Asking because I was considering sending an email to the publisher (politely!) suggesting that they look into cheaper shipping options, but thought I'd just do a reality check first to make sure I wasn't being unrealistic.

Oh, and the books were paperback.

That's ridiculous. I ship things to Canada all the time and there's no way it could cost near that. Conversely, I went to order a 3 ounce jar of cream from someone on Etsy and she wanted to charge me 10.00 to ship it from Canada. A 3 ounce jar. To hell with that.

Estimate the s&h yourself -weigh a comparable paperback book, times it by 4, add a few ounces for packaging. Then go to USPS and calculate the shipping from the US to CAN. For example, a 3 lb package sent first class from US to CAN that's about the size that 4 paperback books would be is about $12.85.

I wanted to order a DVD about windmills from the Windmill Museum in Lubbock TX. (My kid loves windmills). The shipping was something like $16.00 for a DVD that cost $15.00. I wrote a polite email asking if it really cost that much to ship something weighing less than a pound. They quickly wrote back and charged me about $5 for shipping instead.

Moral of the story: It never hurts to ask, nicely. And, the windmill video was a big hit here.

That rate is unreasonable.

Thanks everyone. I have emailed the publisher, included iconomy's link, and asked if there was some reason why they needed to charge more than double the rate given, and if they could lower the shipping rate for my order.

Yeah, totally outrageous. I did the UPS shipping labels when I worked for a luxury tabletop maker- $25.76 in shipping would be a box of, like, a dozen capiz shell placemats and coordingating napkin rings. Not 4 books.

Are you just running into UPS's sometimes-usurious and brokerage fees that randomly appear or don't appear? If your books were over CAD40, it looks like their brokerage charge is $19.45, but it doesn't specify USD or CAD.

Here's the reply I got from the publisher:

That rate was for a small flat rate box. Depending on which books you order, they may not fit in that box. The website calculates the standard rate based on the weight. If we can fit your items into a flat rate box, we will refund the difference in shipping. However, there isn't a way to calculate postage based on the flat rate box because the website does not know if the items will fit.

Seems like a half-assed way to run a business to me. Any thoughts?

Totally unprofessional to do it that way. I would ask for a quote before ordering. A Flat Rate envelope is $11.95, tell them to use that ;)

Four reg size pb books will definitely fit inside, I just tried it.

Oh for fuck's sake. I just tried ordering three, then two, then one book just to see what the shipping charges are, and it was $22.50 for one book!! That's just totally out of line.

I'm going to email them and ask them if there's some way they can process my order manually and give me an accurate shipping rate.