I spoke with my CP rep today for about 45 minutes. He old me that they are loosing lots and lots and lost of business because of their high rates and they are aware that people are driving to the US to mail although he was more knowledgeable about people establishing warehouses on the US side and then shipping directly from there with nothing stored in Canada at all.
Makes sense, get 10 sellers, move your inventories to the US and still operate your business from Canada yet everything is shipped out of the US with USPS with a discounted rate amongst 10 sellers.
We talked about cubic rates and he admitted that I really got hit hard, more than a lot of people when they started charging cubic rates and I said I lost 50% of my business (all my guitar sales).
I also said that it wasnt fair charging us based cubic weight shipping to the US as they are not charged by cubic weight by USPS, all CP is doing is taking my instruments 100 miles to Montreal yet charging me as if they were delivering a 65 pound rock to California when all it is, is a 7 pound guitar 3' tall in a box.
He agreed on that point as well! But said there was nothing he could do about it.
After he tried to get me to use his electronic shipping tools I asked him about the hidden brokerage charges and he said that had to do with Peace Bridge Brokers who CP uses (at least here in the East).
He said that for items valued at over $200 US, the vendor is paying the US customer's duty on Expedited Commercial. I said there isnt an American company that is doing that and probably not a Canadian company that is aware of what you are doing. He said it was the CP customers' request to do it that way. I told him I was never asked and I know of no one that was.
He said that is what he was told and that is what CP is doing. Billing their customers for the American's duty.
You know it was refreshing to have him ackowledge this but this just shows you how out of tune CP is.
They admit they are loosing tons of business, in fact tons of customers yet they raise their rates.
We talked about my latest venture into selling comics and he suggested using prepaid envelopes at $10.85 each. So I told him I could mail them from the US with the same type of service for less than $4 and he said he know but there was nothing they can do about it.
You know it must be tough being a sales rep for CP. It would be like being owning a gas station selling your gas at $5 per ltr when the guy across the street is elling his for $0.72 per litre and all you do is say, I am loosing business and there is nothing I can do about it.
I oreded 10 P forms 2 weeks ago. They gave a separate pruchase Order number for each and then assigned a different CP order number for each and then mailed me 10 separate packages with one form in each package. And they dont know why they are lossing money and business.
Someone should get into Canada Post, fire everyone and tear the sucker apart and rebuild it from the ground up.
Prerequisite to work at the new CP: Must never have worked there or for any government agency or department before nor have any relative, living or dead who was ever employed there.
I honeslty cant believe that conversation I had today.
Malcolm
