Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Is your local depot/drop-off point doing anything creative right now because of Covid 19? Are you still signing for packages for pickups?

 

There are reports on dot com of folks having to drop off packages in main concourses in high traffic areas. No scans and no security. Package dropper off'ers are not happy campers. Other locations have drop bins just inside the door. Some sellers even utilize a scan sheet. Not sure if many Canadian eBay etc sellers use that option. It would only be available if you processed entirely at Canadapost. Nothing like that in Shippo.

 

Mine, I drop on counter, beside yee old splash guard, all prepaid, he scans(mostly) and drops in his secure pick up bin. Because of size of this location 1 customer in location at a time.

 

-Lotz

 

PS. So going forward, along with porch pirates and packages disappearing in transit, there could be a slight chance of parcels getting "disappeared" before they even get inside a post office depot.

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Hopefully the next development isn't self serve similar to the baggage carousel at an airport for picking up. Ahhhh which one should a choose? Hmmm?

 

-Lotz

 

 

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

I use a postal outlet in a Shopper's Drugs.  They have the plastic shield up and are wearing masks and gloves. They take the parcels and scan them - they take lettermail and put their date cancel on the stamps.

 

The staff are fairly knowledgeable however, I hear them giving the old standard information when people ask "when will it be delivered."  They really should be saying "don't know - it's a mystery."

 

They were on reduced hours but just last week went back to regular hours.

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Baggage carousels always worry me.  There was an episode of Trailer Park Boys where Rick and Lucy dressed up and grabbed luggage as it went by.

 

I use a Post Office, where there is an indoor lobby where up to three customers can line up and only two are allowed into the office proper at a time. Masked clerks, plastic barriers, very professional. I haven't seen any drop offs.

They will take cash, but prefer card payment.
There is of course a  red mailbox outside the door, so I just put my untracked items (most of them) right in there. If my Expedited parcels were labelled, instead of stamped, I could drop off in the red box, I suppose. But I usually have to top off my stamps with a label worth a few pennies.

 

We also have a postal outlet in the Pharmasave. But there is no limit to the lineup, and it is in the aisle with stationery and cleaning supplies, right inside the front door, so social distancing is close to impossible.

And masking here on Vancouver Island, where cases have been very few,  is actually  unusual, in spite of our elderly population.
The clerks don't always mask, but there are plastic barriers. They pretty much insist on card payment.

There is a "drop off" counter which is hard to get to and right under the eye of the clerks who are well-trained.

Again, there is a red mailbox right outside for lettermail.

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

The main concerns with those red mailboxes is not everything fits easily, you never know if heavy items are being dropped on lighter items,some are not in truly secure locations and not as many convenient locations as their once were. In hindsight if they would built in a drop bin with the community mail boxes. If you have enough volume (not sure now what the requirement is now) you could get a lockbox for outside your house if you paid for daily pickups. We had one where I worked in Winnipeg bolted to the concrete wall for after hour pickups. 

 

-Lotz

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

At the post office that I would usually use they have a small mail cart sitting in the center of the floor which may be suitable for envelopes but NOT for large packages. I went in one day and did not notice the cart, it has been a slow month for me so I hadn't been to the post office. So I walked up to the counter and set my box in behind the swinging door. After I set it on the floor and turned around to leave (I printed my shipping label at home) the guy at the cash very rudely says "Don't put that there." It caught me off guard as that is what I have been doing for over 10 years now. So I asked him why and he said "Cause I don't want it there". So I was confused for a minute before he spoke up and told me to put it in the cart. 

 

I looked across the room at the tiny mail cart, sitting beside a long line of people. The cart was closer to the door than it was to the counter! Anybody could just grab boxes from that cart without staff noticing. Not to mention that the doors were propped open. I ship items that can be worth hundreds I'm extremely uncomfortable leaving my outgoing shipments in that cart. 

 

They also had people lining up without social distancing, right in front of the mail boxes preventing anyone who would need to go in there to get their mail from being able to go in.

 

I called and complained about this and was assured by some kind of retail supervisor of my province that this would be looked into. The guy would be talked to about his attitude and he would look into the procedures put in place at that particular post office. But I'm not sure anything has been done. The cart is still there. I haven't been back to that outlet (main post office). The usual retail postal outlet that I go to permanently closed so I can't go there. I now have to go OUT OF town just to deliver my parcels.

 

I tried to avoid having to go out of town one day and dropped a parcel in one of the red mailboxes at a convenience store. It should have been picked up that day but it wasn't. It sat in the mail box (a $600 parcel) for the weekend until finally scanned in on Monday.

 

Today I had a parcel going and I was not able to go to the out of town post office so I took it in to the main post office where this issue is occurring and set it in the cart. That was around lunch time today. It's STILL not scanned as of 11:43 P.M. - if it had been scanned today as it should have it would already be out of province by now!

I'm getting fed up with Canada Post!

 

 

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Scary...

 

I have a package right now that was shipped through Canada Post to the U.S. and it was out for delivery. Then the next update says it's held at the post office! Not sure what's going on there. Although I suppose if it got a scan saying held at post office, that's better than being left behind!

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

I believe it means that the carrier did not feel comfortable leaving it in the recipient's mail box, so he left a Notice instead, and the recipient will have to come to the PO to pick it up.

 

He may have noticed a high value on the customs label, or there may have been reports of porch pirates, or it was raining and no where under shelter to leave it. Any way.

BTW if it is returned to you as Undeliverable, you have no further obligation to the customer, including no obligation to refund.

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

I forgot to mention in my rant... I shipped another package out yesterday but did not have a lot of time to go out of town and it would be too big to fit into a red mail box. So I relented and put it in their mail cart in the center of the floor. $350 sitting there in the middle of the room next to a line of people. That was at lunch time yesterday. I checked tracking # at about 11 pm last night and the thing has not been scanned. Tonight I checked again at about 10 pm. STILL not scanned. It should have left the province by now. It should have been scanned in Dieppe New Brunswick by last night! Now I have to wonder for the next few days whether my package was stolen off the cart! What a completely inconvenient and unnecessary procedure!

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

 


@pooroldcancollector wrote:

I forgot to mention in my rant... I shipped another package out yesterday but did not have a lot of time to go out of town and it would be too big to fit into a red mail box. So I relented and put it in their mail cart in the center of the floor. $350 sitting there in the middle of the room next to a line of people. That was at lunch time yesterday. I checked tracking # at about 11 pm last night and the thing has not been scanned. Tonight I checked again at about 10 pm. STILL not scanned. It should have left the province by now. It should have been scanned in Dieppe New Brunswick by last night! Now I have to wonder for the next few days whether my package was stolen off the cart! What a completely inconvenient and unnecessary procedure!


@pooroldcancollector 

 

If this is a Post Office, it might be useful to contact the Postmaster and complain to her about your concerns.

If this is a postal outlet, it might be useful to contact the nearest Postmaster and complain to her about your concerns.

 

The basic problem sounds like a bully entitled employee who wants to run the shop for his comfort and ease and not the customers.

 

Perhaps a cc to HQ.

Hmmm-- looks like this is your boy there.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our-company/about-us/our-leadership/senior-management-team.page?

 

Brian Wilson.

Operations.

2701 Riverside Drive Suite N1180 Ottawa, ON K1A 0B1 Canada

PHONE

1-613-734-3000 -- But that's the general number, you'd probably spend some time even getting to his executive assistant.
OTOH- it's good to know he started his career as a carrier back in 1981.

 

 
 
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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Thank you for the information and for your wonderful research Femmefan! Well I spent the morning calling in. Very painful. Had to hang up and restart phone call a total of....6 times! So either I'm very stupid, or Canada Post's calling system is very stupid. Either one. Or both.. 😉

 

Multiple times it told me to "hit this number to go here" and I would and then it would say my call cannot be completed as dialed! That happened a few times.

 

So finally I get through, to a lady who was definitely polite enough, but you could tell she just didn't want to be bothered. Talking fast, talking over me, and asking a question before I could even finish an answer to the previous question! and then asking me again the previous question which she wouldn't let me finish! and then finally I give her my tracking #... and everything works. She asks me if I searched through the Canada Post website, and I had to say no (I went through ebay when the tracking number automatically comes up). Just to humor her, I had Canada Post up anyway, so I searched the number in there and it's in Montreal now! Same tracking number that is on ebay. For some reason it is updating on Canada Post, but not on the tracking number through ebay! Not sure what is going on there.

 

Anyway, she told me that this situation is STILL being looked into.. apparently.. from when I first complained I think on June 18th (Here's one for you... how many monkeys does it take to deal with a rude employee and remove an unnecessary mail cart away from the customers? haha... just kidding...) 

I can only hope that it IS being looked into..still.. Ever since this Covid stuff started it seems like EVERYBODY'S customer service is gone WAY down hill. It just seems like no one can be bothered to listen to someone's VALID complaints. and if you are complaining you're being "negative". Or it's "Covids fault". I completely understand that things are changing due to Covid but at this time I feel that customer service is more important than ever! How come no body will listen to that?!?! I certainly don't think of Covid as a reason to slack off or get angry with a customer as we are all in the same boat!

 

Anyway.. main thing is my $350 item is on it's way and not out of my pocket!

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Had to hang up and restart phone call a total of....6 times! So either I'm very stupid, or Canada Post's calling system is very stupid. Either one. Or both.. 😉

Speaking as a retired public servant, if you get the right person on the fifth call or transfer, all is going smoothly.

It's annoying that Canada Post, being a Crown Corporation and not a government department, is not in the Government Employees Phone Directory, which is actually usable by the public-- although you have to know exactly who you are calling or at least which division of which section of which department you are looking for.

It really is purposely obtuse, since frankly most of the time the person being called is not going to be able to help except possibly to give you directions to the person who can.

If you've ever noticed that I encourage the use of eBay's Resolution Centre over calling Customer Service, it is my public service background informing me. Robots don't get bored. Or hang up when you swear at them.

 

Same tracking number that is on ebay. For some reason it is updating on Canada Post, but not on the tracking number through ebay! Not sure what is going on there.

This gets mentioned from time to time and is something to keep in mind. EBay does not update in tandem with Canada Post. Canada Post does not update in tandem with USPS. GSP does not update with either. Although eventually they will agree.

Probably after delivery.

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Is your local postal depot doing anything uniquely different because of Covid 19?

Hi Lotz, On protecting packages from porch pirates I went to "Summit Tools" and bought a H duty gun metal truck box for $59. Its about 30" x 17" H x 12" W. It has a lock hasp and a full length H duty piano hinge on the lid. I flipped it sideways, bolted it to my house and painted it. The couriers put the package inside. Theres a lock on top they can affix. These boxes are cheap depending on where you go. They come in all sizes. Most shipments fit into mine.


@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Is your local depot/drop-off point doing anything creative right now because of Covid 19? Are you still signing for packages for pickups?

 

There are reports on dot com of folks having to drop off packages in main concourses in high traffic areas. No scans and no security. Package dropper off'ers are not happy campers. Other locations have drop bins just inside the door. Some sellers even utilize a scan sheet. Not sure if many Canadian eBay etc sellers use that option. It would only be available if you processed entirely at Canadapost. Nothing like that in Shippo.

 

Mine, I drop on counter, beside yee old splash guard, all prepaid, he scans(mostly) and drops in his secure pick up bin. Because of size of this location 1 customer in location at a time.

 

-Lotz

 

PS. So going forward, along with porch pirates and packages disappearing in transit, there could be a slight chance of parcels getting "disappeared" before they even get inside a post office depot.



Best $59 I've spent in awhile!

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