Canada Post fees rising in September and January

[reallynicestamps]

https://m.communications.canadapost-postescanada.ca/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40zHYNywj1%2BbfFAUeb0IXoPtlW5Opf...

Rises are on parcel rates and not on lettermail which has to be approved by Parliament.

[ricarmic]

The good news for most of us is that these won't happen until January still.....

[pjcdn2005]

As ricarmic pointed out,most of us here are small business customers, not commercial business customers so our rates won't go up until January.

[byto253]

I am really curious to see what happens with regular postal and stamp rates.  

[reallynicestamps]

It will be interesting to see what Parliament decides -- they usually rubberstamp Canada Post's requests.

There has been a LOT of confusion about the service charge on 92c/P stamps purchased singly.  I see this often when in the Post Office. For some reason the postal outlet customers just pay and move on.

A couple of years ago one the the vicepresidents told the Globe and Mail that ecommerce meant that the PO was now back to carrying the same percentage of parcels compared to letter mail as at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Both because of the drop in lettermail (mostly billing) and the surge in parcel shipments.

[terence427427]

I'm sure that l was sending parcels inside Canada, via Canada post for 8 or 9 bucks a year or two back. Now the minimum charge is $18 bucks plus change, even if it was a pin in a matchbox. So, now l only use their pre-paid boxes that come in three sizes, whereever possible. Sales are right down, no-one wants to pay that much for postage.

Today, l took an envelop that was just on 0.75 inch thick, it passed through their slot but because it just about touched both sides, they said it had to go by parcel, 20 bucks please, not $3.19 via envelop mail. Sick of getting ripped off.

[femmefan1946]

I wish Canada Post would make more of those plastic sheets with the 2cm slot that were available for about 15 minutes over a decade ago.

The trick with LetterPost is -- Never hand it to the clerk.

Drop it in the post box outside the PO.

Oh and don't use Imperial measurements. Canada Post (and for that matter Canada) went metric in 1974. Any other measuring system is a guess.

[teenytrinkets]

I made my own "slot" out of cardboard! It's all warped and stretched out now, but I don't even bother measuring anymore. I tape my small (but sometimes chunky) sales in the middle of a large bubble envelope. It works rather flawlessly to fool those feeling the empty edges by hand. So it would work for the pin in the matchbox! Lol!

I sell on some beauty Facebook groups and the girls in that group ship all sorts of bulky items lettermail!!! I'm talking stuff 2-3 inches thick!!! I tried something really thick once and it got sent back - so I know my local post offices or the DC are paying attention. But I have sent dozens of items 1 -1.5 inches thick that have gone through fine. You just need to test your area.

Keep in mind however, the receiver's post office can be very strict. I once had a FB sale to a gal in a small town in NS and sent her a tiny 1.5cm sample of face cream in a bubble envelope. That one even snugly fit through the slot. It made it all the way from BC to NS, and her post office measured it, refused it, printed a return label, put it in a plastic sleeve, slapped it on the envelope and shipped it back! So exactly 2 weeks later, I get this envelope that shows "insufficient postage" because it's dimensions are 20x15x2.5 cm (.5 cm too thick). Good Grief!!! I messaged my buyer and she said her local post office pulls dick moves like this all the time, and she can't receive any OS lettermail.

Those exceptions are quite rare, however. I've had great success with my large bubble envelope trick!!! Try it!!!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

I wish Canada Post would make more of those plastic sheets with the 2cm slot that were available for about 15 minutes over a decade ago.

The trick with LetterPost is -- Never hand it to the clerk.

Drop it in the post box outside the PO.

Oh and don't use Imperial measurements. Canada Post (and for that matter Canada) went metric in 1974. Any other measuring system is a guess.

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I got CP official unit several years ago when they were still available au gratis. If you do an eBay search using "canada post mail slot" a bunch of listings appear with various prices and shipping.

-Lotz

[femmefan1946]

The problem with overly thick "letters" is that they can get caught in the machinery.

Very little mail is handled by humans. And those postmarking machines look like the wringer on your mum's washing machine, the one she had before she got the automatic washer for Christmas that year.

[byto253]

And if you do need to pay at the counter, if you don't have stamps, go to another post office or Shoppers.  That clerk was being a PITA as most are very accommodating and will even help pull it through if it is a bit snug.   My experience is that person does not represent most of the clerks, who I find are very usually helpful.  

[darak10]

I stopped using Canada Post for all US and most international parcels in December and now exclusively use chitchats.  Savings are 1/3 less than CP US small packet rate for US and include tracking.  To most European countries it ranges from around the same to up to a couple bucks more than the small packet rate but you get a tracking number with it.  I took a look at Shippo and after I saw what a pittance in savings I would be getting there I discounted them as an option.   

There's no chitchats depot in Edmonton so everything has to be picked up here by courier and taken to Calgary.  Earlier this year they had some problems with couriers misrouting parcels, but they've got their act together and everything is pretty much all good.  If you live in a city with a depot you should be all over these guys.  I've used them a few times for Canadian parcels and its usually a saving of a couple bucks to 4 or 5, which given the tighter margins we are all functioning under in the time of MP is starting to seem worth it.  I could see just using CP for lettermail stuff and thats that.  They are just out to lunch with their US and Intl rates, they are pricing themselves out of business.  This switch from January to September is pretty dodgy stuff too given they increased in January already, so they'll have hit folks twice in one year with rate increases.  Are they going to wait to Sept 2022 to increase rates again? I somehow think not, they'll probably issue a press release in March 2022 that they are increasing rates in June 2022.