Shipping time with CanadaPost

Just noticed a feedback from Luxembourg customer that was shipped out last Thursday (13th) evening using Light Packet service. That's 4th working day, not too shabby!

Shipments to US take usually over a week, sometimes even two. Recently I had to reship 4 Light Packets USA that were shipped the same day. CanadaPost did not do anything about it, even though it happened on such larger scale, they failed to acknowledge any error on their side. This was the first time during the year, so I guess overall is still not bad.

Seems that some European countries, can be faster to ship to than US. With Americans spoiled by government funded Post Office and Europeans used to expensive and slow shipping, not complaining so much about duties ... which geographics to focus the business on, hmmm ....
Message 1 of 14
latest reply
13 REPLIES 13

Shipping time with CanadaPost

With Americans spoiled by government funded Post Office

USPS does not receive any Government funding. The problems/delays sending to the USA are not because of USPS and all about US Border Protection Services.

Shipping OUT from the USA to Europe, 4, 5 or 6 day delivery is also common.


"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.
Message 2 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

According to my local CanadaPost dealer, USPS is supported by taxpayers and CanadaPost is 100% supported from it's own revenue.

It does not really matter anyway since I (and perhaps majority of sellers here) do not have access to USPS and have to use what is available to me. We who do not ship 200 parcels/day to use unitedship.ca, we should make the best out of CP.
Message 3 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

laurahowes
Community Member
Roughly on the same topic...

Has anyone seen longer delivery times to Germany lately? I have 2 customs whose orders are taking longer than usual (one MUCH longer than usual).
Message 4 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

ecbluestar
Community Member
I can confirm that shipping to Germany is getting very bad, even with Expresspost I have items held for two to three weeks, all paper work is done with PayPal.
Message 5 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

laurahowes
Community Member
Thank you for confirming this! Very helpful.
Message 6 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

g-manthebossman
Community Member
i recently sent some gold to germany in a thinly packed envelope double registered mail, but the insurance covers only 100 dollars max, it got there in 5 days wow!
Message 7 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

Btw. my postal clerk said all Small and Light packets to Europe go by Air, but they go to USA mostly by truck regardless what you check, only California goes surface. I am not sure if he is making this up though, but shipping to USA seems to be pretty slow.
Message 8 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

Light Packet, Small Packet, Other Letter Mail are all supposed to be 2 weeks or less (at least accoring to CP they say like 5 to 9 days), I would estimate Other Letter Mail and Light Packet about 80-85% of them take 3 weeks or more, meaning 15% or so actually arrive according to the time "estimates" from Canada Post. It is not Canada Post and it is not USPS I am convinced it is US Customs.

We can ship Light Packet and Other-Letter mail to Australia, Europe, China faster than USA including states like NY and VT which are less then 1 hour from where I ship.....
Message 9 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

I said only California goes surface ... it was supposed to be "California goes by planes".

pepinski9, thanks for confirming my observation.

Btw. I just had a US customer, who made the purchase on Thursday afternoon before Good Friday, so the earliest we could ship was Tuesday. He got it yesterday (Monday) and he complained about a long delivery ...

Just had a customer from Lithuania, who got his package in three weeks, about 2 days after filing the PayPal dispute.
Message 10 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

Be careful about business days, versus total days.

US is 11 business days... or as I always say..

10 to 14 days, sometimes longer if it gets caught up in customs

Caught up in customs... Toronto can be difficult at times.
Message 11 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

Canada Post's estimated delivery times are from one major urban centre to another major urban centre, not counting the extra time it takes if you and your buyer do not live in a major urban center.

It's just too bad CP and eBay don't make that clear to the customers.
Message 12 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

Most all of our shipments go via Fed-Ex ground service. They pick up from here (for the princely sum of $6.00 a week) their on-line tracking system is a true tracking system, unlike Canada Post's pseudo system. With my discounts, my costs are considerably less than what they would be with CP. And most importantly, my items get to my US customers incredibly quick. Average time for any Eastern States is 3 business days (some have been delivered in 2), central states is 4 business days (some in 3) and the west coast is most often 5 business days.



I recently had to ship 2 virtually identical items (same size shipping box and weight, about 28 lbs) to the same state (Mass). One (Fed-Ex)was to a mid-sized city, my discounted cost was $29.85 and it arrived in 3 business days. The other was to a rural area, just 70 miles from the other location, customer had just a P.O Box so I had to send it via Canada Post, my cost was approx $40, I had to haul it to the Post Office myself, shipped Expedited and it took, (get ready for this) 9 days. 6 business days.


When I phoned CP I was told that Expedited was basically a fancy-schmancy name for economy and there is no guaranteed delivery time. Just a suggested average. And they wonder why I rarely give CP any of my business, unless I absolutely have to. To their credit, I ship small packet air 4 or so times a month as, no other service can match it on price. Otherwise, sorry Charlie, I want Tuna that tastes good, not one with good taste. 🙂

Message 13 of 14
latest reply

Shipping time with CanadaPost

I ship mostly Expedited to the US ... and I always tell my customers that shipping time estimates are 1 - 3 weeks. They always get the package before the 3 weeks are up and I have good stars for shipping time (4.9) and never a complaint.
Just overestimate delivery time and your customers will be thrilled when it arrives sooner.
Message 14 of 14
latest reply