Hi Everyone,
I do not remember which thread it is in, but a few of us were discussing the habits of the postal system when shipping into the USA.
I wrote that I had heard, and wasnt sure if it was true or not, that there are only 3 places in all of the US where mail can pass between our two countries. I had been told that this is what makes our mail so slow to get anywhere withing the US. Presumably any security alerts going on in the US also added to the slow down, because of items being checked by both customs and security.
I think it was Jackie who said she'd love to know if it was true, and I thought maybe others of you would like to know also.
Today at the post office, I asked, and they confirmed that yes, there are indeed only 3 places in the US where THEY will allow our mail to pass (both in and out). WE apparantly have stations set up at every border city across the country, but apparently, the US postal service will simply not allow the mail to be passed through more than the 3 staions they have. (no reason given for this)
So, the next time that you have a US customer asking why airmail takes so long, you can tell them why (perhaps we can embarrass them into opening up more stations???). When we pay for airmail, our item gets flown to the nearest station that is allowed to pass the mail through. Then it gets turned over to the US postal service. At that point, they do not neccessarily have to fly the item at all...after all we didnt pay THEM for airmail service...we paid Post Canada, who fulfilled that obligation by flying it to the border. After that, Canada Post has no busines telling the US what to do with it (so they say).
Sometimes, I think that when my stuff gets to the border, they WALK it the rest of the way.
Honestly...with free trade etc, you'd think that we could get our postal services together and set something up, like an agreement? To mine eye, this doesnt lmake either of us look good.
Just thought you may want to know.
Jaqui
I do not remember which thread it is in, but a few of us were discussing the habits of the postal system when shipping into the USA.
I wrote that I had heard, and wasnt sure if it was true or not, that there are only 3 places in all of the US where mail can pass between our two countries. I had been told that this is what makes our mail so slow to get anywhere withing the US. Presumably any security alerts going on in the US also added to the slow down, because of items being checked by both customs and security.
I think it was Jackie who said she'd love to know if it was true, and I thought maybe others of you would like to know also.
Today at the post office, I asked, and they confirmed that yes, there are indeed only 3 places in the US where THEY will allow our mail to pass (both in and out). WE apparantly have stations set up at every border city across the country, but apparently, the US postal service will simply not allow the mail to be passed through more than the 3 staions they have. (no reason given for this)
So, the next time that you have a US customer asking why airmail takes so long, you can tell them why (perhaps we can embarrass them into opening up more stations???). When we pay for airmail, our item gets flown to the nearest station that is allowed to pass the mail through. Then it gets turned over to the US postal service. At that point, they do not neccessarily have to fly the item at all...after all we didnt pay THEM for airmail service...we paid Post Canada, who fulfilled that obligation by flying it to the border. After that, Canada Post has no busines telling the US what to do with it (so they say).
Sometimes, I think that when my stuff gets to the border, they WALK it the rest of the way.
Honestly...with free trade etc, you'd think that we could get our postal services together and set something up, like an agreement? To mine eye, this doesnt lmake either of us look good.
Just thought you may want to know.
Jaqui
Amberwood... that's not quite accurate.
Any business can ship Expedited - whether they have an account with CP or not.
Walk up to any counter and the Expedited forms are free for the asking.
I don't have anything more than a V1 account and I've been shipping Expedited since the program was introduced. Getting a V1 account is about as difficult as getting spam.
I have only talked to a couple of CP reps but my experience, thus far, is that they prefer to b*llsh*t their way out of any situation where they are asked about something they don't understand rather than make the effort to get the straight goods back to the customer.
I think its called "taking the path of least resistance".
Cheers!
Bill
Any business can ship Expedited - whether they have an account with CP or not.
Walk up to any counter and the Expedited forms are free for the asking.
I don't have anything more than a V1 account and I've been shipping Expedited since the program was introduced. Getting a V1 account is about as difficult as getting spam.
I have only talked to a couple of CP reps but my experience, thus far, is that they prefer to b*llsh*t their way out of any situation where they are asked about something they don't understand rather than make the effort to get the straight goods back to the customer.
I think its called "taking the path of least resistance".
Cheers!
Bill
