No more manual small packet forms starting "December 28th" (29th really)

[ricarmic]

I've been somewhat regularly pestering my PM to see if there's been any internal mention of delays etc allowing us faithful manual SP forms users to continue doing so.

So far answer has always been "no", I checked again today and the official start date is December 28th, which is a holiday for the PO anyway, so Tuesday December 29th we have to start doing the online customs forms for SP same as we do for tracked packet, expedited etc.

It's a good thing I remembered to bug her about it again today, for some reason I had it in my head it wasn't starting till the "mid January" timeframe when the new rates take effect.

Figured I'd put the date up for anyone else thinking we had till January sometime....

[silverpinups]

I've been experimenting with it for a few months now so I'm getting use to it.... and I usually hate change. 

It will actually be more efficient going forward and save the postal clerks time especially when it's busy. 

[ricarmic]

It looks to me like the process either way takes too much time for the PMs, the tracked forms have a lot of steps for them and some person with poor process design skills forces them to pull stuff off the address for the expedited packages - at least in my PO the scale is out of eyesight (except maybe for eagles) enough that they have to "remember" the postal code or zip code.....

I'm in a wee village and there seems to be a number of sellers on various venues who will be "boycotters" who're going to just dump them on the PM, with manual forms on them, I think the PM has a manual way of doing it but I'm not going to make my PM do that. Actually I know at least one person who's dreading Dec 29th more than me and that's my PM!!!

(I did do some time trials earlier in the year, based on that, I'm expecting my package preparation time to be extended by 1/2 to 1 hour a day depending on how many SPs there are).

[ricarmic]

Something I did forget to mention, I don't know about others but I get a lot of addresses NOT in english, Russia especially. Can't do lookup on that.

For expresspost and tracked internationally I have many times had to just manually put the address in because nothing remotely similar comes up via address lookup. (That's what I've so far gotten away with with the Russian etc stuff, I just cut and paste it in).

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Something I did forget to mention, I don't know about others but I get a lot of addresses NOT in english, Russia especially. Can't do lookup on that.

For expresspost and tracked internationally I have many times had to just manually put the address in because nothing remotely similar comes up via address lookup. (That's what I've so far gotten away with with the Russian etc stuff, I just cut and paste it in).

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Have you checked out this tool. It sends the label to your phone. Clerk scans, prints and attaches to parcel.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/cdc?execution=e2s1

All fields are mandatory unless marked optional.

-Lotz

[ricarmic]

Hi! Yes I did try that early on, remember I'm in a wee village PO, couldn't get it to pick up the code off my phone, plus when I'm bringing 10 or so of these in, it gets hard to make sure the right lookup is going on the right package. In today's "style" for me, I just print off the paper copy and fold it half in and half out of the plastic pouch, it has the weight, style of shipping I'm using and the postage already applied amount written on it, everything the PO needs. That approach has worked pretty well so far, my PM has NEVER gotten the wrong scan for the wrong package...the only problem is the plastic pouch is large enough that I have to use one size up envelope for it to fit!

[teenytrinkets]

I still have a stack of these forms... guess they're souvenirs now!

I've been doing all of my US shipping exclusively with ChitChats. A drop centre opened up 10 mins from my house and it's been awesome! It's so fast!

[ricarmic]

I'm going to be stuck with stamps on the box "forever" it is kind of blasphemous to send a package to a stamp collector without stamps on it!

[mrdutch1001]

haven't used the manual forms for years...online so much easier and especially so with the process through PayPal with payment via PayPal.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@ricarmic wrote:
I'm going to be stuck with stamps on the box "forever" it is kind of blasphemous to send a package to a stamp collector without stamps on it!

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I have tried to buy stamps for the various sizes of oversized letters on several occasions. Problem being my PM often rarely has those denominations on hand. I end up getting a small assortment of pre-prints. Believe I have a few hanging around fro 2019. Ooops. Hopefully they don't have a best before date? Does sound like this will be a major challenge for anyone that is a stamps on the package kinda guy or gal. 90% of what I ship goes out package rate so I print as I go. Slow and steady. No worrying of A getting put on C or B getting put on F. It works for me.

-Lotz

PS. For some depots, especially if they happened to be really busy, a whole mess of stamps might be major long math for the clerk. Unless they are willing to trust your math. Not always the case. In the past I've seen counter staff at Heritage Park(old fashioned cash registers) have to use their phone to figure out the change from a toonie. Sad but true.

[marnotom!]

Sorry, I’m a bit lost here. I thought the requirement was that customs information has to be entered online and printed out. Doesn’t that mean that the postage and address label can be dealt with separately?

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/cdc?execution=e1s1

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@marnotom! wrote:
Sorry, I’m a bit lost here. I thought the requirement was that customs information has to be entered online and printed out. Doesn’t that mean that the postage and address label can be dealt with separately?

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/cdc?execution=e1s1

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My guess in the past is many applied address labels, stamps and the cn22 sticker before they left the house. As for printing from home, not everyone may have a printer. Now that the CN22 form has been obsoleted, it's print before you leave home or print at the depot. No exceptions.

-Lotz

[silverpinups]

Sorry, I’m a bit lost here. I thought the requirement was that customs information has to be entered online and printed out.

Yes, that is correct. Or you can have Canada Post send that info to your email address and have the Post Office scan it directly from your phone.

Doesn’t that mean that the postage and address label can be dealt with separately?

No, the post office scans your square bar code that Canada Post provides and prints off the sender and recipient address info with a scannable bar code. That info is placed in a clear plastic envelope bag and is attached to the package. No address labels are needed....  

[ricarmic]

Regarding: "PS. For some depots, especially if they happened to be really busy, a whole mess of stamps might be major long math for the clerk. Unless they are willing to trust your math. Not always the case. In the past I've seen counter staff at Heritage Park(old fashioned cash registers) have to use their phone to figure out the change from a toonie. Sad but true."

My life would be VERY different if I was going to a "city" post office...... I think the country PMs appreciate that the likes of us keep them open.

MY PO has always maintained an "inventory" of the stuff I need for my packaging, I put "special" stamps on my packages as much as possible. COVID has made this very complicated this year because next to nothing new (stamp issue wise) has been issued and/or it is sold out very quickly when it is issued.

[fergua3]

I'm pretty stressed out by this change and would appreciate some advice.

I have neither a printer nor smartphone.  So how am I to get the 'square barcode' to the Post Office?

I may be able to borrow an old smartphone (IPhone 7) from a friend.  I don't  have a wireless internet connection, just a cable one and am using a PC.  I was hoping I could scan the barcode provided by Canada Post's site with the document scanner on the phone and take that to the Post Office.  Will that work?

My other problem is I have filled out the online customs form on the Canada Post site and after I do and click to go to the next step (which I think is 'review your form' or something like that) it takes me back to the same page I just filled in,  with the address fields blank....all the other information I have entered is still there....but with the address fields blank  As a result, I can't proceed and get a barcode.   I don't know what the problem is but I cannot complete an online customs form as a result.

I realize these are very basic questions......I am a very non techy person, as you can see.  I would appreciate advice on what I can do, explained simply, if possible.

thanks for any help.

[ricarmic]

I am not 100% sure but I believe if you cannot produce a bar code to bring in, the PM can do it for you, they won't be happy if you have 15 of them to be done, depending on how busy the post office branch is.

If you know your PM at all, you can ask them what you can/need to do to make it workable given your inability to produce one on paper or a phone....

Regarding the form filling out problems, I have never experienced that, if you know how to clear your cache that would be good to do and/or rebooting your computer.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@ricarmic wrote:

Regarding: "PS. For some depots, especially if they happened to be really busy, a whole mess of stamps might be major long math for the clerk. Unless they are willing to trust your math. Not always the case. In the past I've seen counter staff at Heritage Park(old fashioned cash registers) have to use their phone to figure out the change from a toonie. Sad but true."

My life would be VERY different if I was going to a "city" post office...... I think the country PMs appreciate that the likes of us keep them open.

MY PO has always maintained an "inventory" of the stuff I need for my packaging, I put "special" stamps on my packages as much as possible. COVID has made this very complicated this year because next to nothing new (stamp issue wise) has been issued and/or it is sold out very quickly when it is issued.

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I have 2 choices for postal depots. One 10 minute walk staffed by 1 clerk with maybe longer hours than he prefers. Open 6 days a week. His wife fills in for 1 of those days. Before the pandemic I could usually walk in and walk out relatively quickly. Now there is usually a line up. Any special requests he tends to be a bit squirrelly so EVERYTHING is done before I get there. There is a seniors home close by. Often that is the majority of the lineup.

Choice number 2 is a 7-11 close to several schools...A 25 minute walk away. Not really a ton of room for any sort of line ups. It's either in and out very fast or up to a 30 minute wait. Depends on time of day. Some days hard to choose which is the lesser of 2 evils. Throw in this new procedure, it could get very messy at some depots.

From past experience those 2 location don't even stock the pouches. They may need to going forward. For anyone unaware those pouches can be ordered from Canadapost with your small business account. (You need to sign in to view). Limit is 3 x 100. Maybe tied to a businesses volume. Taping directly to package is not recommended. Makes scanning difficult.

-Lotz

PS. Some sort of printer is basically the cost of doing business. Like eBay and/or PayPal fees. Laser-jets with generic cartridges have come down big time. If you are doing eBay as an official business, a printer, the paper and ink are write off for tax purposes.

[silverpinups]

"My other problem is I have filled out the online customs form on the Canada Post site and after I do and click to go to the next step (which I think is 'review your form' or something like that) it takes me back to the same page I just filled in,  with the address fields blank....all the other information I have entered is still there....but with the address fields blank  As a result, I can't proceed and get a barcode.   I don't know what the problem is but I cannot complete an online customs form as a result".

Try changing browsers... Internet Explorer no longer works, switch to Google Chrome or another search engine of your liking...

You can also fill out the form on a smart phone and get the post office to scan it directly from your phone.

[travis7s]

This could be a good excuse for you to keep moving forward with technology and upgrade.

You may have wireless internet and not even realize it. Most internet modems/boxes have this built in and it just needs to be setup. If your box is really old it may not, but I would reach out to your internet provider as they can probably hook you up for free. Failing that, a basic wireless router can be bought for $30.

A laser printer can also be bought for less than $150, I wouldn't really mess around with cheap inkjet printers.

[fergua3]

Thank you to those who have responded to my questions.

I have some info that my be of interest to some.  According to the two ladies I deal with at my local Post Office, they currently do not have the ability to generate an Electronic Customs label for small packets.  They can do it for any service that is tracked, but not regular untracked, small packets. 

So for anyone who was hoping to have the information inputed at their Post Office, instead of doing it on their own, this may come as bad news.  Unless there is a system update on Dec 26th, which gives them the ability to enter the information and generate the Electronic Customs label (which I really doubt), that will not be an option.

Now, while I have dealt with these two ladies for 5 years and know them well, they have been making it pretty clear to me the last few weeks that they do not want the extra work of inputting all the customs information for each of my packages, which I can understand.  But because of that it's possible they are not giving me straight truth.  Maybe.

Given that 99.9% of the population has no idea this change is coming, there are going to be some pretty unhappy people in line next week, who want to ship parcels abroad.

Also, I have called Canada Post Customer Service three times.  Once to technical support and twice to the general customer support.  None of the three people I talked to had any idea this change was happening.  I had to explain that as of Dec 26 paper customs forms are no longer allowed, only EAD.  This tells me that Canada Post's rollout of this major change is not going to be as slick as I was hoping...