Every Canadian who’s been blocked at a US checkout — or watched a reasonable US price balloon with international shipping and brokerage — eventually lands on the same idea: ship it to a US address near the border, drive down, and bring it back yourself. It works, it’s completely legal, and tens of thousands of Canadians do it routinely. In Out Parcel has been the US address on the other side of that trip for cross-border shoppers since 2014, with a 4.9★ rating from 700+ reviews and 2,000+ automated lockers for 24/7 self-serve pickup.
Here’s exactly how the whole process works — from getting your US address to clearing customs on the way home.
Step 1: Get a US shipping address near the border
You need a real US street address that accepts packages on your behalf. That’s what a virtual mailbox is — a real address with a real facility behind it, where your packages are received, stored securely, and held until you’re ready.
With In Out Parcel, your address is 145 Tyee Dr, PMB (your Customer ID), Point Roberts, WA 98281 — a few minutes south of the Tsawwassen / Boundary Bay border crossing. You use it at checkout exactly like any American would use their home address. UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, Amazon — every carrier delivers here.
Setting up takes minutes: register for free, get your address, and start using it. There’s no monthly fee — you keep the address for free and pay $4.25 per package or letter received, with $0 in the months nothing arrives and credit that never expires.
Step 2: Shop and ship
Once you have the address, shop anywhere — the US retailer sees a domestic Washington address and ships normally. This solves three problems at once:
- Stores that won’t ship to Canada now ship to you. (Here’s why so many block Canadian addresses.)
- US pricing stays US pricing. No inflated “international” rates at checkout.
- You choose your timing. Packages wait in a secure locker until you’re ready — no rush, no missed-delivery slips.
When your package arrives, you get a notification through your online account. You can see what’s waiting, how many items you have, and decide when to make the trip.
Step 3: Drive down and pick up
This is where border pickup differs from a traditional mail-forwarding-only service — you collect the package yourself instead of paying to ship it onward. For Canadians in the Lower Mainland, that’s often the faster and cheaper option.
At In Out Parcel, pickup is 24/7 and self-serve. You walk in, enter your 6-digit PIN at the locker terminal, and your locker opens. No counter lineup, no waiting for staff, no business-hours restriction. Most pickups take under a minute. Anything too large for a locker — tires, freight, oversized boxes — goes to our shelf for attended pickup during business hours.
The facility is in Point Roberts, WA, reached via the Tsawwassen / Boundary Bay crossing. That crossing is a genuine advantage: Point Roberts is a small community with little through-traffic, so lineups are typically lighter and calmer than the busy Peace Arch or Pacific Highway crossings most people associate with “going to the border.” And because pickup is 24/7, you can cross off-peak — early morning, evening, weekday — when the line is shortest.
How far is it? That depends on where you start:
| From (City Hall) | Drive to Point Roberts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Delta (Ladner) | ~12 km · ~17 min | The closest — barely a 20-minute trip |
| Richmond | ~23 km · ~30 min | Shorter than driving to the Blaine crossings |
| Vancouver | ~33 km · ~40 min | Still closer than most Blaine routes |
| Surrey | ~33 km · ~35 min | Roughly equal to Blaine by time |
| Burnaby | ~39 km · ~44 min | A wash — the calmer crossing tips it |
| Coquitlam | ~50 km · ~53 min | Blaine is closer here; weigh the full service |
(These are driving times before any border wait. For the full head-to-head with Blaine, see Point Roberts vs Blaine.)
Step 4: Clear customs on the way home
Bringing US purchases back into Canada means declaring them at the border. Here’s what to know:
Personal exemptions depend on how long you’re out of Canada. A same-day trip (under 24 hours) has no personal exemption — you’ll owe duty and tax on everything. A 24–48 hour trip gets a CAD $200 exemption, and 48 hours or more gets CAD $800. Most border-pickup runs are same-day, so plan to declare and pay on your items.
Duty and tax thresholds on mail vs. courier shipments (this matters if you ever forward instead of picking up):
- USPS / Canada Post: duty-free up to CAD $20.
- Courier (UPS, FedEx, etc.): tax-free up to CAD $40, duty-free up to CAD $150 — but couriers often add brokerage fees of $15–50 on top, which is exactly why many Canadians prefer to pick up in person.
What to do at the booth: declare everything honestly, have a rough idea of the value in Canadian dollars, and keep your receipts handy. The process is routine — customs officers at every crossing handle package-pickup declarations all day. Point Roberts is a small, low-traffic crossing, which generally means a calmer, lower-stress experience on both sides.
When forwarding beats driving
Border pickup isn’t always the right call. If you’re far from any crossing, travelling, or just don’t want to make the trip for a single letter, forwarding is the other half of a virtual mailbox. In Out Parcel forwards packages and mail anywhere in the world — same account, same address, no separate setup. Your letter mail can also be scanned to PDF so you read it online without driving at all.
The decision is simple: pick up when it’s convenient, forward when it’s not. Both options run on the same no monthly fee, pay-per-use model. For the step-by-step of the forwarding path, see how to forward US packages to Canada or anywhere in the world — and the forwarding rates for live numbers.
Why a virtual mailbox beats a PO box or a favour from a friend
People sometimes try cheaper-sounding alternatives — a US PO box, or shipping to a friend’s house. Both have real limitations:
- A PO box won’t accept most courier packages (UPS, FedEx, DHL), which rules out a huge share of US retailers. There’s no scanning, no forwarding, and no online management — and it isn’t actually the cheap option: a box big enough to hold a parcel typically rents for $200–$400 a year, paid up front whether anything arrives or not.
- A friend’s address works until it doesn’t — missed packages, porch theft, the awkwardness of asking someone to hold ten boxes for you, and no way to manage anything online.
A virtual mailbox gives you a dedicated street address that takes every carrier, holds your items securely, and lets you manage everything from your phone. For the full comparison, see Virtual Mailbox vs PO Box vs Freight Forwarder.
The bottom line
Shipping to the US border for pickup is straightforward: get a US address, shop as a domestic customer, drive down when you’re ready, and declare on the way home. The only question is where and how.
With In Out Parcel, you get a full virtual mailbox — not just a pickup point. Receive packages and mail, scan letters to PDF, forward worldwide, handle returns — and pick up 24/7 from 2,000+ self-serve lockers when the drive makes sense. All with no monthly fee and $0 in quiet months.
Get your free US address and start shipping to it today, or see exactly how it works first.