Daniel, you've summed up my pleasant experience with Todd and not so pleasant experience with Canada Post and the eBay PS discount.
We have spent several days on the phone with Canada Post trying to get the online desktop software working and trying to sign up with the PS discount program. We already have an account with terms with Canada Post that we set up last year. Once I realized that I should be speaking with my original CP rep, our mailing just got a whole lot easier. Heck, our rep even emails me forms and will actually respond to my emails. Try that with the PS discount program.
Today was our first day using what we fondly refer to as the "Chic Shopper Shipping Method." It is based on the KISS premise: don't type or write more than you have to and definitely do not pay more than you would at the counter. The wife and I took an hour drive to a larger post office along with several crates of parcels, some manifests, and a whole lot of questions. Our most common question was "Are you sure this is all we have to do?"
For example, we order all our CP supplies preprinted when available and it does not cost us anything more. We don't have to continuously write out our address or account number on the Expedited USA labels. We can cut out the customer's mailing address from their Paypal email or payment envelope return address and glue stick it on the address portion of the CP label. We jot down the contents and declare a value of $100 (unless more is required). That's it for the labeling and postage on the parcel. We do not have to fill out anything else on the form since it is: a) already preprinted and b) the rest of the shaded areas are no longer applicable when using the manifest. The customer does not see the postage charged or the date shipped because it is no longer on the parcel. That is the purpose of the manifest. We staple the carbon copy of the Expedited label to our customer's payment info for future reference. On the manifest we write down the customer's name, state, package weight and shipping code. We also peel off the little tracking number sticker of the label and put it on the manifest for our future reference, but it's not necessary. Sign the manifest and drop it all off on the post office dock. No more counter waiting.
Now if you are shipping Small Packet USA / International like 75% of our shipments, it gets easier. Prepare our package like normal using the cut and glue stick address labeling system, stick on the small Green Custom's sticker, and now for the best part: you make a sheet of Avery labels up with the Canada Post Logo (Indicia) and your account number and stick a label on the package where you would have normally put the stamps or postage meter tape. This should be good for Mr. Labels business. Jot down the customer name, state, weight, and service type code on the manifest and then drop the whole works off at the post office dock. In two weeks you will receive a bill from CP for the postage. The $2.80 or $4.25 postage cost is never revealed to the customer. No more cringed waiting for the ticked off customer emails over postage versus shipping costs when they receive their item. How many sellers have secretly wished to ship an item when a customer demands to pay only for ACTUAL postage by sticking stamps on the ACTUAL book cover, LP or vase? The manifest system helps subdue those urges.
Todd brings up a lot of valid points about the PS discount program and the online tools. This morning we used the CP website to look up the counter rates for a specific Expedited USA shipment and printed it out. We entered the same information in the online tools and on the preview page is was almost $2 more than the counter rates even including our 2% discount. When I showed this to the postal clerk today, she could not believe it, nor could she offer any kind of explanation why if the customer does all the data entry and is given a 2% discount, it still costs more than if a postal clerk has to handle it over the counter, weigh it, meter it, collect the cash, etc.
This shipping cost comparison was not done under the PS agreement number because since the discount was announced I have been trying to get it set up and haven't received confirmation from CP. It also does not discount Expedited USA service. I really don't want it now and I can't image anyone shipping more than two parcels a day not using the "Chic Shopper Shipping Method." I'll renegotiate with our own CP rep and now that they have a record of our Small Packet shipments on the manifests, they are more willing when they see the overall shipping that we do.
There is so much more to say, but luckily Todd doesn't mind answering a "few" questions. Thanks for all the help Todd.
Bob
*JMHO* - to be taken with a grain of salt!
