Packages being returned, no longer able to go letter mail

[triber]

Canada Post is now returning craft booklets and paper sewing patterns that are sent letter mail saying that have to go package rate. For sellers selling low cost craft items, having to charge or pay for package rate now makes them far too expensive. Has anyone else had them returned? I am going to phone CP and see if I can see what is going on.

[triber]

Thanks, but even at my low prices and low shipping sales are very slow. I have deleted many items today, lots more to delete!

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@grandmas-great-items wrote:

Unacceptable Letter-post items | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

Unacceptable items

Items unacceptable for the Letter-post service include:

Small packets
Goods
Film, audio, or video recordings (for example, diskettes, CDs, or DVDs)
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)

Items unacceptable when attached to a postcard include:

Photographs
Cuttings of any kind
Fold-back sheets
Other items that stick out or are in raised relief

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To put a slightly different spin on this it leave a very limited of "possible" of items that are permitted to go using letter rates to the USA....Intl. Sample comparison attached.

Non-standard and oversize mail - USA

Items such as large documents, oversize envelopes and heavy cards.

USA

Up to 100 g Up to 20 sheets of paper*

$3.19

Over 100 g up to 200 g Up to 40 sheets of paper*

$5.57

Over 200 g up to 500 g Up to 100 sheets of paper*

$11.14

vs Small packet.------ Level 1 Discount USA

 100 grams - 8.88   Discounted 8.61

200 gram - 10.85    Discounted 10.51

300 grams  14.21     Discounted 13.78

400 grams  14.21     Discounted 13.78

500 grams  14.21     Discounted 13.78

-Lotz

[byto253]

What I find strange is that paper patterns, posters or craft books are being turned back when the CP site says (from lotzofuniquegoodies link):

• Items made of paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper (for example, photographs)
• Paper enclosures that meet the requirements for Letter-post (U.S. and International)

[mrdutch1001]

For now, I will disagree, as the USA has also seen some increases in their own USPS shipping costs, so buyers are seeing shipping costs increasing elsewhere...

Over the past year I have been gradually increasing the item prices and that has not deterred buyers...

As mentioned in my previous post...I list on other selling venues, and over the past 2 years, the least amount of my sales are coming from eBay, so eBay is the least of my concerns...

with somewhat lower FVFs on my other sites I can still work around all this and absorb some of the shipping costs within my pricing strategy to accommodate...

and also for now, I am not changing my shipping costs or methods of shpping ...that will also take a gradual process as I select which items to apply the changes to first  and apply as needed, where needed in a logical manner and not everything all at once...

[marnotom!]

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@byto253 wrote:

What I find strange is that paper patterns, posters or craft books are being turned back when the CP site says (from lotzofuniquegoodies link):

• Items made of paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper (for example, photographs)
• Paper enclosures that meet the requirements for Letter-post (U.S. and International)

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Paper patterns, posters and craft books would be considered "goods" which are on the "unacceptable" list for letter-post.

[33nhl]

The big question is what does the sticker attached to the returned mail say or mark with.
Such as unsifficient postage ??
Or address wrong ??
It should have some explanation on reason being returned.

The other thing if using cardboard to give extra protection on the item packaged in the bubble mailer you have to make sure it goes through the slot (regular mail ) or ( oversized) if it has to be pushed through iether slot then if enough postage on the bubble mailer it be returned to you and does take 1 to 2 weeks to come back to you. So with cardboard and using bubble mailer I ran into a few tight issues thus now I use very thin cardboard but it's strong for extra protection and goes as over sized as it fits through the bigger slot with out having to force it through. Plus also the weight factor can play as if 1 gram over the limit allowed thus then has to be sent as parcel for some destinations.

[fh991586]

For your information:

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/letter-post/unacceptable-items.page?

[marnotom!]

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@33nhl wrote:

The big question is what does the sticker attached to the returned mail say or mark with.
Such as unsifficient postage ??
Or address wrong ??
It should have some explanation on reason being returned.

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@triber attached a picture of the sticker/return to sender tag combo that was on her item to message 3 of this thread:

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Comments-from-Canada-Post-about-returned-package/m-p/474...

[dinomitesales]

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@triber wrote:

I can't see how a 2 page knitting leaflet is any different than a photograph. If mailing a document, how does Canada Post know the contents?

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I agree with you here - if the item you're sending is just a couple of pieces of paper, and is indistinguishable from a regular letter, there's no real reason that it should be sent back.

Could you elaborate a bit more on how you were packaging things like this? Was it just the leaflet inside a regular paper envelope? Were you adding a stiffener of some sort? Was it in a bubble mailer? Did the return address on the envelope make mention of a business or a store of any sort (as opposed to just having your name)? Was there any eBay branded tape on the exterior of the letter?

[byto253]

I am wondering if I can send my daughter a book that fits as oversize in the mail??? 

[marnotom!]

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@byto253 wrote:

I am wondering if I can send my daughter a book that fits as oversize in the mail??? 

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Is your daughter in Canada or outside of the country?

As far as I know, there are no restrictions on what can be sent as a letter within Canada apart from the usual ones associated with hazardous materials, etc.

[pjcdn2005]

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@triber wrote:

I can't see how a 2 page knitting leaflet is any different than a photograph. If mailing a document, how does Canada Post know the contents?

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I am wondering that too. What would have made them look at the package and assume that it wasn't documents?

[byto253]

In Canada. 

[marnotom!]

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@byto253 wrote:

In Canada. 

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You should be fine sending it as an oversized letter.  The international letter-post/small packet distinction seems to be how the international mail system is making the distinction between letter post items that need to go through customs from those that do not.  (Small Packets are technically a type of international oversized letter.)  Since we don't have to worry about customs forms for items mailed within Canada, there shouldn't be any issues with mailing your book as a letter.

[pjcdn2005]

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@byto253 wrote:

In Canada. 

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Keep in mind those 'rules' that others are quoting are for international letter post.  With domestic mail, Canada Post looks at the dimensions and weight. They don't specify what can go into an oversize lettermail package unless of course the item is hazardous or illegal to send by mail.

[marnotom!]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

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Keep in mind those 'rules' that others are quoting are for international letter post.  With domestic mail, Canada Post looks at the dimensions and weight. They don't specify what can go into an oversize lettermail package unless of course the item is hazardous or illegal to send by mail.

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You said it better than I, as usual.  😁

[recped]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

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@triber wrote:

I can't see how a 2 page knitting leaflet is any different than a photograph. If mailing a document, how does Canada Post know the contents?

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I am wondering that too. What would have made them look at the package and assume that it wasn't documents?

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Given the sudden dramatic upsurge in returned items it seem obvious that orders came down from on high to start serious enforcement of rules that are now 17 years old.

If your occupation is handling mail it's not difficult to determine the contents at least to the extent to determine if it's just documents or not.

Keep in mind that while LetterMail within Canada cannot be opened and examined International LetterPost can be opened and examined at any time.

Maybe a few will be returned in error, those senders can go back to the post office, complain and likely get it resent at no cost (whoops we made a mistake).

This is all about pressue from the UPU to crackdown on what has technically been policy since at least 2005.

Back in 2005 the general consensus was to just sneak the shipment through and not worry about it. That worked for 17 years but it appears the time has come to end that practice.

Of course I would not be suprised if 6 months from now when the rejection binge is over you might be able to go back to the old tricks and get away with it. The real problem then might be shipments rejected at the DESTINATION end, if that starts happening those returns will either never make it back or take months to do so.

[reallynicestamps]

@lotzofuniquegoodies 

Here's an example of a postcard that cannot be sent .

[vintagenorth]

Thank goodness for shipping profiles! Only took me about 1/2 hr. to change all my shipping prices. Shouldn't have taken me that long but I hadn't cleaned them out lately. Now we will see what will happen to sales. When I have more time I may up my price slightly and lower the shipping to even things out more.

We need Canada Post to bring back Light Pkt Air! We really don't need customs forms for items that sell for under $15, after all, most of our sales are probably to the US and they don't pay duty on anything under $800 anyway and taxes are already collected by eBay. Shipping over the pond is different and I can understand needing customs forms there. This is just going to make a lot of extra work for Can Post, Customs and us sellers.

[fergua3]

who runs the UPU and who decides who runs it?  I'm getting a bit tired of their 'decrees from on high'.   Not trying to sound like a radical, but their policies have caused me a lot of extra work and are about to cost me a lot of money (to me).  Not thrilled about non-elected officials that do that...