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@ypdc_dennis wrote:It looks like Canada Post is tweaking their Tracked packet rates with the over-the-counter getting a big boost so they can offer higher discounts (at least that's what it looks like to me).
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Thanks for all the work involved in recording and posting those rates. Very illuminating.
However, this makes no sense to me if Canada Post is trying to increase eBay and other online sellers' use of Canada Post's services. Why would Canada Post favour its own site for Tracked Packet when it must know that it could boost sales of Tracked Packet far more by providing larger discounts on the convenient service offered through Paypal, which is much better integrated with eBay than Canada Post will ever be?
I've used Paypal labelling on another venue on which I sell, and it's just as easy and seamless there. I also buy my Paypal labels with my Paypal $USD, another convenience and money-saver not available through Canada Post's labelling, at least not that I'm aware of.
I don't know about you, but the last time I had to use CPC's EST labelling, it was like getting through a maze -- convoluted, lengthy, slow as molasses in January, frustrating and cumbersome. And everything has to be input manually, making for a higher risk of error. Do it a few times and you might soon be looking for alternative carriers if you're lucky enough to live in an area that offers them.
It might arguably be worth the pain for the ca. $5.00 savings, but then again, why wouldn't Canada Post use its higher counter rates to subsidize the go-to service that eBay and other online sellers want to use (Paypal labels)? This seems, from a corporate marketing viewpoint anyway, to be the equivalent of competing against your own best products and ignoring your easiest means of sales. I'm baffled. Maybe CPC and Paypal had a little tiff.
On the other side of the coin, I just sent a parcel via Tracked Packet to the U.S. that weighed 830 grams, and it cost $17.75 (Paypal rate, I didn't check CPC). The Small Packet service for the same parcel would have been $16.82, a difference of only $0.93, and for that I got tracking and $100 insurance. That one was a no-brainer.
Another Tracked Packet item to the U.S. this week was $16.58 for 490 grams -- the Small Packet rate would have been $11.29 (a $5.29 difference), but in that particular case I wanted the tracking and paid for it myself I didn't check on whether the price would have jumped to the $17.75 level had the parcel weighed 510 grams, which (as above) would have made the price difference between the two services negligible.
I haven't checked CPC's EST rates for these US services, but I'd say that even within Paypal it's worth comparing Small Packet USA and Light Packet USA rates before purchasing a label, especially in today's delivery-sensitive, tracking-obsessed eBayland. Also, given the rates you've quoted above, it may be that there are destinations or weights where International Tracked Packet makes more sense than Small Packet.
Migraine-worthy indeed. 
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