TF club for Canadians: can we petition for cheaper shipping provider?

[Protoman]

Alright alright, let's cut the shit.

Here is the facts. Fun Publications is USA based company. Brian Savage has been doing his thing there for years and before the whole TF thing fell into his lap, it was pretty much USA only for his little GI Joe crew.

Transformers came and things were shakin up. Brian, being fimilar with the older Joe market and how much they are willing to pay for exclusives, went from the 2004 OTFCC concept of 2 exclusive figures to the Botcon 2005; $270 boxsets, extra figures, and registrations. He waves the candy higher, we jumped.

What does this all mean to your original question.

He is being nice by giving us the chance and the rest of the world to even be a PART of the club. S.T.A.R.S. back in the 80s, The Transformers Club back then had their own unique divisions for Canada, USA and Japan. Everyone else (UK, Australia, ect) ignored. USA got patches, Canadians got a pin, the japanese got a similar pin, nothing was universal and all ranged in price.

Duty, shipping, taxes, it's a lot to deal with and honestly, Brian does not NEED to care about "USA's hat". To quote Brian Savage at Botcon 2006

"If you don't like the prices of the exclusives, you don't have to buy them"

[RavageX-9]

Originally Posted by Richter

Whats this about not being able to use US postal drops?
That's how I signed up in January, haven't heard anything yet...

Check to see if you can log in to the club site.

I don't know if it's only for people who called in with problems, but it seems that they're all told that they have to pick a Canadian subscription.
I wouldn't even ASK them, as that will just draw attention to yourself, unless you're feeling courageous. I should have kept my head down.

of course, I'm not sure what they're actually going to do... if they won't enforce it, or they'll make it so you can't log in. (which would mean... hrm. you couldn't order stuff on the store, like the store exclusives, but it wouldn't stop you from ordering through a friend in the US who has their own subscription.)
I mentioned not being able to log in because the person I heard about before had problems logging in.
*checks* Ohohohoho! Isn't that interesting! When I tried to renew it asked for me to create a user account, and I wasn't sure whether to use the old username or new one, so I picked a new one. and guess what? I can't log in under the new username and password.

[Protoman]

Looks like taking a shortcut leads to a dead end.

Play it straight or don't play it at all.

[soundwaveCA]

The simple answer is dont join the club in the first place as it sucks anyway. It's a waist of money (I would argue outright ripoff) for what you get and all it does is stroke Savages ego.

[RavageX-9]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Looks like taking a shortcut leads to a dead end.

Play it straight or don't play it at all.

... "straight"? There's nothing "crooked" about this. I pay the money. I've been doing this for FIVE YEARS.
Not to mention it's only a dead-end for people with problems. Apparently everyone else who doesn't contact FunPub is left alone. I wish I had known. Maybe I could have ridden it out and found the last 4 backissues I needed without having to contact them. I have a feeling I'm flagged for life now.
*think think think*
I gotta get a US credit card and bank account. That's all there is to it. I'm so tired of being stonewalled. Not only would it solve this problem, but it would solve all my problems with eBay sellers who won't allow me to bid even when I'm shipping to my friend in the USA.

[RavageX-9]

Originally Posted by soundwaveCA

The simple answer is dont join the club in the first place as it sucks anyway. It's a waist of money (I would argue outright ripoff) for what you get and all it does is stroke Savages ego.

But I'm going to BotCon and getting the Primus package, which means I have to have a subscription, which means I have to have a Canadian subscription.

Unless they'll ship my toy and magazines and allow me preregistration, but not allow me to log in. That would be acceptable. I could live with that. Somehow I doubt they'll be that "generous".

[Tekkamanraiden]

Originally Posted by RavageX-9

... "straight"? There's nothing "crooked" about this. I pay the money. I've been doing this for FIVE YEARS.
Not to mention it's only a dead-end for people with problems. Apparently everyone else who doesn't contact FunPub is left alone. I wish I had known. Maybe I could have ridden it out and found the last 4 backissues I needed without having to contact them. I have a feeling I'm flagged for life now.
*think think think*
I gotta get a US credit card and bank account. That's all there is to it. I'm so tired of being stonewalled. Not only would it solve this problem, but it would solve all my problems with eBay sellers who won't allow me to bid even when I'm shipping to my friend in the USA.

Why don't you move to the US? I don't mean literally but get dual citizenship 'move' to your friends place, get some sort of paper trail to prove you 'live' there. That way you'd be an American on paper and could have all exactly what you want.

[Protoman]

Originally Posted by RavageX-9

But I'm going to BotCon and getting the Primus package, which means I have to have a subscription, which means I have to have a Canadian subscription.

Unless they'll ship my toy and magazines and allow me preregistration, but not allow me to log in. That would be acceptable. I could live with that. Somehow I doubt they'll be that "generous".

You can still get everything without being a member, you just don't get the small savings.

Man, this thread is going no where, someone close this.

[RavageX-9]

Originally Posted by Protoman

You can still get everything without being a member, you just don't get the small savings.

Everything? Small savings?
No... I already said it: If you go to BotCon, you are a member. You can't avoid it.

Man, this thread is going no where, someone close this.

No. I want a petition, not a debate about whether I'm insane. I'm hoping to find more people who want to push for them to find a cheaper alternative. This thread hasn't been open long enough to get a sense of whether people would be behind such a thing.
Is this the sort of thing I need to have a webpage for a petition already open and linked to in order to be productive?

Originally Posted by Tekkamanraiden

Why don't you move to the US? I don't mean literally but get dual citizenship 'move' to your friends place, get some sort of paper trail to prove you 'live' there. That way you'd be an American on paper and could have all exactly what you want.

I'm fairly certain that dual-citizenship does not work that way. One of my friends has it, but you can only get it in specific circumstances. I don't think anyone with Canadian citizenship can get it at least since 9/11.
I certainly wouldn't move to the USA just for the convenience of collecting toys. That's getting a bit off-topic.

[Richter]

Eh, shipping to a US drop shouldn't be any skin off thier back. As faar as they know, that is where we 'live'. It's no difference to them.

Unless they are making extra money off Canadian subscribers, which is the only reason I could see them enforcing this 'rule'

And if that is the case, it's fucking BS.