Canada Post - no tracking for international inbound registered items

[endovellicvs]

The tracking for international inbound registered items is not available on Canada Post website since August 2015.  The answer of a query on the tracking system, for any international registered item, is always the same: “We could not find this Tracking Number in our system”. But, they need to have that tracking information on internal records because they continue to obtain a signature of acceptance as proof of delivery.

Does anyone know about the existence of other channels, excluding telephone, to obtain that tracking information from Canada Post for these kind of registered items ?

Does the buyer have the possibility to get that information from a local post office in Canada ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[momcqueen]

Canada Post does not provide tracking on inbound registered letters once they pass into the country. Within the borders of Canada, that service does not include tracking nor does it include a signature that can be viewed online making it useless for Paypal Seller Protection. If a foreign seller such as yourself wants the assurance of a Delivery Scan and/or Signature Confirmation, you have to select a service which provides tracking and/or signature. Outbound, this is the costly Xpresspost or Priority service so you'd need an inbound equivalent. 

[reallynicestamps]

Given the price of Registration, and the lack of tracking, the other more 'modern' services are often the same price or cheaper.

It's a little sad to see a service that worked well for two hundred years go by the wayside, but the newer ExpressPost and PriorityPost (and their matches in foreign postal services) are faster and less likely to be stolen.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/far/business/findARate?execution=e1s1

https://parcel.royalmail.com/orders/quick-delivery/

https://www.deutschepost.de/de/b/briefe-ins-ausland.html

[endovellicvs]

It's sad! In Europe, every country provides tracking for inbound registered letters.
No one pays $35 for an Express Mail Service if the item costs, for instance, $50.
This will kill the online internacional transactions for inexpensive items.

[momcqueen]

Canadians have untraced lettermail/packets for economy, low-value shipments.

[reallynicestamps]

Once upon a time, that was true, more or less worldwide.

But you might want to check with European colleagues if it is still true between nations. And not just "I did it a couple of years ago." Right now.

I suspect you can no longer send a Registered letter from France to Poland, both members of the EU, and have confirmed delivery.  Two years ago? Maybe. Ten years ago? Certainly.

But with the advent of barcoded, computer tracked services, the centuries old system of Registration, which had shipments manually recorded at every stop as they travelled, that became clunky and inefficient.

The newer services were faster and cheaper to service.

And also less likely to suffer 'shrinkage' since the packaging was more obvious than a simple handstamp and paper label.

Paradoxically, because the services were new and efficient, postal systems were able to charge more for the tracked service since the buyers didn't know the actual costs and were pleased by the efficiency.

The only reason Canada Post still has any Registered service is that it is one of only two services that they must offer and of which Parliament has control of costs. (Which is why Canada Post is careful not to raise the price of domestic lettermail, although parcel costs are a free for all.)

*Fun fact. Those Newfoundland stamps? If you wanted to, you could use them for postage anywhere in Canada today. They were not demonetized when Newfoundland and Labrador joined Confederation.