Awesome New Gear For Bug!
After a harrowing journey, several items I have been really wanting have arrived! Two of them are simply not available in Canada.
One of the items, which is just terrific, is a little burner by Gas One. This one is stainless steel, which I love. The other butane stoves which are painted are beyond garbage. The paint turns nasty and peels off after only moderate use. This little stove will be one of my mainstays when I hit the road in April and I will be using it daily.
What is great about the Gas One stove I got is that it is DUAL fuel. The one available in Canada is only butane but the American market Gas One unit is both butane and propane AND comes with the adapter hose. For less than the single fuel Canadian market offering.
Gerber EAB LITE
The next item I got was the Gerber EAB LITE money clip utility knife. What’s so interesting about this item is that it is 24 bucks Canadian but only 6 bucks US as an add on item from Amazon USA. So I bought 20 extra of them to sell locally for 20 bucks each which makes all the stuff I got pretty much free lol.
This is one well designed, solid, quality piece of kit and very worthy of an EDC item for the million tasks we need a small blade for like cutting off some hanging thread or opening up Amazon packages. Having incredibly cheap, tough, replaceable blades available for this unit is just terrific. Saving your main blade for tasks you really need it for makes this an ideal addition to an EDC.
The Honey Badger
The next item is simply not available in Canada at this time. The Honey Badger is a flipper knife with a full flat grind that I can use as a really effective camp kitchen blade for light food prep tasks, while still being a really good all round EDC pocket knife with a really excellent steel. For the money, it is much better quality than many knives on the market which cost considerably more.
The 8Cr13MoV steel is an excellent choice for this knife and is stainless as well as considerably tougher than 440C stainless. 440C is a benchmark steel that is often used as a comparison steel and is an excellent steel in its own right.
My Customer Experience
I am very engaging and vocal with places like Amazon and UPS when it comes to the services they provide in Canada. I have received many rebates and concessions by simply being reasonable and inquisitive. Items sold by and provided by Amazon with massive price discrepancies is something I point out continuously not only for myself, but to add the weight of other voices expressing the same concern.
I don’t mind paying the exchange rate, that’s fair, but don’t charge me an extra 20 bucks just because you think Canadians are accustomed to paying more for goods and services. Canadians and Americans are brothers and sisters. We have family and friends living on both sides of the border so it’s important that we try to iron things out as we go, in my view.
UPS decided to charge me $70 CAN in duty and customs fees for an order worth a total of $213 US. When they could not provide me with a detailed breakdown of what appears to be an arbitrarily arrived at number, they decided to fully withdraw all customs and duty charges and I only had to pay 35 bucks CAN in tax. Again, no problem with that. I will be following up with UPS to get that detailed breakdown. I’m not letting them off the hook without an explanation. If they can simply wave their duty & customs wand and make fees disappear then I think a peek behind the curtain is warranted.
Use The Gear You Have Daily
An interesting point for me. I use my outdoor gear at home on a daily basis. I am a huge believer that a big part of being prepared is being 100% familiar and comfortable with all the gear you intend to use when away from home. For me, the best way to accomplish that is to simply use my outdoor gear at home every day.
A big shout out to @SirCork for being a standup guy and getting this all done for me. That is one efficient dude when it comes to getting stuff done. Thanks man!!
Hope you’re having a great week folks!
Chow for now,
Bug