Yet another shipping question. Canada Post options

[ericsells75]

Ok, I've looked into this a bit and feel fairly certain the answer but I want to ask to make sure I'm not missing something. 

So in my beginning days I got advice to ship everything within Canada Regular Parcel and US - Tracked Packet so i always had tracking. 

But... I sell some lower value items that I am ok with forgo'ing the tracking on and just recently discovered Small Packet Air to the US. It has the same dimensions as Tracked Packet just without tracking. The price on this is less than shipping within Canada, presumably just because it doesn't have tracking. 

So here is the question i have that i think i know but want to check. Does Canada Post have a similar service for domestic shipments? I mean right now it seems either oversized letter or the only option for parcels is with tracking. Is there not an option somewhere in between?

[richardcm · Accepted solution]

Within Canada, only lettermail oversize and parcel services..

To lower costs on parcel services get a Canada Post small business card. You get at least 5% discount or more. You also get access to Expedited Parcel which is Regular Parcel with insurance added free and a guaranteed delivery time (not honoured in pandemic). 

Small Packet USA Air is not tracked but there is a quirk with it. It has a barcode which is scanned in the USA by USPS and these scans can be read by eBay site tracking and you get proof of delivery many times apparently. 

To reduce postage costs, consider buying so called discount postage. The are mint unused Canada Post stamps from over the years. Still valid postage. Use for you domestic lettermail to start to get familiar with it. Cost is roughly 70 or 80 per cent of face value. Plus choose sellers who do not charge sales tax saving 5 to 15% more. 

I use them on parcels and ship 50-60% of rate I would pay at counter. I put stamps on equaling the postage needed but my cost  of stamps was much less. 

Others will expand on how to do this in detail. 

[marnotom!]

No.

Small Packet and its variations are actually an extension of international letter mail.

Side note: Consider enrolling in Canada Post’s Solutions for Small Business program so you can send those domestic Regular Parcels as domestic Expedited Parcels for the same price and with up to $100 insurance included.

[ericsells75]

Thanks. Yes, that's actually what i do. Under promise and over deliver. List as regular and ship as expedited

I have small business discount.

[fbriere]

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@ericsells75 wrote:

List as regular and ship as expedited

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For the record, while Regular and Expedited Parcel share the same rate tables, they do not necessarily cost the same, since a different density factor is applied when calculating the volumetric equivalent of an item (6000 for Standard vs. 5000 for Expedited).  Depending on the size of your package, you may end up paying more for Expedited than what the buyer paid for Standard.

(Of course, you may simply choose to consider this difference as part of the cost of doing business.  I just wanted to point it out.)

[ericsells75]

Agreed. But the price has been negligible so I consider the cost of doing business

[teenytrinkets]

I will go a step further and say it's sometimes CHEAPER to send via regular parcel vs expedited with a Small Biz discount! You folks in the East would never know this, but in the West- where we don't have HST, taxes are calculated on your parcel at the rate for the RECEIVING province when you use your Small Biz account (instead of just the SENDING province for regular parcel). So when I ship to ON or the Maratimes, I save 5% with my discount, but have to pay an extra 8% - 10% on taxes, resulting in a 3% - 5% loss. Granted, no insurance, but I rarely need it. It adds up!

[teenytrinkets]

If you can't ship with a 3rd party like ChitChats, I'm afraid you're stuck getting the shaft from Canada Post. My advice is to REALLY stretch the lettermail option. I usually ship around 3-4cm thickness without issue. The key, I think, is to befriend a CP counter person that rarely checks thickness. I am a "regular" at my local place, who just pops it in the bin. I also ship in larger bubble envelopes and place the item in the middle with tape. O/S mail is handled manually, so staff would have a harder time feeling the thickness by hand. I've had two things returned - but they were REALLY thick - and put in the red box at the same time.

Another trick: if you're sending something thin, but expensive- use REGISTERED Mail!!! It's only another $10 or so. $12 beats the $18-$20 I've had to pay to send something tiny across the country!

And another option: prepaid Xpresspost. ~$13 regionally & tracked with insurance if you can fit it into the small bubble envelope.

[reallynicestamps]

BUT

Be careful with Registered Mail.

It is only Proof of Delivery within Canada.

Once over the border, it is at best, Proof of Shipping.

EBay and Paypal will only accept Proof of Delivery in a Not Received Dispute.

[fbriere]

Thanks for the info.  I hadn't realized that the different tax rules for customer and commercial could result in a "discounted" rate being actually higher than the regular one.  It's a strange world we live in...

That said, I should point out that the SSB discount is not a flat 5% (this is merely an average), so commercial rates will not automatically rise above consumer rates for every location east of MB.  (For example, from Vancouver to Toronto, this only seems to happen for heavy parcels, say 30+ pounds.  Shipping to Halifax, on the other hand, will favor customer rates even from the lightest parcel.  I guess it gets worse the further away you get.)

[fbriere]

And in case anyone was wondering: when you use eBay's calculated shipping with Expedited, although the rate paid by the buyer is the no-discount customer Regular, the taxes on that will always be those for commercial.  In other words, if Expedited ends up actually costing more, the difference will be fronted by the buyer, not by you.

[fbriere]

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@fbriere wrote:

 (For example, from Vancouver to Toronto, this only seems to happen for heavy parcels, say 30+ pounds.  Shipping to Halifax, on the other hand, will favor customer rates even from the lightest parcel.  I guess it gets worse the further away you get.)

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Or maybe, just maybe, it has to do with taxes being 13% in ON and 15% in NS.  (facepalm)