New post rates in effect + Devalued U.S Dollar = ARGGGG

[www-labels4less-com]

Small packet air up to $11.40 from $9.90 for 500gr-1kg. I wal already subsidizing my freight by only charging $6.00. This was fine last year with the U.S.$ worth so much more. Now its killing me. I just raised all of my shipping and my BIN prices.

Anyone else feeling the crunch?

[llee2]

Doesn't ARGGGG have an "H" at the end of it? Just kidding. Yeah, sucks bigtime. No more subsidizing. I find people are more likely anyways to bid on something listed at $1 with $4 shipping than $4 with $1 shipping. Better margin this way too.

[canadian_scale_rail]

The cost of postage increases ...the high cdn dollar and the new increases in ebay fees make me wonder if this is really worth it. At least ebay gave specific amounts of increases ahead of time...but Canada post always just pops the surprize amounts on us ...no other business could do this to their customers...yet Canada post does it over and over

[brcyclesalvage]

Did no one else know what the new rates were going to be or am I missing something. They sent me a new rate book about 2 months ago.

Ryan

[muminlaw]

I certainly didn't know the new rates! The basic domestic letter rate and US letter rate were in a news article in our newpaper the end of November, but nothing about parcels, small packets, Registered Mail, etc. I wonder how you got such a long notice -- even the employees at our local PO didn't have a clue what the rates were going to be!

Glenda

[gloriaguides]

I only got the rates when someone kindly posted them here. They don't even HAVE the new rate booklet at my Postal Outlet (just got new management there) but I got one somewhere else today. I'd adjusted all my shipping rates and will pretty much break even on them. I don't want to pay ebay fees on my subsidizing of their shipping costs. My first auctions with the "new" rates came off tonight and I don't think "they" care. I wish the Canadian $ would go back down. It was so sweet when we got such great exchange rates! And, the prices of used books have been going up at some of my favorite stores...I'll be downsizing my operation when I run out of material (although it doesn't look like any time soon!)

[e-scrooge]

I'm going to continue subsidizing the rates although I'm feeling the crunch too, the only reason I can afford to do so is that most of my items have a 300-500% markup over my cost. But the dollar is cutting into my profit by around $2500 a month right now, and I can't see how anyone with low margins can make any money doing this anymore.

[hdwrench1]

The US small package rate jumped 16 %. I only wish I could increase our shipping rate that much. Another increase like this and the big brown truck will be shipping for us instead of Canada Post.
We just finished our year end and we handed 28K over to Canada Post in 03. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.

Wayne
Heritage Cycle Works

[treasure-pot]

I agree... CP has overstepped itself this time. This whopping increase and the sudden (although previously announced) enforcement of the fuel surcharges has prompted me to investigate companies that will truch my shipping over the border for insertion directly into USPS.

I have been putting 35-40K into CanadaPost's pockets for a couple of years and I'm not prepared to accept an increase of this magnitude without a fight. If they thought that Cdn. shippers would meekly accept any increase passed to them I think they were sorely mistaken.

Once again evidence that CP couldn't organize a two car funeral... even if its their own!

Bill

[treasure-pot]

sorry, should have been "truck"

[amberwoodottawa]

Bill
There's a few of us in Ottawa looking at it right now.

Another thought came to mind if we organized a central depot for people to ship a box containing their pre-lablelled envelopes and packages which was then taken down to the US for furthering by USPS to the customers.

In other words if someone collected a truckload of goods in Ottawa not only from the Ottawa eBay sellers but from Montreal and others places and drove them the 45 minute drive and mailed them, having a USPS account and discounted rate, we might have a solution to our increasing dilema about CP and no alternatives to small packets.

You know it may even be cheaper to mail to Canada from the US with USPS.

That could be one heck of a good business and may save everyone some money.

Malcolm

[rd1000]

it is cheaper in many cases to ship from the US into Canada then to ship within Canada. I have done it several times

[www-labels4less-com]

From what I understand CP has been bleeding money and has not made a profit in recent years. As much as I hate the increase, I still don't think any other carrier can match the small packet rate that CP offers.

$11.40CDN Small packet air 7-10 business day delivery (on average), on parcels 500gr-1KG. Nobody can match that can they?

[amberwoodottawa]

Rob
Can you imagine then, taking all of our parcels into the US for shipping including those destined for Canada?

And to think when you mailed into Canada, that was without a discounted USPS rate. What are the possibilities for getting a USPS account and having reduced shipping rates throughout the US, into Canada and Internationally?

WOW!!!!
Malcolm

[brownboxit]

Big time crunch... still deciding what to do.

the fuel surcharge of 30+ cents per parcel? Come on.
I had some xpressposts cost 25 dollars CDN yesterday, absurd, these are envelopes with movies in them that in the states by media mail are dirt cheap.

I was also informed that venture card discounts for expedited parcel are not going to be honored, something about the switching around in the commercial / regular expedited services, so if that is the case tack on another 5% for that service.

Anybody know if the brokerage fees are out yet of the CP online software?

These increases are a bit heavy to say the least, when combo'd with the dollar & the finicky ebay buyers + higher fees & still no credit on NPB listings (I don't want relists, but a listing fee credit) we're going to start buying traffic elsewhere! I thought the small packet would be a a new option with tracking, but it's nothing but a big crock.

Why are exporters paying fuel surcharges on parcels going to USPS in any case?

[amberwoodottawa]

Not only fuel surcharges by CP charges cubic weight (over actual weight) for parcels going into the US when USPS doesnt charge CP by cubic weight.

I had an item that cost CP about $20 with USPS to ship across the US and I received a bill for $189 (I know this as I shipped an identical parcel to the same people in the same state the month before for only $38.

That meant (had I paid that bill) CP would have made an additional $169 over what they made the month before for only having to ship my item to Montreal where USPS took over.

Malcolm

[treasure-pot]

Labels, I have very little sympathy for CP's inability to make a profit. I would contend that their inability to role out new products and services properly probably costs them millions of dollars every year.

I'm not sure where they are sourcing these "braniacs" but how can a rate change wipe out a V1 discount? The reps are all educated on their products to varying degrees (often minimally) and the RPO's are treated like mushrooms.

Case in point - the introduction of the Expedited Parcel service to the USA a little over a year ago. Some said for businesses only but the RPO that I deal with had everyone filling out the forms from day one. That is, when you could get the forms. No sooner was the service introduced than they started rationing the forms.

It seems with CP its a case of "how can we screw up today?". Is anyone really surprised that they need whopping increases to get back to some level of profitability? I have long held the belief that CP and Air Canada shared the same financial people. They all managed to graduate near the top of their class (right behind the people from Enron).

As much as it would be nice for CP to make a profit, their proverbial milking of the cow will but many sellers into the red. As their customers disappear it would seem that CP will be faced with a real dilemma - how much will their one remaining customer pay for an inefficient and uncaring service?

Bill

[treasure-pot]

sorry, should have been "will put many sellers into the red."

[amberwoodottawa]

CP Inefficiency:

My son and partner in this eBay business called CP a week ago to order more forms, a total of 8 different forms that we use.

The CP rep had to enter a different Purchase Order Number for each form and had to give us a different CP Order number for each form as well as recording each form's distinct number onto another form, taking her (and my son) a total of 50 minutes on the phone.

My son asked her if it wouldnt be easier and more efficient to simply apply one Purchase Order number and one CP Order number to the entire order and she replied "Yes it would be more efficient, but I wouldnt have a job anymore."

Same goes for the letter carriers.

They are not paid by an 8-hour day, they are paid by their route. Their route (length and time)is determined by a team of people who together walk the postie's route with a stick mechanism having a wheel at one end and a counter at the other end and one person walks along the sidewalks and up the driveways with this apparatus while another person has a stop watch. Somtimes a third person is there taking down the data.

Where this gets reallly complicated is when the guy with the stick mechanism, holds it upsidedown with the meter on the ground and the wheel by his face. That's where the 3rd guy comes in as he is supposed to be the supervisor and can tell what is going wrong.

However when the postie does the walk, he is able to complete it in less than half the time because he walks faster than the tester (who also works nights teaching brides how to walk slowly down the isle) and the postie never uses the sidewalk, rather he creates brand new paths over shrubs, bushes and flower beds.

The reason the post office is inefficient is because of design and I am afraid that the union is too strong and the management too weak such that there will never be any major positive changes.

What is really sad is I often side with the Postal workers as I have no doubt that they are probably working for some of the biggest bozos for bosses in the entire world and siding with a union over management is a first for me.

Malcolm

[brownboxit]

I can't see how both those two parties aren't 100% responsible for the mess that is our postal system.

being in Quebec, we've had plenty of Union troubles already this year, my sympathy for the avg union worker as a small enterprise is quickly waning, it seems they want endless benefits along with delivering the same efficiencies & work quality as the USSR might have put out last Decade - this isn't Russia, we've had 15 years of exponential efficiency growth thanks to computers (or at least we are supposed to have) yet there's a provincial deficit here of a billion dollars, snow on the sidewalk, 20 dollar charges for basic parcel mail, and a new strike threat every week.

be they managers or union workers, they've obviously all been a little too close to the titty for too long when everyone & their little sister can get paid 25 dollars an hour to do 5 dollars worth of work.

I recall last fall going up to the counter at the post office with about 15 parcels for expedited P. at 4:30, and the clerk telling me it might not be possible to do them because it was almost 5.. I told him to take his sweet time because neither of us would be going any where until the parcels were scanned, paid & stacked.

I happen to like the 2 or 3 cp clerks I deal with, my beef is nothing personal, just business. I think Bill's expedited example is clutch, a full year LATER this service is still not solidified & in place properly - in private enterprise such a glorious showing gets you fired along with anyone standing next to you, not pay increases.

As someone pointed out, there's no literature available on the changes, none at the counters left, and I doubt reps mailed any to many businesses, but they were leaked to the press months ago - is CP competent at ANY level!?

How is it that if you ask 3 CP people at any level a question you end up with 5 distinctly different answers... ALL OF THEM WRONG!? Are we supposed to be surprised they can't afford to cover the bills, no kidding.. there's a shocker.

My rant is over now, thanks!