Nov.17 Border Crossing Blues

US Customs  have lost a lot of employees recently to retirement, transfers to other agencies and quitting but have not replaced many of those losses. It's hard to find replacement Customs officers due to required intensive background investigations and people willing to do that kind of work (carry guns, work a lot of bad hours and forced overtime, be able to deal with potentially dangerous people on Wanted lists).

Thanks XCJer, for reminding us that the border folks are only doing their job, and a fairly thankless one it is! From your experience, can you tell us or point to a website indicating the least busy times of day and week to cross? Then once this group knows, it will be mainly TAYers in our way at those (formerly?) quiet times.

First and foremost, it strikes me that part of serving the public (even if your hours are long and pay is low) is to be professional, courteous, and polite. I'd say this has been my experience around 50% of the time (but this has been true on both sides of the border). Secondly, the US-Canadian border (excluding AK) is 4000 miles long; any terrorist smart enough to use a border crossing is probably one we don't need to worry about too much, IMHO.

I always find it interesting that when crossing the US/Canadian border in a pleasure vessel the Canadian side is usually very simple and fast, sometimes just a matter of picking up a phone. The US side on the other hand can take hours and feel pretty militaristic.

I always find it interesting that when crossing the US/Canadian border in a pleasure vessel the Canadian side is usually very simple and fast, sometimes just a matter of picking up a phone. The US side on the other hand can take hours and feel pretty militaristic.

In the past, many people have been caught smuggling BC Bud and Ecstasy into the US on pleasure boats.  A number of people in sea kayaks have been caught loaded with illegal drugs as well.

From your experience, can you tell us or point to a website indicating the least busy times of day and week to cross? Then once this group knows, it will be mainly TAYers in our way at those (formerly?) quiet times.

Anyone who wants to avoid waiting in line at the border should try to avoid the shoppers.  Weekend mornings southbound (into the US) often seen long lines.  Saturday, and especially Sunday evenings and nights northbound, will probably have long lines due to shoppers returning to Canada from the casinos and outlet malls.  This may change if the US dollar strengthens to the Canadian $. 

Weekdays during the day and late at night are slower.  Unfortunately, these hours don't coordinate with many people's skiing schedule.

WA DOT's webpage for the border has a webcam and estimated wait times.  However, the line can backup and get long before they update the webpage.  People seem to travel in waves.

First and foremost, it strikes me that part of serving the public (even if your hours are long and pay is low) is to be professional, courteous, and polite. I'd say this has been my experience around 50% of the time (but this has been true on both sides of the border)

Yep, they're supposed to be professional, courteous, and polite.  I hear these stories from people all the time.  IMHO people are sometimes being a little sensitive about being snapped at by a grumpy grouch.  I am not a Customs officer, BTW.

It seems people throw the SS/Nazi/jackboot comments around too easily which is quite offensive.  The real Nazi SS did things much more awful to people than be rude to them.

Pretty much its not the officers fault but our shoddy government with its color codes and duct tape trying to oppress the nation into a state of fear that any bc teleskiier is going to bring a load of drugs and ak-47's into our perfectly "clean" and "innocent" country (by the way washington has the highest number of methamphedamine labs in the whole US and is the number one supplier to the whole pacific northwest. and by comparison more marijuana comes from California's legal "medicinal" farms then comes across the border from British Colombia) . Just a couple facts that the border guards wont want to tell you.

Hell im surprised the canadian's haven't closed their borders to US visitors, were the alcoholic trouble starters in the first place!

Thank you for your well presented, rational response, XCJer. It is clear that you have some insights into some of the factors causing difficulties at the border. My thesis is based on a half century of personal border experiences, anecdotal data and all of the material that I have read on the subject.

I understand the impact of the currency shift. It is one of the reasons that I lost my job earlier this month. I had stopped spending my money in the States after years of holding under-valued dollars. I don't intend to change this habit now, though this sentiment is not shared by all of my neighbours. I cannot forget that your forest companies demanded tariffs on our products(even though we have NAFT) to protect your inefficient mills. This situation made homes more expensive for average American homeowners and caused considerable hardship to Canadian woodworkers and their employers. The beef sandwich issue is more about putting money into the hands of American meat producers than about protecting the health of its citizens.

As you noted, border guards are expected to perform a number of serious tasks in a short period of time. The marijuana that American guards are trying to stop is being exchanged for guns, meth and cocaine. You tell me which of these items are more serious. My experience tells me that there are more power-hungry, military wantabees gravitating to border jobs on the south side of the line. My dictionary does not give any references to Nazism under "jackboots"; just the connotations associated with wearing heavy military boots. The jerk that demanded additional documentation from me was clearing enjoying his position of power. You probably did not hear about the ambulance, carrying a heart-attack victim, that was stopped last weekend at a Windsor, Ontario crossing for 5 minutes so that all documents could be reviewed, even though a police escort accompanied it. At the risk of expressing my views on war, perhaps your government should spend a few of the millions lost every minute in Iraq to attract more skilled people to work the border.

I should note in closing that I am not a suspicious looking person (other than wearing a beard) and I have never been selected to go through additional searches. I have a clean criminal and work record. Contrary to what you might be thinking, I am not anti-American. My best friend of 33 years is a Texas-born, retired U.S. Navy officer. I have lots of other friends and acquaintances in the U.S.A. btw Silas, I hope that you keep coming up to B.C., even though I have to admit that I am reconsidering spending cash at Washington's ski hills this winter.