Canadian sellers PROTECT YOURSELF NOW!!! 35% postal rate increase.

[gotwhatchuneed]

Canada post has jacked the rates 35% today it now cost's 1 dollar to mail a letter though left over stamps will still be honored, you may lose your shirt on listing's you have with the "old" shipping charges I didn't research it much so maybe it's just for letters, I don't sell so I don't care but you might.

[ricarmic]

I think perhaps the joke really is the common belief that selling stamps is so easy/cheap...... 😉 

Seriously I wholly agree, this month is terrible, even in the wondrous world of stamps in the next while I have:

-the new postal rates

-the HS codes (although I'm being a bit dramatic, all I have to do as far as I know is put 907400 on the forms now)

-a large number of stamp categories are changing (there are a lot!!!)

-the new defect rate to begin worrying about

Sigh....I shouldn't have made the list, maybe time for an afternoon beer or something.......

[cumos55]

There was a major change in postal options in 2013.....  and with this came a  change in cost of shipping parcels to the US and then internationally.

We should be thankful that the changes for lettermail/letterpost did not occur in 2013.... and the changes to parcel options and lettermail/letterpost options did not happen all at once

My US buyers have adjusted to my use of Tracked Packet... and sales are higher to US customers in the first few months of 2014....

US sales were 20 % of total sales  in 2013.

Since January 1, 2014,  US buyers are responsible for close to 30 % of sales.

One gets the impression that if a buyer wants it they will pay... Their acceptance of a higher cost for postage will get adjusted....

[vinylclinic]

I'm selling vinyl records & cd's,with all those augmentation for shipping cost from canadapost i lost 65 % of my sale since 2 years +++++ebay shipping fees 10%  my goodness this is not a joke,i remember some words that a person make years ago,what can you do for your country,but now the words should be ,what can you do for us.

[gotwhatchuneed]

Yes it's the classic corporate capitalism attitude, charge the most you can for the least amount of effort, and the right price for a service is whatever the market will bear. Considering they basically have a monopoly on Canadian  mail they can dictate what that right price is.

[cumos55]

The following is a reality  that everyone... including Canada Post must face.

In 1971  gas for our vehicles was about 45 cents $0.45 a gallon   (Imperial gallon)

Today we buy that same gas  (in Winnipeg)  for $5.85 a gallon..  ( the same) 

A factor  of 13 times more costly

In 1973  I drove from Edmonton to Winnipeg on $15.00 worth of gas..  850 miles.... with a 1971 Datsun

You do the calculation for the cost f today's trip of 850 miles.....

but that is close to $200 today..... and with the equivalent of a 1971 Datsun 

How do postal rates compare?  

Did it cost $1.00 to ship a parcel weighing about 2 pounds from Winnipeg to Edmonton in 1973?

[reallynicestamps]

cuomo-- I was in university in 1971 but the next year I graduated and was earning about $8000 a year. Remember to factor wages in when you talk about inflation.

I use the loaf of bread system myself. When I started housekeeping in 1968 (for a commune of university students) bread was three loaves for a dollar and I had earned $3300 annually as a bank teller before starting uni. 

This is where my nagging about a minimum wage of 17 cents a minute comes from.

[cumos55]

Many comparisons can be made...looking back ....

What will they say 40 years from today?

Or will there be any gasoline driven cars?  or some strange driven creature of the future......running on fusion technology... or H20 splitting.... or Canadian Club....

Or whatever....

What will be the postal rate 40 years from today..

or will there no longer be an eBay, or even a need for a "Canada Post"

OR... OR... Or more than any of us can think about...

We adjust to today's world, and we  all learn how to deal with the realities of today.

May be we do not like it...... but  it will not change... We adjust to today's new reality with each passing year.........

[femmefan1946]

I look forward to teleportation myself.

I'm saving Air Miles for that.

[maximus7001]

You got a link for this ChitChat?

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Femme, Cumos, we are of the approximate same vintage, perhaps I am the baby at only 58.

Looking at a line item cost and saying how outrageous it is that it has gone up so much pales in comparison to earnings. In 1972 I was earning $1.50 per hour.

Gas was approx. 50¢ per gallon. I could buy three gallons for an hour's work. I can now buy 5 gallons for an hour's work. My wages have gone up faster.

Bought a brand new, top of the line, colour TV in 1974. Cost me $386. I bought a brand new, top of the line, colour TV in 2013 for $328.

In 1974 that was a month's ages. In 2013 I could have possibly made that money that day.

I am saving my Aeroplan miles to be put on an ice flow and pushed out to sea.

Max, ChitChat operates out of southern Ontario. I am unaware of any such service in Winnipeg.

[dipmicro]

---

@inuk_the_polar_bear wrote:
Femme, Cumos, we are of the approximate same vintage, perhaps I am the baby at only 58.

Looking at a line item cost and saying how outrageous it is that it has gone up so much pales in comparison to earnings. In 1972 I was earning $1.50 per hour.

Gas was approx. 50¢ per gallon. I could buy three gallons for an hour's work. I can now buy 5 gallons for an hour's work. My wages have gone up faster.

Bought a brand new, top of the line, colour TV in 1974. Cost me $386. I bought a brand new, top of the line, colour TV in 2013 for $328.

In 1974 that was a month's ages. In 2013 I could have possibly made that money that day.

I am saving my Aeroplan miles to be put on an ice flow and pushed out to sea.

Max, ChitChat operates out of southern Ontario. I am unaware of any such service in Winnipeg.

---

Your 1974 TV you paid by 257 wage-hours may have been top of the line, but 2013 $328 TV (2 days of work, 1 day?) is definitely not top of the line. TVs and computers and iPhones are all gimmicks, they come and go. What really matters is cost of living, food, energy and transportation. How did that change between 1974 and today? Do not use dollars, use wage-hours. I was born around those times and lived in a country where prices were set in stone and frozen in time. That did not work out either, there was abundance of some items, but it was very hard to buy something as basic as toilet paper so everyone stockpiled when they could. There was no yearly inflation, but from time to time government decided to change currency and allowed commoners to carry over only about 1-2 months of wage worth so savings became worthless, public servants were allowed more. Overall it's pretty much same ripoff on money-saving people like here with mandatory inflation, except here they want you to spend and borrow, because inflation works for you when you are in debt.

CanadaPost has been pushing that inflation vehicle really good lately. Banks and utility companies will start charging for mailed statement if they don't already or will simply sneak it into your monthly fixed costs as unexplained increase or both. Then everyone will demand higher wages because they need to pay for those higher energy and banking costs and also want to be able to afford mailing a letter to grandma twice a year. When pre-computer generation die out, we will just use emails and IMs.

[dipmicro]

Btw. Statistics Canada says inflation is about 1.1% - that means in 40 years we should be paying 54% more and earning 54% more. Which seems overly optimistic by the way the things are going.

Inuk, you say 40yrs ago you were making $1.50/hr, that would be like a minimum wage then for 18yr old? 40yrs later minimum wage is $11 that averages to approx 5.1% per year.

Also $6.58 in 2004 to $11 in 2014 averages to around 5.3% per year. So minimum wage goes up approx 5% per year. Many goods and services are made by close to minimum wage unskilled labor, so unskilled labor is catching up with professional labor, which will eventually kill the education because there will be no point getting one if engineer will be making slightly more than general laborer. Oh wait, engineer is already making only slightly more than unskilled postal carrier ...