, only one of these options can do it.
If the time is a tie, those three are the deciding vote.
If you’re in Coquitlam: Blaine is closer — here’s the honest call
We’ll concede the one the data hands to Blaine. From Coquitlam, Blaine is the shorter run — ~39 km / ~44 min versus ~50 km / ~53 min to Point Roberts. If your only need is to grab a box and head home, the closer crossing is a reasonable choice, and we won’t pretend otherwise.
What you’d be trading for those minutes is the full-service side of the mailbox. If you only ever pick up parcels, that may not matter. If you sometimes want letters scanned, returns handled, or a package forwarded, it’s worth weighing the few extra minutes against never having to make the drive at all.
Full service vs pickup-only
This is the part distance can’t capture. 24/7 Parcel is pickup-only — a solid setup for grabbing a box, but that’s the whole menu. In Out Parcel is full service: we scan your mail to PDF so you can read it online from anywhere, forward packages and mail worldwide, handle returns to US retailers, take oversized items, freight, and pallets (anything too big for a locker goes to our shelf), and even keep an on-site fitting room so you can try an item on before you decide. 24/7 Parcel does none of those.
That’s the difference between a place to pick up parcels and a complete US virtual mailbox that also offers 24/7 pickup. We’ve kept this page focused on the trip itself — for the full feature-by-feature breakdown, see our 24/7 Parcel alternative comparison.
The pricing, briefly
Neither option charges a monthly fee, so price isn’t the wedge here. With In Out Parcel you keep your US address for free and pay $4.25 per package or letter received, with $0 in the months nothing arrives. That same no-fee model covers the scanning, forwarding, and returns above — not just pickup. (If you’re comparing against subscription virtual mailboxes, which vary by location, often ~$10–30/mo, see do virtual mailboxes charge monthly fees?)
The bottom line
Don’t pick by reputation — pick by your postal code. From Delta, Richmond, or Vancouver, Point Roberts is the clearly shorter trip and a calmer crossing on top. From Surrey or Burnaby, it’s a tie, so the calmer crossing, 24/7 lockers, and full service decide it. From Coquitlam, Blaine is the shorter run if pure pickup is all you need. Whichever applies, see how it works or what a virtual mailbox actually does — and if the trip suits you, get your free US address and pay only when something actually arrives.