posted on October 1, 2001 07:48:41 PM
Yikes! Those weasels just upped everything again. Aside from the drubbing I will take on payments that arrive for items sold last month and I will get to eat the difference in shipping , now there is going to be real screaming from people who win smaller priced items.
I ship air only because Canada Post trashed or lost so many Surface parcels a couple of years ago.
Any Canucks ship Surface to the US successfully?
I sell many mid to large size items, many of them fragile and I am wondering if I should risk surface again because air is now totally outrageous. How long on average does Surface take to arrive from Canada to the US?
posted on October 1, 2001 09:07:26 PM
Canada Post rate increases are not until January 2002 - on the 14th to be exact.
As for the new rates, they are increasing only .20-.30 cents on small packets. That isn't a very large increase in my thinking.
As for rate of delivery on small packets to the US, per the Canada Post site: air 4-7 days, surface 7-14 days. I have found this to be right on most times.
All this information is available on the Canada Post site:
posted on October 1, 2001 09:25:50 PM
Well then they must be picking on me because I am now being charged $13.45 Cdn for an air mail packet up to 2.2 pounds that used to cost $11.95 rate increase in effect as of October 1. And I do consider that a significant increase.
posted on October 1, 2001 09:31:58 PM
$11.95 air up to 1 kg (2.2 pounds) is the parcel post rate - not small packet. The 13.45 you were charged is the next increment up - for up to 1.5 kg (3.3 pounds). I bet if you check your reciept you will see that your parcel weighed over 1 kg. While I use a home postal scale, there is a small bit of difference between my unregulated scale, and the post office's scale - this can make the difference between a package that you think weighs .999 kg, but comes out as 1.1 at the post office - hence bumps it up to the next price level.
posted on October 1, 2001 09:45:27 PM
Oh, and there is also the minimum density thing on parcels (air or surface). Your parcel could be say .9 kg - ie the $11.95 rate on the chart, but actually cost you the $13.45 - because of the size of the package.
The formula to calculate min den is:
length x width x height divided by 6000
The figure you will get is what will be used as the package's weight for postage calculation.
And, btw .. if you are mailing packages under 1k to the US - why are you using parcel post? You can, yes, but it is cheaper to use Small Packet (.5-1k) at a cost of only $9.40 for air.
It pays to get yourself a scale, get a copy of the rates available from Canada Post, and to make yourself a copy of the parcel post rates which are available on the Canada Post web site. And don't forget to calculate min density on your parcels.
posted on October 2, 2001 03:41:45 PM
We've been shipping Small Packet surface to the US and have not had problems. Items arrive generally within 10 days. The only exception is a package I shipped on Sept. 10 which never arrived. With everything that happened on the 11th, I'm not too surprised.
