I am having a dilemma about shipping cost and wondering if you can offer me some advice?

[musicyouneed]

I sell CD's and use chit chat for US and international.  Prior to the Jan increase in rates, I was using first class to ship my CD's throughout the US.  It cost about $5.75 CDN including all the fees and it would get there in about 4 days.  First class shipping went up a lot, about 30% and also is now based on distance.   As with Canada, every CD I send is clear across the country so adds up to about $1.50 more each time.  

I decided to offer 2 rates, media mail which would be at $5.75 CDn with $1.00 for each additional item.  Or first class at 7.25 CDN with $2.50 for each new item.    Now for the last 2 months, I haven't had any additional items purchased and each buyer chose media mail for the lower cost.  

I made the mistake of sending media mail to Hawaii and I didn't know that it goes by boat so this is why I am reconsidering my shipping method.  With that one I should have just sent it first class and ate the 1.50 extra.  

So my dilemma is do I continue to use media mail for shipping,  it is taking about 2 weeks to reach the buyer or do I raise my prices $1.50 and they get the parcel in 4 days.  If I raise the shipping cost, my sales will surely suffer. 

[femmefan1946]

Are your US -based competitors also paying the same rates?

I realize you also have an additional fee to chitchat as well as a slightly longer delivery time.

How much would your shipping costs and time be if you reverted to Canada Post?

I weighed a CD and an eBay poly bubble envelope.

At 95 grams it could go for $3.12 Cdn by LetterPost and $7.32 by Small Packet.

How does that compare with your current cost and delivery time?

I believe that LetterPost USA and Small PacketUSA do not have regional pricing.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@musicyouneed 

Is it acceptable to use letter post for cd's/dvd's in Canada and to USA and if you used in the past did you have issues with items not arriving(awol) or being returned for lack of customs documents for USA and/or Intl.? I was under the impression it should only be documents/printed matter with Canadapost.

-Lotz

[recped]

First thing.....if you offer two shipping services almost all buyers will choose the cheaper, especially true when you are selling things that are rarely of the "must have immediately" variety.

I'm selling more cassettes these days which ship at 4oz do the increase was not as severe, I haven't changed my shipping rates yet but when I do I'll probably just add an average of 50 cents to all tapes. I might do the same for cd's since I sell so few or add 75 cents.

On the other hand I use Media Mail for LP's, delivery from my US location (Niagara Falls) is fast enough that I could use it for cd/tapes (and I will for combined orders).

You mention MM taking 2 weeks, is that really true? I know that when I ship to WA it is consistently the slowest of all the lower 48 but never 2 weeks, more like 8 or 9 days with 5 - 6 days being the norm for all other States (except for zone 1 - 2 which are a day or 2 faster).

(above presumes Chit Chats get it to USPS within 24 hours).

I have the impression that my buyers in the US naturally expect shipments from Canada to a) take a long time and b) be a bit more costly to ship.

[recped]

@lotzofuniquegoodies 

The OP isn't using Canada Post for US bound shipments.

[recped]

I weighed a CD and an eBay poly bubble envelope. At 95 grams

The only cd's that weigh under 100grams are some slimline cases and digi-paks, a standard CD in a standard jewel case will always weigh over 100grams.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

Is it acceptable to use letter post for cd's/dvd's in Canada and to USA and if you used in the past did you have issues with items not arriving(awol) or being returned for lack of customs documents for USA and/or Intl.? I was under the impression it should only be documents/printed matter with Canadapost.

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Mailing cds/dvds in Canada as oversize lettermail is allowed under the current rules. Just has to be under 2cm thick.

Recent rules for USA/International letterpost

Paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGletpost-e.asp#1397839

For those waiting for their first USA/International letterpost speeding ticket...

Letterpost only makes $ sense when the weight is 200g or under for the USA or 100g and under for International -- after that Small Packet is the better choice (and has no 2cm thickness restriction).

Letterpost and Small Packet are both flat rate for all of the USA.

-..-

[musicyouneed]

To your question is it really taking 2 weeks, yes even longer.  See below outstanding deliveries.

[musicyouneed]

I also really like the fact that CD's shipped using USPS comes with tracking, media mail or first class.  Since I started using USPS, not one CD has been lost.  

Media mail's cost is very good, however it takes about 2 weeks with tracking

First class is about $1.50 more and it only takes 4 days with tracking.

Canada post doesn't compare as tracking would make the cost prohibitive.  

My dilemma is whether I should use media mail or raise the price and ship first class even though sales will suffer.   Most of my US competitors I think use media mail as they would lose money on every shipment if they used first class.   Most CD weight 4.5 to 6 oz.   Remember US $ and it doesn't include the chit chat fees. 

[reallynicestamps]

Yeah.

If eBay could do anything about shipping costs, it would be wonderful if they could offer cheap (25c-50c) tracking for USA and Canada.

It would be worth not getting any discounts on SnapShip shipping.

(Don't tell Canada Post I said that.)

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@ypdc_dennis 

According to the Canadapost website link you attached:

Acceptable Items:

Items composed of paper - Paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper (e.g., tickets, photographs, etc.).

Enclosures - Only paper enclosures which meet the requirements for Letter-post (U.S.A. and International).

Unacceptable items

• small packets
• goods
• film, audio or video recording (diskettes, CD, DVD)
• unsealed self-mailers and envelopes
• items prohibited by law or defined as dangerous goods in Canada or in the destination country (see Non-mailable Matter or International Destination Listing for more information).

-Lotz

[ypdc_dennis]

The unacceptable apply to USA and International -- not to Canada.

My policy: Feels like a letter, looks like a letter, is a letter.

....

Back to the original topic -- if the item is inexpensive use media mail, expensive use first class. The OP gets to decide the expense tip point.  If I was able to use the USPS under $10 would be media mail, over would be first class for me.

-..-

[pjcdn2005]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@ypdc_dennis 

According to the Canadapost website link you attached:

Acceptable Items:

Items composed of paper - Paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper (e.g., tickets, photographs, etc.).

Enclosures - Only paper enclosures which meet the requirements for Letter-post (U.S.A. and International).

Unacceptable items

• small packets
• goods
• film, audio or video recording (diskettes, CD, DVD)
• unsealed self-mailers and envelopes
• items prohibited by law or defined as dangerous goods in Canada or in the destination country (see Non-mailable Matter or International Destination Listing for more information).

-Lotz

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No one is disagreeing that US and international letter post are supposed to be for paper products and not for goods.  It’s been like that as long as Ive been selling.  But some people have sent certain goods using letterpost without any problems as long as Ive been selling.     But now that the US has a similar rule for their first class ‘letter mail’  I don’t know if it is more difficult to get away with  using letter post for goods.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

One of the reasons those rules are in place is due to the fact if it's not an actual letter/printed matter, there is a chance your item could get caught in a sorting machine. That is why those types of item are sorted manually. This slows down the process big time. You may be saving yourself some money for postage using letter rates but do you really want to chance it getting damaged? As for chancing shipping to the USA items with value, they require customs declaration and could be caught during the x-ray process, causing possible delays or your item being returned. The Canadapost Corporation could stop these problems if they had a realistic small package rate for shipping in Canada.

-Lotz

[kawartha-ephemera]

Back to the original topic -- if the item is inexpensive use media mail, expensive use first class. The OP gets to decide the expense tip point.  If I was able to use the USPS under $10 would be media mail, over would be first class for me.

----------------------

I completely agree.... use media mail.

Personally, I think the BIN price would need to cross over $20 US before I would stop offering media mail as an option.

[zee-chan]

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@ypdc_dennis wrote:

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Letterpost only makes $ sense when the weight is 200g or under for the USA or 100g and under for International -- after that Small Packet is the better choice (and has no 2cm thickness restriction).

Letterpost and Small Packet are both flat rate for all of the USA.

-..-

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Letterpost/Small Packet Air to the USA still makes perfect sense when it's between 454g to 500g, especially if it's going to the other side of the States... I know, because I was going to use CCE for my 480g package a few days ago and got a quote of $13 after CCE's fees, so I ended up using Canada Post ($11) for it lol.