Raised Prices by Canadapost for parcels to USA

[waterships]

Is it just me or is anyone else absolutely incensed at the 100% increase in sending small parcels to the USA from Canada? The so-called *new* parcel service is going to cost a whole lot more than the small parcel used to cost. For me it used to run about $8.00 and now it is going to be around $15-$20! My customers are quite simply not going to pay that. and of course I now have no other option. I guess Canadapost cottoned on to this little money making scheme and want their cut.

eBay shame on you for using the wrong comparisons. This new service is replacing the small parcel service so you CANNOT compare it with Expedited which is a totally different service - that is just so wrong on so many levels.

I for one want to keep the existing service at a price my customers can afford. canadapost and eBay you have just priced me and my customers out of business. Thanks a bunch.

[brandeentertainment]

Expedited with discount is cheaper...

I alway use light packet so these changes as stupid as they are do not affect me ..

[mustangnorm1]

Hey, its not just you buddy.  I have gotten myself an American address through a company that Trucks your parcels to the U.S and ships from there.  Shipping is 50 to 60 percent of what CP charges.  A package that would cost me $37.83 to ship to Australia from Canada will cost me $13.17 to ship from the U.S. plus about 75 cents to transport it to the U.S.

The only problem is that I'm having a hard time switching my site over from  .ca to .com.  I'm an old dog and it's hard for me to learn new tricks ... LOL

[cumos55]

Compare chipping options in relation to insurance, tracking,  and the value of the item being shipped.

Small packet  has been a good option... low priced... sort of...

However, now we must adjust to a new reality.... specifically with insurance and tracking...

Something that will most definitely be a valuable asset.

USPS has added insurance and tracking to just about everything....   and eBay  has its rules for TRS standing.

If a buyer wants it... they will pay the cost of shipping 

Postal rates will continue to rise each year....

Most likely there will come a day when everything is trackable  and insured....

Why insured.... mainly because the value of everything is going up year-by-year....

[cumos55]

chipping = shipping

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Small packet did not go up 100%, you grossly exaggerate.

$7.61  --->  $7.80

$10.10 ---> $10.35

Average of 4.5%

[recped]

The so-called *new* parcel service is going to cost a whole lot more than the small parcel used to cost.

Why use it if you think it's too expensive?

[pocomocomputing]

Is it just me or is anyone else absolutely incensed at the 100% increase in sending small parcels to the USA from Canada? The so-called *new* parcel service is going to cost a whole lot more than the small parcel used to cost. For me it used to run about $8.00 and now it is going to be around $15-$20! My customers are quite simply not going to pay that. and of course I now have no other option. I guess Canadapost cottoned on to this little money making scheme and want their cut.

eBay shame on you for using the wrong comparisons. This new service is replacing the small parcel service so you CANNOT compare it with Expedited which is a totally different service - that is just so wrong on so many levels.

I for one want to keep the existing service at a price my customers can afford. canadapost and eBay you have just priced me and my customers out of business. Thanks a bunch.

Not true. Small Packet USA Surface is disappearing Feb 11. Small Packet Air USA is still available at a small modest increase.

The included $100 insurance for Small Packet is gone. A seller will have to decide on self insurance or using a third party insurance at $1.50 roughly. 

In one sense, the new Small Packet will be like using Light Packet now.  Light Packet had no insurance and many sellers used it with success because loss of items is low. The amount saved in not paying for insurance paid for the lost items if any.

Tracked packet is a new service supplementing the existing services.

[pocomocomputing]

Small packet did not go up 100%, you grossly exaggerate.

$7.61  --->  $7.80

$10.10 ---> $10.35

Average of 4.5%

4.5% ??

$7.80 - $7.61 = $0.19 The compare to original price of $7.61 we get $0.19/$7.61 = 2.5 %

$10.35 - $10.10 = $0.25 The compare to original price of $10.10 we get $0.25/$10.10 = 2.5 %

Trivial point. The increase is small in percentage and more important, in the actual amount for the above rates in under 25 cents.

Notice that the above rates are for Small packet USA Air 250 and 500 grams.  The 1 kg rate dropped in price!

$15.67 -> $15.56

$0.11/15.67 = -0.7%

Obviously the OP was comparing Small Packet rates to the new Tracked Packet rates and the difference is larger. However, nothing says that you have to use the new Tracked Packet. Continue using Small Packet USA Air at the lower rate. Self insure since insurance is discontinued.

[postit4me]

I got a video game from the USA and the seller wanted almost 22.00 to send to Canada. I contacted seller before purchasing and received for about 14.00 sent letter mail. Yup really cheaper in the USA  my eye, if it wasn't what the great grandkids wanted it would have stayed in the USA. 

Check out anything coming to Canada and all is quite expensive I get from Canada and UK mostly now, except DVD, games and other that have region codes I shop Canada.

[cumos55]

Each seller has a choice to make

The considerations include ---

(1) What they sell

(2) The weight of what they sell

(3) The value of what the sell

(4) Insurance or no insurance

(5) Insurance with Canada Post  or elsewhere

(6) Tracking or no tracking

Once a seller has decided how to deal with these six considerations...

Which Canada Post options to use becomes clear

Our selling world on eBay is tending towards tracked parcels...

That is quite evident on eBay.com

and tracking has now come to Canada

[cumos55]

(3) The value of what the sell  should be

3) The value of what they sell

[toff3]

Waterships of course exaggerates the increased cost of mailing to USA. Nevertheless, Canada Post has once again raised the cost in its usual underhanded fashion.

It began, years ago, with CP decreeing that the weight limit for Small Packets to USA would be 1 kg, when it's 2 kg to every other country in the world (in conformity with Universal Postal Union policy).

It continued with the decree that any parcel to USA weighing more than 1 kg has to be sent Expedited, which includes Delivery Confirmation.

Now CP is withdrawing Small Packet Surface and the "free" $100 insurance coverage from all Small Packets.

Canada Post has never offered one single solitary reason for implementing any one of these changes. Why not? Because the only reason is to generate more revenue for CP.

As far as I'm concerned, CP can introduce all the fancy, expensive services they like, as long as they retain the basic mailing services (no insurance, no DC, no super-fast delivery) at reasonable cost for use by those customers (like me) who, 99% of the time, don't want or need them.

Tom

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Well, Toff, yer wrong. CP has proffered lots of reasons. The elimination of surface was coming as soon as the Americans started eliminating it. The increase in cost was coming as more shippers wanted tracking.

I knew this change was coming, 6 1/2 years ago. eBay executives told me they were meeting with postal officials back then to implement these changes.

Simple retailing. Value add the product and the price goes up.

It has nothing much to do with CP, anyway. Parcels are handed off to the USPS who does the scanning, transporting, delivering, etc. They do this for free?

[femmefan1946]

USPS sort of does it for free.

Under the terms of the Universal Postal Union, all member postal services handle the mail from other services. At the end of their fiscal year they settle up.

The "western" countries are pretty equal on their recieved and sent amounts, but the one that postal officials are looking fish-eyed at are the billings from China, which heavily subsidizes its customers who are exporting. And the higher wage "western " countries do most of the work and pay most of the costs, while the Chinese economy benefits.

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Femme, I dislike arbitrary and absolute statements as Toft does.

I went looking for more info. The Universal Postal union states: members countries shall accept ...... small packets up to 2 kilogrammes.

I could not find a definition for applied rates. I am assuming that was left to the member postal authorities. I did find a radical change in service at 2.0 Kg for mail other than to the USA. At 1.99kg there is certain services and prices. That changes dramatically at 2.01 Kg.

What is in between? The UPU mandated 2 Kg acceptance limit.

Section E Article 12 2.1

[toff3]

Toff, yer wrong. CP has proffered lots of reasons. The elimination of surface was coming as soon as the Americans started eliminating it. The increase in cost was coming as more shippers wanted tracking.

Inuk,

Name me one reason Canada Post has given for introducing a higher-priced compulsory service.

CP has not eliminated International (excluding USA) surface mail, although the USPS did so years ago. The USPS uses ground shipping within US borders, so why can they not handle surface mailings from Canada? Why should I have to send a Small Packet to USA by air?

CP hasn't dared to make International Small Packet and Parcel shipping by air compulsory because their rates are outrageously high.

As for the increased cost of "tracked" mailing, that's fine by me. As I said, CP can introduce as many enhanced services as they like. I personally am not interested in tracking (which is useless), not even (most of the time) in delivery confirmation. If I want DC, I expect to have to pay extra for it.

Happy New Year!

Tom 

[recped]

Tom

There is a bit of a rumour going around that USPS are also going to introduce a "tracked" (actually d/c) service for FCMI and PMI Flat-rate envelopes and small box.

I have not seen anything official but the person who posted had some information about API changes at USPS that would seem to indicate this service was coming at some point.

It's funny, sellers are responding about how great it would be but obviously they are thinking this upgraded service would be at current rates which we both know will never happen.

Since the big increase for FCMI starts in January and there has been nothing about a d/c option I'm pretty sure it will cost even more than the 2013 increase. Probably priced somewhere between FCMI and regular PMI.

Leave it to eBay sellers to figure out a way to pay even more for shipping!

[momcqueen]

I'm just as furious as you. Half my customers are in the USA and overseas. Or should I say were in the USA and overseas. I sell toy cars. Under the current arrangement with Canada Post Small Packets Airmail, it costs my buyers $8 to $9 USD in postage to ship a single diecast. With the new Tracked Packet, that doubles and quadruples, depending on location. No buyer in their right mind will pay $35 CAD to ship a $15 toy from Canada to the UK. That's ludicrous. 

The big deal here to me is that sellers are still allowed to offer and utilize Canada Post Small Packet Airmail... except now there is no insurance when it goes missing. I called Canada Post today about this and was told they won't be offering any insurance to sellers as an extra buy-in option, either.

Considering that a good five per cent of my parcels sent with Small Packets Airmail go missing, I'm at a loss as to how now to proceed. I think my business is too new and I'm still too small to make any sense of a contract with Canada Post. (Not that I have much faith in them as a business partner at this point.) UPS? 

Really, for me this isn't about the elimination of Small Packets Ground/Surface at all; I found it too slow and frustrating to use more than twice in my very early days of selling anyway. I'm incensed Canada Post has washed their hands of liability for losing Small Packets Airmail with this.

Why should I pay the price for the postal system's inadequacies when they fail to deliver my buyer's parcel? I have to refund that money to the buyer, as is fair to them, but I lose out entirely? How is that fair or just? I didn't lose the parcel! Tracked Packet is the same service as Small Packets Airmail but with tracking. Four scans. Big deal. It should be added to Small Packets Airmail for no additional cost as a welcome-to-the-21st-century service.

[momcqueen]

Please explain how a seller can self-insure or use third-party insurance.