Canada Post is broken

[dsti3254]

I regularly order small value items from the UK and shipping time to Canada has become awful. I live in a major Canadian city with regular postal delivery, not in a rural area with limited service. Over the last 3 years postal times for Airmail have gone from approximately 1 month to 2-3 months from the UK.  Tracked items are a waste of money because the UK Royal Mail does the scanning for tracking, but as soon as it enters Canada, usually in  couple of days, the tracking ends because Canada Post doesn't do the scanning they are required to do (I'm convinced that this is to hide some serious problems in the system) 

By comparison, sending similar items in the other direction takes 5-10 days, and once or twice I've got stuff from the UK in 6 days.  So where are these parcels languishing for 2 months?  I'm seriously considering asking senders to just send items surface mail, as it would take about the same amount of time.  Over the last few months I've had to begin cases on almost every order from the UK. I know the shipper is not to blame, but Ebay rules only give me a limited time to do this to have buyer protection. 

So, if you sell to Canada on Ebay:

1) Items are probably going to be massively delayed and you might need to refund the buyer.

2) Tracking is a waste of money, as Canada Post won't do it.

Please put pressure on Ebay to put pressure on Canada Post to deliver the service they are being paid for. Right now it's broken.

[zee-chan]

You do realize that no UK sellers will see your post, because this is a Canadian discussion board? It’s mostly sellers who sell FROM Canada who come here.

During Xmas time packages tend to take a lot longer. I have things mailed in early-December that are still in transit, so I just keep waiting patiently. And it’s usually because it’s taking the Canadian customs forever to clear them, which isn’t Canada Post’s fault. I have seen my packages hang out with customs for a month or so according to tracking.

Most of my mail with tracking DOES get tracked by Canada Post... it’s the ones only with registered mail service that doesn’t always get tracked (as it’s only required for signature, not tracking). Is your mail shipped with the later?

[momcqueen]

The problem is not Canada Post, it is the level of service being used by the seller(s) in question.

Registered Letter service? That is, in fact, the problem. Other postal options exist and should be used.

Registered Letter service is not what you want as a buyer in Canada.

Tracking stops on entry to Canada, delivery takes place who knows when but it's not a secure method of tracked delivery.

Your SELLER(S) should know better. 

[femmefan1946]

UK Royal Mail does the scanning for tracking, but as soon as it enters Canada, usually in  couple of days, the tracking ends

Are your sellers shipping by Registered Mail? That very old service is being discontinued by UPU signatories because it wasn't doing the job it used to.

It has been replaced by, for example, Canada's Priority Post /Tracked Parcel International/ and in some cases ExpressPost International.

It's not just UK,  if your seller shipped Registered from the USA or if you shipped Registered to Europe or anywhere, tracking would end at the borders.

If you play with this webpage
https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

you will find which services actually do track internationally.

Given the type of item you enjoy, it would not surprise me if your sellers are not up to speed on the services currently available to them. We all get stuck in ruts. (I deal with a lot of philatelists. They are lovely customers, but don't like change very much.)

but as soon as it enters Canada, usually in  couple of days, the tracking ends

And which terminal is it in when that happens?

It's not likely that your European items are being Held at Customs for fentanyl (one reason for long delays in Chinese shipments), so it may be a specific problem (in Monreal?).

Have you called -- and that means PHONED-- Canada Post Customer Service about this? Sometimes that gets things shaken loose. The registration number is on record on arrival, so that helps.

[zee-chan]

Sometimes I feel bad for Canada Post because they are the ones who does the final delivery part of the whole shipping, so they get blamed for things that aren’t their problem (well CP certainly isn’t perfect either)... kinda like my job, I work at the front end, so sometimes I get blamed when it has nothing to do with me 

PS. I love how all three of us came to the registered mail answer within minutes of each other 

[femmefan1946]

@zee-chan

Have you seen the website Not Always Right?

Anyone who works retail needs it on speed-dial if only to remind you that you are not alone.

[zee-chan]

Oh yeah I’m aware I’m not alone, though I don’t actually work in retail, but I can tell my stories to other friends in the same field and everybody would be nodding their heads =P

Side note: the mod was quick to move our Shippo threads, but this one really belongs to Buyer Central, no? *waits and sees how long it’d take for this thread to be moved without @-ing a mod*

[hlmacdon]

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@zee-chan wrote:

Sometimes I feel bad for Canada Post because they are the ones who does the final delivery part of the whole shipping, so they get blamed for things that aren’t their problem (well CP certainly isn’t perfect either)... kinda like my job, I work at the front end, so sometimes I get blamed when it has nothing to do with me 

PS. I love how all three of us came to the registered mail answer within minutes of each other 

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Canada Post is just at fault here as they are treating anything that is registered mail as a non-priority to deliver. It is a policy decision at this point. To be fair customs plays a role and they understandably have to screen far more shipments now and anything that isn't Courier, EMS, Post Expres, or another service with an actual delivery standard time gets dropped to the bottom of the priority list. Canada Post likewise treats it the same. This is as much about sending a message on terminal dues and appropriate levels of remuneration for the delivery of physical goods. Anything through the Post Expres and EMS systems comes in a timely manner.

[dsti3254]

Yes, I'm going to post it on the UK board as well. I'm open to the idea that the problem is related to my local sorting office, and others are better. When we lived elsewhere, transit from the UK was a couple of weeks rather than a couple of months. I do not accept that Christmas is the problem. It has contributed perhaps, but actually my postie has been working weekends over the holidays, so my service improved. No, my items are not registered mail service. I've never got tracking from tracked packages that come from the UK, & my sample size is about 50. Lastly, I'm aware that Customs delays are the go-to excuse for Canada Post, however I have ample evidence that the delays are further up the chain. Few of my items are subject to any kind of duty, and CBSA puts stickers on parcels documenting their involvement, so I'm confident that's not the problem. Additionally, when I get tracking info for items from other countries (it's only UK I have problems with), customs clearance is rapid. I have always found CBSA to be efficient & helpful, which has never been the case with Canada Post.

[dsti3254]

Registered letter service is not a service provided by Royal Mail in the UK, so it's not the problem. My parcels are invariably sent as International Tracked or International Tracked and Signed service, and none of them have tracking when they enter Canada.

[dsti3254]

You are all assuming that the Royal Mail offers the same services as Canada Post. It doesn't. Registered Mail is not a thing there. Canada Post may be interpreting these items as Registered and not doing the tracking, but then that's on them.  A variety of tracking & signing and insuring products have been used for scores of my packages, and NONE have had the tracking continue into Canada. That's a problem. Oddly though, tracking does continue for items from the US.

[reallynicestamps]

No, I think we're all aware that there are differences in both names and services from other postal services.

I've never got tracking from tracked packages that come from the UK, & my sample size is about 50.

Really odd.

You are seeing it tracked to the border though?

I don't buy much and usually from the USA, but I tracked a China Post item the other month and it was tracked properly to my doorstep. It may have been DHL though.

Have you spoken face to face with the postmaster at your local Post OFFICE?

(Sorry about the emphasis.)

[dsti3254]

Yeah, I've wasted hours of my life talking to Canada Post employees at the sorting office, and higher up the chain. Unfortunately, my local post office is a convenience store and their employees don't work for Canada Post, and are extremely unhelpful.  I have found pretty much every response to be evasive, unhelpful and often untrue. Without tracking in Canada no investigation can ever get results, and responsibility for delays is effectively avoided. I am however, friends with a postal carrier, who knows their policies very well. From her, I know that Canada Post lies about the specifics of their work frequently.  I'm pretty sure that my address is blacklisted because I've opened so many tickets, and now the online system doesn't work for me, and nobody ever answers my queries or complaints... often despite promises to do so over the phone.  The system is definitely broken... for me at least.

[dsti3254]

And yes, it is a stark difference with the tracking. Items from the US are fully tracked, China as well, I'm not sure about other parts of Europe, but I've never had tracking from the UK. It's like a corporate decision has been made to not honour that part of the agreement.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@dsti3254 wrote:

You are all assuming that the Royal Mail offers the same services as Canada Post. It doesn't. .... That's a problem. Oddly though, tracking does continue for items from the US.

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Nothing odd about that. Canada Post and the USPS are mostly on the same page regarding types of cross border mail services.  So a cross-border tracking number works on both postal websites (however, often with different wording).

I see from

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery

that the Royal Mail is well on it's way to eliminate letterpost as a separate mail class for international.  I love their ad-speak use of "Economy" instead of "Surface" when describing some of the mail options.

[zee-chan]

CBSA puts stickers on parcels documenting their involvement <--- a parcel without tape doesn't necessary mean it never went to customs. A parcel can be stuck at customs for two months and never get checked. I have had my Japan mails stuck at customs for two months as per tracking and they never bothered to open it (so no customs tape).

[hlmacdon]

From looking at the current Royal Mail services and their UPU S10 formatting (which denotes the actual mail class):

- International Tracked and Signed = Registered Mail system, denoted by the R on labels and a R(X) S10 prefix which corresponds to registered letterpost

- International Tracked = Post Expres, denoted by Post Expres on labels

- International Signed = Registered Mail system, denoted by R on labels and R(X) S10 prefix which corresponds to registered letterpost

TLDR: Ship with International Tracked if you want your item in a timely fashion. 

[femmefan1946]

my local post office is a convenience store

Taht's not a post OFFICE. That's a postal OUTLET.

You need the post master at the nearest post OFFICE.

[dsti3254]

So without a customs sticker how do you know it was held up at customs for 2 months?

[dsti3254]

Thanks, that's interesting information. From what I can tell, the majority of my orders are sent International Tracked, yet they take as long as the other two services. I find it odd that International Tracked and Signed, which costs the most of those services, is a lesser (slower) service. That's definitely not how it's seen in the UK, and I suspect Ebay sellers would be concerned by this.