Brokerage isn't that much although they don't do you any favors on duty charges. If its US mfg it should be duty free. What could be a saving is cheaper freight charges to a US destination vs a Cdn destination. Believe it or not lots of people like me don't live close to the border. :)
I received a $40 warranty item from a supplier in the US. The supplier even covered the shipping. When the UPS guy showed up at my door, he handed me a brokerage bill for $60.
I tried to look the brokerage up on the UPS site and all I found were pages and pages of numbers, zones, weights, distances etc. LOL......I gave up :)