Postcards to US and medications

1. I love to send myself postcards from everywhere I go (relive the vacation when I get my travel diary trickling home in the mail and much better photos than I can ever take). I've looked online and can't figure this out. Can I put a regular canada stamp and that be enough to get it to the States? Are there postcard vs letter stamps? Where can I buy them?

2. I haven't heard it in a long time but there used to be lots of talk of cheap Canadian prescription medications. Do people still stock up? Is this illegal? Even with insurance I pay $26 for ZyrtecD and $100 each for my inhalers.

1. I love to send myself postcards from everywhere I go (relive the vacation when I get my travel diary trickling home in the mail and much better photos than I can ever take). I've looked online and can't figure this out. Can I put a regular canada stamp and that be enough to get it to the States? Are there postcard vs letter stamps? Where can I buy them?

 

2. I haven't heard it in a long time but there used to be lots of talk of cheap Canadian prescription medications. Do people still stock up? Is this illegal? Even with insurance I pay $26 for ZyrtecD and $100 each for my inhalers.

1) It's CAD$1.20, no discounts for bulk purchase, to mail any small letter/postcard to the USA (max weight 30g/~1oz)

2) Yes with a but, or No with a sort-of, depending on your viewpoint. Full details are on the FDA site - CBP enforces rules they come up with. If you have a US prescription, and buy the exact same med in Canada, you are PROBABLY going to be OK. But it's much, MUCH safer to declare than not - as in the first case, worst case is confiscation but in the latter fines or jail time if it turns out there is any illegality factor of the specific meds you're bringing in.

As to actually getting them here - if they are one of the meds which don't need a scrip up here, you just go buy 'em. If they are also prescription meds here, pharmacies will want to see a CANADIAN doctor's prescription. Which means visiting a local MD or Naturopath, getting examined, and having them agree you do need the relevant meds - all at your own expense, plus likely a chunk of wait time. So unless the drugs are a lot less pricey (in BC, try this link for pricing) probably not worth the hassle. Pharmacy prices and dispensing fees vary a lot - Costco is generally your best bet, at least I've never found any meds cheaper anywhere else.

Thank you. I won't be making any time to do a doctor's appointment - I agree that would outweigh any cost savings.

The post link was very helpful - I was able to find a post office across the street from my hotel! Appreciate your help.

If you are looking for medications which do not require an RX in Canada but do in the US, such as Robaxin, you can take 50 pills back for personal consumption. We declare when passing back across the boarder. Once my mom and dad were coming back with 50 pills and US officers asked if they wanted to go back and get 50 more!! As for prescriptions in Canada, as the previous posted noted, probably not worth the hassel.

thank you. Very helpful.

...(in BC, try this link for pricing)...

Thank you! I had this link ages ago in another computer and couldn't remember it for the life of me. :p

Thank you! I had this link ages ago in another computer and couldn't remember it for the life of me. :p

No problem Karen - it's very useful and illustrates just what a huge rip-off some pharmacies are compared to others! Costco charges less than half what some other nearby places do for dispensing, and a third less for some of my drugs...

No problem Karen - it's very useful and illustrates just what a huge rip-off some pharmacies are compared to others! Costco charges less than half what some other nearby places do for dispensing, and a third less for some of my drugs...

Yes - when I was going through my chemotherapy a few years back, I decided I would try Costco for my anti-nausea drugs. While the dispensing fee was insanely low, the wait time was awful! :p Very busy corner of the store, that's for sure. ;)

Yes - when I was going through my chemotherapy a few years back, I decided I would try Costco for my anti-nausea drugs. While the dispensing fee was insanely low, the wait time was awful! :p Very busy corner of the store, that's for sure. ;)

Yup, super popular - I drop off scrip on the way home from docs, do some shopping, and if the wait time is more than an hour (which to be fair is 95% of the time) I come back next day to collect. Downtown Costco is just a few minutes walk - if you had to drive to ass-end-of-nowhereville I can see paying another $4-8 dispensing fee being worthwhile to many, but the per-pill savings really add up when you're buying hundreds!

We originally joined just to make cheese affordable, but the in-store pharma, photos, and opticians have been happy bonuses that probably save us even more $$$ than our cheese habit...

I like to send postcards to my nephew every day of the cruise. He loves to get mail. We did a 14 day Ft Lauderdale to Montreal one year and in every Canadian port when I bought a post card I would ask for help with the postage. Most of the stores had the postage and would post for me. My experience was that the people were very helpful. He got all of the Canadian post cards (he lives in Seattle) quicker than the ones from Charleston and Fort Lauderdale.

Its a fun thing to do.

I load up on the Tylenol with codeine when I am in Canada. I just go to the pharmacy counter and ask for the largest bottle they have and buy 3-4. Never had any issues buying them and I always declare them and have never had an issue with that either.