Anyone used a freight forwarding service for items from the USA to Canada? It would be interesting to know if this would be worth looking at for some patio furniture.

There will no doubt be a big hit on tax/duty crossing the border. Would USA manufactured items be affected less?

I used to use myus reasonably often for items where the vendor wouldn't ship to Canada but they weren't keen to forward a large tack trunk. Now I use a holding service in Niagara Falls NY and drive down.

US made (with correct paperwork) would come in under USMC and only be subject to sales tax. There would also be brokerage and other possible fees, depends who does the customs. For patio furniture, unless it was very unique, likley not worth the bother. I would get a landed freight price first. For personal shipments, we ship to a US receiving agent, pick up ourselves and clear the items on entry.

I'd consider driving to the USA (Montana) if there was a collection address close to the border. One of the children lives in the USA now so making use of their address to receive the order and then send on might be another possibility if the shipping cost is ok.

The furniture is a Woodard set, a little bit different in style to what I've seen available in retailers locally. Willing to make a bit of an effort to get it.

Looks like https://www.montanashipping.com/ might be an option for you?

I actually went down to the US for the first time in 4 years this week to buy this streaming box which is the best streaming box right now apparently but only available from the American Walmart, not the Canadian. Sometimes it's worth the trip just to access the better choice of consumer goods!

UPS stores often offer an address for your purchases to be delivered to. We used to use the UPS store in Ogdensburg (NY) quite regularly and an easy trip from Ottawa.

If delivery is to a US address and then you pay a freight company to transport it into Canada for you, then you'll likely take a double hit on sales tax (the US sales tax will be unrecoverable).

If you can get it delivered to the US and then pick it up yourself, and I'm not sure if Canadian border officers would notice. I suspect that a lot of the things delivered to PO Boxes and other drop-off locations immediately south of the border, make it into Canada without being charged duty/ sales tax, though garden furniture may be harder to hide in your vehicle.