eBay Workshop with Canada Post: Friday, May 27, 1-2 PM ET

[carly@ebay.com]

Please join us on Friday May 27 from 1-2 PM ET for a workshop with Canada Post. Kim from Canada Post will be here to answer all of your questions about Canada Post and how you use the various services with your eBay business.

If you are not able to attend, you can leave your questions here in advance of the workshop and they will be answered during the workshop, and you can come back in and check the answers.

Hope you can join us!

Carly

[jakeeangel]

Anybody get the feeling the that the CP is gonna bolt and be a no-show? hehehehehe ]:)

---

[holoboss]

Well,
This is my second post (see above for my previous one).

Seeing all these posts about problems which are only too well known to me, I have one, I think- vital question:

Does Canada Post really see that it is unreliable, amazingly slow, confusing with charges, and not competetive? That they are failing in most basic services? That stuff in their outlets and franchaises are most of the time undertrained, and that is doing not enough to encourage returning of customers?

Or, they believe everything is as good as on their advertising, and here is only a bunch of cranky Ebayers, having pleasure in wasting time writing empty complains, that can be dealt with a few BS promises and a nice, smooth talk?

Do they really see the size and extent of the problem?
Are they really willing to improve the service? Or head office thinks that printing some new style of less convenient Small Packet labels will do for the modern changes, and they can charge us more next year because service has been furtherly improved?

Well, as clearly can be seen, most of regular users has similar, very bad experiences. To change that, much more than a smooth talk is needed.
Otherwise we all will be constantly looking forward not to keep your services as a prefered choice, as it is obvious we are getting too little for too much, and in a very unpleasant, frustrating way.

Time to wake up?
I can only repeat that almost all above problems are the same I encounter regularly:

- Pathetic discount plan for regular users, not rewarding coming back at all.
- Amazingly slow air mail service with average small packet time to USA between 2 and 4 weeks (you can walk there by that time).
- Confusing pricing system, overcharging for domestic Canadian mailings.
-Terribly insufficient tracking system of Express and Expedited shipments.
-Untrained staff, often overcharging, not knowing rules (well, many times I need to tell them what should be shipped which way, and how to enter it!).
-Poor quality of phone customer service in case of a problem, which usually does not resolve anything, except of getting a smooth talk therapy, and listening to aggressive marketing lines, while on hold.
- Not enough choice for small, low value shipments (between letter and parcel service to Canada).
-Poorly designed web site taking long time to navigate to a desired information.

Did I miss something? I think I miss the most, listing only a few most chronic problems. But even if only these will be addressed in real life and visibly improved, I would find it an amazing sign of a good will and effort, which we didn't witness from Canada Post for many years.
So, please wake up and really do sometyhing, not just talk about it. We all are watching every day, while mailing our stuff. Surprise us! Be a bit better! Care for your customers!
Perhaps the problem is simple - Canada post is too large, and nobody is really personally responsible for such mess. If it would be a small business, they would need to figure out all that for themselves long time ago, or they would be already gone down 100x.
Thank you very much for your time reading this!
Regards, still have a shadow of hope that I'll see some improvements one day...
Your naive customer
Derek from Victoria.

[tobyshitzu]

This week trying to use my V1 card to ship domestic expedited staff didn't think that could be done and invited me to do it myself. I pointed out the "F3 commercial" large button on the screen. Staff had no idea what that button was there for - they had worked there for 3 years!!! I should be on the payroll as I'm personally slowly training the staff at several outlets!

[gocanam]

Canada Post is still in the 70's.
Very outdated as compared to USPS.
Is there anything that can be done??
Can they bring in young fresh minds and re-orginize the entire system??
Thanks
Andy

[able-wizard1957]

Actually, if Canada Post was still in the 70s we'd still have low-cost classes of mail like fourth class (for printed matter, like USPS's media mail, if I recall correctly - I worked in an office then and we mailed lots of paper things that way super-cheap).

[misterbeaver]

To my knowledge Canada post has made a surplus this year, and if i am correct, has done pretty good financially the past few years. I read somewhere about this years surplus that it would go towards improvements and upgrades...Cough that didnt happen obviously.

What I would like to know is where that money has gone

Also is it just me am I the only one noticing that CP spends so much effort on creating specialty stamps and coins, and destributing the "Collections" magazine. For one, although I appreciate and acknowledge the hobby of collecting these specialty stamps and stuff by some people, but it seems more effort is put into getting that done then getting improvements in the regular service.

Also in terms of the Collections magazine. Thats a waste of money, as people can either order from the post office or go online, so why spend money on printed material when u can invest that capital into decreasing costs!

[misterbeaver]

You can tell our prices our not nearly as competitive as USPS because it costs me more sometimes to send domestically then it does to send to the United States...thats simply wrong. What is CP doing about this and the fact that many skip across the border to ship...some even go across the border to ship back to canada!

If you look at USPS's letter post and airmail services. Its such a bargaina dn the sending time is pretty good. Institute this in Canada!

[misterbeaver]

This is about the Canada Post website. I order all my shipping supplies from the Canada Post website. Last month I believe, I ordered lots of supplies including Customs Stickers (Green ones) and used them on many packages when sending to the US for weeks before i switched to a different post office, and at this new post office they told me the green stickers were expired MANY MONTHS ago. She showed me the new white small packet custom labels and i went back to the site to order these and they werent even on the site. Please tell me there is atleast one IT employee that can help the website.

[misterbeaver]

This also regards the CP website, whe ordering supplies. There is an item specifically for ebayers, called Ebay Packs, which are essentially plastic bags with a powerseller logo on them. My friend who is a powerseller and myself have been trying to get these but they say that the product doesnt no longer is sold, yet its on the site and has been for several months. Update the site jeez. And bring back the ebay bags!

[purpleferret999]

was this a no show??

[purpleferret999]

ooppps stupid on me...it's next Friday?? Dohh, me:8}

[dnc_ont]

Just another point here, it costs us a fortune to send anything to the US or Intl. with a tracking/delivery conf. number.

The customs forms used by USPS *have a barcode/DC number on them*! Which are TRACKABLE ONLINE using Canadapost.ca (for packages coming to Canada obviously).

Sample image: http://webapps.usps.com/customsforms/images/sampleImageForm2976A.gif

[misterbeaver]

I find the website very outdated and unhelpful. My first time using Expedited USA and it says in a booklet i picked up from the post office that i must use expedited USA specific customs form, but it doesnt mention the document on the website or where to get it....

[misterbeaver]

For small packet delivery, they want the customs form and the address label to be completed as a single entity (CN22), but there is such small room in the address fields, so unless i go out and purchase tiny address labels and print them out as stickers, its hard to get an entire address in there that is ligible. Base our custom form off of the USA's or enlarge the address area. And stop thinking of more inconvenient solutions which make things harder for us lol, its ridiculous that the higher ups at CP think all these initiatives make things easier!

[misterbeaver]

If Canada Post is not going to make a service to fit between lettermail and parcel service (although i'd like to see a small packet service) then is Canada Post going to increase the height allowances for lettermail from 2cm to maybe 4cm?

[techgamez]

I am glad there is a workshop going on about Canada post this coming Friday. I work at my local Canada Post (its a franchise in a pharmacy). And i use Canada post for all my shipping needs and i do agree with all the concerns presented here.

My main concerns are with Expedited parcel post to the USA and Small Packets. I remember about sending a parcel through Expedited and it did nt arrive on the projected arrival date and only had the word "Out for Delivery" for a few days. I call Canada post and they tell me that Expedited parcel post does not offer a tracking number but a confirmation number. What this means is that your parcel only gets scanned twice. Once it is at the origin post office and the next time at the destination post office. And that "Out for delivery" usually means they left a notice. Now hard can it be to say "Delivery Notice Left to recipeint" ? Second of all since expedited is not considered cheap and is not a rapid service i strongly suggest that it offers the same tracking capabilies as Express Post USA which offers detailed location of the parcel on its journy to the recipient.

As for small packet, it would be nice to offer some form of tracking and additional insurance regardless of how long it may take weather it is to the US or internationally. This way senders would be more than willing to pay that extra 1$ or so for added security.

And i do agree that most Canada Post employees are way under trained, i was fortunate to have had very helpful trainers at work but others were not so fortunate and lack the determination or ability to even learn on their own.

[bonitarving]

I use the same post office for all business, and this person knows that I check from time to time with other outlets. Her personal touch helps, and she has given me many logical suggestions for sending packages.
My question resolves around an issue I had today. Both buyer and seller live 20 minutes from each other - As I was reviewing the shipping details of my purchases I noticed that from Ontario to Ontario I am being charged my shipping in US funds. In the long run it probably is cheaper, but is this a practice acceptable by Canadian Post? If we all don't unite together for a common goal to bring Canada Post up to standards with UPS & US parcel post, are we not showing defeat in our system. I had a Canada postal worker come to my school to help my special needs students understand the use of our postal system. Excellent presentation. Upon leaving someone asked if eBay shipping had a positive or negative influence in our postage system. Her answer " Canada Post is making a killing"
This affects all of us!!! Please tell us where to start.
Bonitarving

[josh46]

Canada Post really doesn't want your business....they only want the big guys business who do super bulk amounts.

I use to send out 1000+ packages a year through Ebay and Yahoo auctions. I now send out 75-100 packages a year because the ridiculous Canada Post price increases make it pointless for me to even attempt to do business.

You can't justify selling small ticket items like cd's and records when you have to charge ridiculous amounts to ship them out.

Anyone remember the days (5 years ago) when small packet (500 grams or less)was 5.00 Canadian..

Can Kim please explain to me how Canada post can justify a 33% increase in price in only a period of 5 years?..In my opinion thats way beyond inflation.

If I lived by the border my choice would be clear.

[tobyshitzu]

Does it ever feel weird calling revenue canada investigations and telling them you'd like to report Canada Post 🙂 We'll see if they're any better at correcting the GST overcharging.

[dnc_ont]

ROFL :^O