verbally told me to only declare anything over $10K.

Sounds like a trap to me.

By “declaring” I’m not necessarily saying an itemized list of every tiny item you bought, especially if you’re under any limits. But I would be prepared to show all of it if asked. All it takes is one border guard having a bad day to make a difference.

And expressly going to another country to buy a product outside the limits and then sneak it back in to avoid duties is entirely different than some souvenir trinkets and candy.

If you declare the laptop, the border guard might just wave you through without making you pay the duty. If you don’t, and they catch you in a lie, good luck.

As I and others have mentioned elsewhere, you’re taking a risk doing this, as if you get caught it will cost you more.

One other thing to keep in mind is warranties if anything goes wrong with the item. If you are trying to make it look like you brought the item with you, you’ll be getting rid of all the documentation and packaging that proves you purchased it. That includes receipts. Warranties often require proof of purchase, so you may be throwing away your warranty by doing this.

Also, keep in mind that models and model numbers are often different in Canada. I’ve had phones that were identical to the US model but had a different model number. I’ve also had phones where they sold the European version in Canada (again with its own model number) and so it was basically a different phone from what you’d get in the States for the same model name (different CPU, different supported communication protocols.)

Often our model numbers will get a “CA” added to the end making it obvious. Sometimes it won’t be obvious, but won’t match model numbers you can easily find info for online. My current laptop model number is undiscoverable online because it is so rare. There are similar ones for which the info mostly matches my computer, but I’m not always able to find good info.

It’s kind of funny watching Americans talk about this now as it was something we Canadians used to talk about all the time… Strategies for buying goods in the US to save money.

I really don’t like the way this is worded. It sounds like you’re saying that going across the border and buying a “personal” item and not declaring it is just fine.

Yes it is perfectly legal to go across the border and buy something and bring it back (assuming we’re talking about legal goods here, not drugs or contraband items, obviously.)

But you must declare those items. If you get caught pretending it was an item you brought with you but you actually purchased across the border, you may be fined. When you are asked a bunch of questions by the border guard, they’re looking for signs you’re lying. If they get a whiff you’re lying or uncomfortable, they’ll start digging. If they catch you trying to avoid paying the duties on a laptop, not only will you have to pay the duties, you may have to pay a fine on top of that, not to mention every future border crossing you make may be more difficult. If they catch you trying to cheat they are way more likely to implement a fine and put a note on your file.

There are (for now) certain amounts of money you can spend when you cross the border, which changes based on how long you’ve been gone, for which you won’t be charged duties - but you still have to accurately declare what you’ve spent!

https://childhelplineinternational.org/helplines/

Name

We need to make this @cheese_greater@lemmy.world’s top comment of all time.

Uninflammable

Growing up I always learned (I think) the “insert missing text” symbol was shaped like the one in the pic, like a caret symbol.

The odd thing is I also remember the caret and inserted word being at the top like in OP’s image, but style guides I can find now show the caret at the bottom and the inserted text at the top.

https://www.csuchico.edu/style-guide/guidelines/copy-editing-marks.shtml#%3A~%3Atext=A+caret+shows+where+an%2Coften+written+in+the+margin.

https://books.byui.edu/fhgen_110_textbook_/chapter_16_deciphering_elements_of_handwritten_records#%3A~%3Atext=are+shown+here%3A-%2CInserted+Words%2Cadded+on+the+line+ above (search for caret)

https://grammarist.com/editing/proofreading-editing-marks-symbols/

Wikipedia seems to indicate using a downward facing caret, or a caret with an extra upward arm https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caret_(proofreading)

TIL!

All that to say the formatting of OP’s pic, no matter the direction of the arrow/caret, makes it hard to read. A little “don’t dead open inside” or something.

Edit to add: This one shows it the way I remember it https://dmlfnsgrade9isawesome.weebly.com/editing1.html

Anyone who does will give you the “my brother” nod of approval

That’s why agile was created. Because people don’t know what they want in panel 1.

Yeah, it requires replacing the “you test the rocket” with “you test the rocket and it fails or doesn’t meet the updated mission specifications” and the “you go to mars” with “you want to go to mars”

Bah, I was there. .jif was barely used and came 5 years after. They should have used a different name!

Gagascript. One is soft, one is hard.

It doesn’t matter what it stands for. That’s not how acronyms work.

You don’t say “yolwa” for “YOLO”
You don’t say “Ah-ih-dees” for “AIDS”
You don’t say “britches” for “BRICS”
You don’t say “sue-knee” for “CUNY” (City University of New York) Etc.

And if you want to argue specifically about G:
You don’t say “Jad” for “GAD” (generalized anxiety disorder)
You don’t say “joes” for “GOES” (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite)

It’s not a hill I’m going to die on, I use both pronunciations, but the only argument I’ve ever believed for the proper one is that the creator pronounced it “jif”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIF#Pronunciation

Now let’s talk about “gibs” you heathens.

GIF like Geoffrey the giraffe, if you get my gist. Always has been.

This account looks pretty sus. Lots of click-bait and rage-bait questions and contradictions in a short time.

Most of the shenanigans are with ink printers, no?

Send him a pigeon, duh!

Who?