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rose-dee · ‎11-21-2014

I don't often just rant, but here it is.

I purchased an Xpresspost label on the evening of Nov. 18th (for nearly $50 mind you), had my parcel on the P.O. counter and scanned -- I watched them do it and heard the beep - 10 minutes after they opened at 8:00 a.m. on Nov. 19th (a Wednesday), expecting that with such pricey "express" service, the parcel would reach my customer in Toronto by this Friday, i.e. within the stated 3 days.

Well, today I check the tracking, and CP has extended the delivery date to Monday (Nov. 24th) because "item was received after cut-off". What? 8:10 a.m. at the P.O. is after cut-off?

OK, I get that I'm in a semi-rural area, that adds 1 day. The Xpresspost delivery standard from my ship-out city (Halifax) is 2 days. Fine, 3 days total. I put my parcel, prepaid and ready to go, on the P.O. counter at 8:10 a.m. on Day 1, expecting it to get to Toronto in time. Now it's suddenly 4 business days for a $50 shipping cost. I see that the delivery standard for Expedited is 4 days! I might as well have saved myself $30.

The parcel will now actually arrive 3 days later than the originally expected delivery date of Nov. 21st.

Can anybody explain this to me? I'm pretty hopping mad about having thrown my money away for nothing. I will complain to CP once I know the parcel has been receive at the other end, but I know I won't get my money back because they revised the on-time guarantee.

rose-dee · ‎11-23-2014

@mr.elmwood wrote:
Isn't learning new stuff fun.

I go looking for people who know more than me. Then, I pick their brains. I want the people who will say "This, will or won't work, and this is why". Then, I follow their advice.

You're absolutely right! Only this time I didn't even know that there was a question to be asked. Just goes to show where making rational, logical assumptions can get you.

Well, the silver lining is that now I can help the next person I guess.

dipmicro · ‎11-23-2014

It is only relevant when shipment is given to CanadaPost, not when label is printed, so the "after cutoff" would refer to time between label printed and acceptance scan. Shipment with 3 day delivery time given to CP on Nov 19 before last pickup is correctly delivered on Monday Nov. 24.

Source of info: we biweekly file for postage refunds. First time we started doing this CanadaPost tried to deny 3 out of 4 claims, but we appealed with references to their online guarantee and transit time promises and they paid up. Since then, they never tried to deny anymore and filing for refund has become a fairly eventless routine.

mr.elmwood · ‎11-23-2014

I asked because of New Years Eve, Day, and the weekend. I was having trouble counting the days.

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rose-dee · ‎11-23-2014

@dipmicro wrote:
It is only relevant when shipment is given to CanadaPost, not when label is printed, so the "after cutoff" would refer to time between label printed and acceptance scan. Shipment with 3 day delivery time given to CP on Nov 19 before last pickup is correctly delivered on Monday Nov. 24.

OK, now I'm confused again -- I purchased and printed the label on the evening of Nov. 18th, which was of course after the cutoff time that day.

I took it to the P.O. in the morning (Nov. 19th), but got it there a few minutes after they opened at 8:00 a.m. The original delivery time was in fact stated as 3 days (which I thought was correct). When I checked the tracking info on Nov. 21st, Canada Post had added an extra day (delivery Nov. 24th) on the basis that it was "received after the cutoff". How could the cutoff on Nov. 19th have been before 8:10 a.m.?

Oh well, no matter, I'm not bothering with Xpresspost again. I just wish I could really understand why they added an extra day, apparently arbitrarily. I think 'maggie's' explanation may be the only one that makes sense. In other words, don't necessarily drop an Xpresspost parcel off at the P.O. at the crack of dawn expecting it to go anywhere that day. Ughh.

treasure.hunter.d · ‎11-23-2014

@rose-dee wrote:
Ironically I've found that Xpresspost outdoes Expedited very well to the U.S. (maybe it's actually the USPS that deserves the kudos for that).

Yes, indeed they do. I regularly ship to California and British Columbia from Toronto. The packages to CA arrive in a shorter time than the ones going to BC every time. That's pathetic!