eBay

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-14-2023

To anyone interested or has packages destined for locations in Canada that seem to be taking forever to get delivered. Attached are the points that are considered Air Stage Offices. The list is substantial. Flights to these points are very infrequent. I received the following clairification from Canadapost regarding their delivery.

This means that all mail must be airlifted for more than 6 months of the year. These offices are generally confined to remote or isolated communities. Discounts are not available to these locations.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/air-stage-offices/find-an-air-stage-o...

-Lotzofuniquegoodies

Sidenote: Historically N. Ontario has had approximately 77 days where winter roads could be accessed. Recent years it was 28 or less. The perils of global warming.

recped · ‎11-15-2023

Suggest that when shipping to a remote air stage use Xpresspost only, yes it's expensive but using a ground service (will go by air anyway) is going to have the very lowest priority when cargo capacity is tight.

If you are shipping something truly urgent best to avoid Canada Post entirely to remote locations in the north.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-15-2023

@recped wrote:
Suggest that when shipping to a remote air stage use Xpresspost only, yes it's expensive but using a ground service (will go by air anyway) is going to have the very lowest priority when cargo capacity is tight.

If you are shipping something truly urgent best to avoid Canada Post entirely to remote locations in the north.

@recped

As a seller you will never know in advance something will end up going to an airstage office. Unless it is a medical emergency there would be limited reasons to send Xpresspost or Priority Post or buyer messaged you in advance asking for that specific type of upgrade. As a resident they are aware of transit times for getting anything to their location...especially depending on time of the year. Also very difficult after a purchase has been completed to change shipping options.

My recent parcels made it there earlier today...Within the time window suggested by CP. No guarantees that time frame will match eBay's best case scenario estimate. That is mostly luck of the draw. From a sellers perspective to get best bang for the buyer, whenever possible, use prepaid boxes. Again, no guarantee the item purchased will fit 1 of the 4 choices. In my case I lucked out and buyer was looking for multiple units and items did fit.

What I found curious in this particular situation, testing all options at the time, using eBay's seller designed calculator when I applied the discount option the shipping went up. Huh?? (And was unable to confirm anything because we don't have access to the actual eBay discounts if you use CP directly.) Only after I confirmed with CP discounts are not supposed to apply to these points. What happened when rates got turned on originally is anyones guess. In retesting with the same input CP's calculator is now applying a small discount. Welcome to the world of eBay strange but true. As a btw, Xpresspost works out to be double the cost and is only 3 days faster. The freight goes when there is a plane. That is not daily to many of those remote points. CP often has reserved space on those flights. Winter roads are an option and can get used when/if they are up and running, when space allows as a backup.

-Lotz

Note. In my past life I shipped to remote points regularly where I worked in MB for 15 years. Well aware of the difficulty of getting anything anywhere up there and the costs. To quote the Beatles...Now and then.

Note 2: Fedex is now suddenly turned on with the eBay Calculator. (Tab from my testing was not active). Rates are now showing to that before mentioned Air stage office. If you were to give Fedex that freight, it would end up being handed off to CP.

reallynicestamps · ‎11-15-2023

It's a long list, but you will notice that the second character is always "0".

That is how CPO denotes isolated and rural communities.

You could use that as an indication that delivery will be slower.

Of course, it could also mean the customer lives on RR#2 but still within the boundaries of Ottawa-Carleton or Calgary, municipalities that cover a lot of non-urban space and gets daily delivery to their community mailbox.

ricarmic · ‎11-15-2023

Yes the 2nd character being zero does designate rural, but I would suggest that there is a very "large" population of folks with that code that get mail every day same as "city" folks.

I've lived in villages most of my life, ALL having "0" as the 2nd character, and mail delivered to my mailbox in the post office every day.

I don't think it would be an accurate way to identify the air stages, the "chart" I use has them all on it, I only count 23 postal codes (first 3 digits) that are airstage.

The page to get the chart still isn't working right but I figured out a way to get something, put in 2 postal codes, one after the other with a comma in them, then it works (doesn't work for only one).

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/tools/rate-code-table-lookup.page

Hmm I tried it again and it didn't work again, maybe just try a few times......

flipistics · ‎11-15-2023

@reallynicestamps wrote:
It's a long list, but you will notice that the second character is always "0".
That is how CPO denotes isolated and rural communities.
You could use that as an indication that delivery will be slower.

Of course, it could also mean the customer lives on RR#2 but still within the boundaries of Ottawa-Carleton or Calgary, municipalities that cover a lot of non-urban space and gets daily delivery to their community mailbox.

My second character is "0" and the post office is literally beside the Trans Canada Hwy. The best way to find the air stage locations would be to use the Postal Rate Table and find anything that's J1 or J2. I don't know if that would be ALL of them, but it should be pretty close and quick to do.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-15-2023

@ricarmic wrote:
Yes the 2nd character being zero does designate rural, but I would suggest that there is a very "large" population of folks with that code that get mail every day same as "city" folks.

I've lived in villages most of my life, ALL having "0" as the 2nd character, and mail delivered to my mailbox in the post office every day.

I don't think it would be an accurate way to identify the air stages, the "chart" I use has them all on it, I only count 23 postal codes (first 3 digits) that are airstage.

The page to get the chart still isn't working right but I figured out a way to get something, put in 2 postal codes, one after the other with a comma in them, then it works (doesn't work for only one).

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/tools/rate-code-table-lookup.page

Hmm I tried it again and it didn't work again, maybe just try a few times......

@ricarmic

Have you tried the eBay version of the calculator tool? For sellers eyes only. Apply discount option is on page after detail entry. For anything that would be considered air stage, discount % does not display but amount may be in green if a discount is getting applied. For everywhere else the discount and amount does display.

https://www.ebay.ca/shp/Calculator

-Lotz