Canadians: Ask me about Canada Post and shipping - I work there!

[#1]

On top of my "real" job and my etsy shops, I also work part-time at a Canada Post outlet, for 4 years now. I'm very knowledgeable about all things related to shipping. I can be your resident expert! Ask away and I will do my best to answer clearly.

jackie ♥

Here's the original post from a forum thread I started before etsy did the shut-down to teams :( It describes CP's rate increases for 2011, which took effect on January 17th.

Like clockwork, Canada Post is raising their rates as of January 17th. I work at the post office part-time so I thought I would give my fellow Canadians a head's up. Here's a link to the complete list of new rates including all the price tables you could ever want (a very helpful sleep aid for insomniacs!).

http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/prices/ (click on the red "new prices" button)

I'm not sure how bad the increase is for domestic and US Expedited parcel rates, but here are the new Lettermail, Oversize Lettermail, Light Packet, and Small Packet rates.

Lettermail (max 24.5 X 15.6 X .5cm):
Canada >>
0.59 (0-30g)
1.03 (31-50g)
USA >>
1.03 (0-30g)
1.25 (31-50g)
International >>
1.75 (0-30g)
2.50 (31-50g)

Oversize Lettermail (max 38 X 27 X 2cm):
Canada >>
1.25 (0-100g)
2.06 (101-200g)
2.85 (201-300g)
3.25 (301-400g)
3.50 (401-500g)
USA >> (printed matter only)
2.06 (0-100g)
3.60 (101-200g)
7.20 (201-500g)
International >> (printed matter only)
4.10 (0-100g)
7.20 (101-200g)
14.40 (201-500g)

Light Packet (max 38 X 27 X 2cm):
USA >> 4% increase over 2010
2.36 (0-100g)
4.92 (101-250g)
7.91 (251-500g)
International >> 3.5% increase over 2010!
4.60 (0-100g)
9.25 (101-250g)
15.80 (251-500g)

Small Packet (max L + W + H = 90cm)
USA >> 7.5% increase over 2010!
Surface 5.85 (0-250g)
Airmail 7.46
Surface 8.35 (251-500g)
Airmail 9.90
Surface 12.41 (501g-1kg)
Airmail 15.36
International >> (rates vary according to the country.. please see zone and rate tables through the link above. Amounts below are for shipments to the United Kingdom, zone 02 - surface rates are 10% higher than 2010, airmail rates are 8% higher, except in the 1-2kg category)
Surface 6.54 (0-250g)
Airmail 8.53
Surface 8.95 (251-500g)
Airmail 17.06
Surface 15.02 (501g-1kg)
Airmail 33.45
Surface 21.07 (1-2kg)
Airmail 50.26

I don't know about you, but I am really bummed about this. Increases of 7 and 10% are really going to hurt!

Convo me if you have any questions.
(Posted at 2:55 am, January 3, 2011 EST)

[WallCakes]

So etsy is saying this has nothing to do with not paying their bill...technical glitch, just like last year.

[cindylouwho2]

which I have never heard of happening with Paypal or any other company that has an account with Canada Post. But maybe I am not paying enough attention :)

[KnitsByNat]

Weird, all the labels I printed yesterday where fine. I even have the scans for them on a receipt.

[WallCakes]

Well, etsy is now saying that it was only that one seller and PO that was effected, so...

[JacquieVintage]

I hope none of us have packages on this truck!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mail-truck-crash-mallorytown-1.3352481

[Former_Member]

What happens when your post office forgets to scan your tracked packages/express package labels that we print here on etsy? I sent a few this week and they didn't get scanned so I have no proof I even dropped it off? I had a large order that the post office forgot to scan...so annoyed right now. Any help would be appreciated. I called Canada Post and was on hold forever....

[TigersandDragons]

You could try posting on their facebook and twitter pages. Sometimes that gets a quicker response. If you call the phone line, early in the morning is usually the shortest wait.

[JacquieVintage]

Vanessa,
How many of your parcels had a tracking number vs. none?

[Former_Member]

Jacquie, I had 16 light packets that day vs 4 with tracking numbers.

[KnitsByNat]

I think I may know one of the issues with Etsy labels/CP. I created at 1:02pm a label for a Tracked Packet but the "Electronic information submitted by shipper." was only sent at 3:49pm. The delay could look like the label has not been paid for. Now I understand why the CP employee asked me how I had paid my label when I brought it at 3:00pm.

He also happened to be the most arrogant employee I have had the pleasure to deal with. He would not scan my packages saying scanning was not required although it is for the Tracked Packet. He told me I had a bad attitude towards him when I asked him to scan them for me. He did but wasn't giving me a receipt. He tells me they don't exist. When I showed him the 4-5 I had on me, he did not even look at them and said they were probably for another product I had bought. They were all for Smal Packet packages for which I had bought the labels on Etsy.

Well, when I told him he must have done something wrong, he started telling me how he has been working for CP for 25 years and I certainly wasn't going to tell him how to do his job.

I just hope my packages make it to their destinations.

[TigersandDragons]

Natalie, I hope you got his name. Email or call Canada Post to complain.

I went to a real post office today in a small town in Alberta and didn't have great service either. I told the woman at the counter that I wanted Light Packet, she questioned me on it (tried to get me to buy Oversized Letter), and then she stuck some Oversized sticker on it, right where the customs form is supposed to go. Then she tried to charge me tax, and she hadn't even printed out the postal label yet. I told her there was no tax, "Oh I must of been thinking of stamp sales".

She didn't fill out anything on the Customs form (I can put up with that), and I had to ask her to give me my copy, and to stamp it. She says, "We don't do that, because you don't get tracking or insurance anyways."

Well I told her that I wanted proof that I had shipped the item, that it would help me if it was ever questioned, so begrudgingly she stamped my customs form. Apparently (according to my MIL) this is an experienced employee, who has worked there for years!

[cindylouwho2]

I have had a few Xpressposts to the US this week, all purchased through Paypal. I get the Paypal purchase notices via email just fine, then the Canada Post ship notifications are all coming through in French. Anyone else? I am wondering what language my American customers are seeing.

[KnitsByNat]

They,re not bilingual? That's really weird. My CP ship notifcations I have been getting are bilingual with English first.

[cindylouwho2]

mine are ALL in French. When you click through to check the tracking, it is also all in French, & when you click the little "English" link on the top right of the tracking page, you get an error page.

I did notice that the email says "page 2 of 2" but you can't scroll up to see a page 1. (This is Yahoo mail) I forwarded the email to a gmail account & the whole thing does show up, but I can't be sure what my customers are seeing. English, I hope.

It could just be Yahoo issue, but it is a pretty odd one, & it only started yesterday.

[KarynHayden]

@ Cindy, yes I have had the email notifications sent to my Gmail account in french before, I use Google chrome. I think it's a paypal thing.

[cindylouwho2]

Interesting - thanks Karyn! The odd thing is that the Paypal email is in English. It is a weird glitch.

[KarynHayden]

I wanted to add that often I will receive an email in French from Canada Post, then an identical email in English later on. Doesn't happen every time. May be a Canada Post glitch.

[EightMileVintage]

Hoping that someone here can answer a question about using CP labels on Paypal when there is no order. We used to be able to print labels using the Shipnow function on PP but that has been discontinued. Can I send a PP invoice to a friend - not the person I want to send the package to - and then change the address and addressee on the paid PP invoice to a separate third party and generate a CP label through PP? I get a hefty Ebay discount on PP and I'd like to take advantage of it for shipping some of my Christmas gifts.

[cindylouwho2]

Yes, you can apparently change the address many times on an old Paypal transaction & reuse it, but I wouldn't send the invoice to a friend - send it to your spouse, business partner, or best of all yourself (to another email address, & pay with a different credit card). The reason is, that email address will get every shipping notification, which will include the addresses you are shipping to, so if you are doing this to send to a customer, you are revealing your customer's info to a third party who probably wouldn't be happy with that. Friends and family would be different, of course :)

[EightMileVintage]

Great, thanks, Cindy. Yes, I'll use my husband as my Paypal "beard". It's a shame that they discontinued Shipnow.

[WallCakes]

I used CPost's EST to mail a Christmas package to my son/DIL last Thursday. I just tracked it, and it says the package has been redirected to their new address and a card was left at the door.

They don't have a new address. I just spoke to my DIL and she says there is no card at the door.

I've been trying to figure out if I can see the label that was printed on EST. Is there a way to do that? I want to make sure I didn't make an error in the address.

I've given her the tracking number so she can check with her PO to see what's going on.

[Former_Member]

Does anyone know the exact screens the CP employees at the PO have to go through to print out a receipt?
I am switching POs because we are moving and I'm so worried that employees at the new PO won't know what to do with Etsy labels when I come in with them. I always get them to scan and print off a receipt for me at my current PO because the worker is competent and never asks questions.
I know it always starts as "Originating" but where do they go from there? If we can direct the CP workers how to scan and print off receipts, that would probably make it easier instead of fighting with them??

[KCowie]

Did Canada Post get rid of light packet for 2016?

[cindylouwho2]

KCowie from KCowie says
Did Canada Post get rid of light packet for 2016?
----------
I wasn't expecting that til 2017 - do you have a reason for asking? Have they put out any info?

[toysofthepast]

Cindy - There was a post in the forums giving a link to the 2016 prices for Parcels. People are concerned because there is no mention of Light Packet anywhere yet.