So. Registered Mail. Incoming from Italy and Germany no-shows.....

[momcqueen]

I suspected from what I've read on the boards that registered mail from Asia is delayed on top of the fact it is untraceable inside Canada. Does that delay include other countries such as Germany and Italy?

Two personal packages -- both Christmas gifts -- that I purchased from small-time (but reputable) sellers on November 25 and November 27 have not yet arrived. Actual airmail would have had each item here well before Christmas. I don't quite understand the problem. One was a book and the other some stickers. Nothing fishy.

The problem seems to lay with the fact each seller used Registered Mail to send it here. Isn't Registered Mail an airmail service? There's no data on the items as far as Canada Post is concerned. It looks like one at least was mailed according to the originating postal service.

Of course, Christmas is now passed and I had to substitute both parcels for other items but I don't want to cause problems for the sellers if I don't have to. At what point would it be advisable to complain to the sellers about this? How long should I be prepared to wait? 

I don't want to be unreasonable but I don't think I ever had a problem quite like this arise before. (Maybe no one from whom I've purchased has used Registered Mail before?) Together, we're looking at about $300 CAD in merchandise that's AWOL and I'm not going to be pleased if I'm expected to wait with no updates on the whereabouts of my goods until the end of April. 

Just wondering. I don't want to be a jerk about this but I'm also feeling rather irritated by it. These weren't rookie sellers, shouldn't they have known this problem would arise? 

[hlmacdon]

I had a conversation a few months back with a former coworker who as it turned out works on the west coast dealing with the incoming international mail. From what he has told me registered (and anything non-express) can run anywhere from 4-8 week delays before it gets processed by customs and taken for delivery at Canada Post. If it is not EMS, it is not being prioritized for processing. Both sides are pointing fingers at each other for delays. For customs they are under pressure to get the express packages sorted first as they have delivery standards as well as often being commercial shipments. Everything else gets screened and sorted after express packages are taken care of. On the Canada Post side they are all but warehousing all the cheap registered mail/small packet airmail and they aren't too willing to throw manpower at it. I've since stopped shipping things by EMS as it has frankly been a mess trying to get commercial shipments through the system.

As far as your seller, it depends if you want to be accommodating and understanding of the issue. It isn't on their side. That being said registered mail falls into a black hole when it enters the country so I understand the frustration. International sellers who sell frequently to Canada via registered mail will be aware of the situation and some have popped up here to find out what is going on. Less frequent shippers will have no idea. For now this is a Canadian issue.

[femmefan1946]

cheap registered mail/

????

Registration within Canada (which is trackable) is $17.50 PLUS the regular mailing cost.

It costs more for international, and again that is not tracked.

Even twenty years ago we were semi-joking that 'registered' was foriegn for 'worth stealing', and avoiding the service as much as possible.

I suspect that a lot of older users have just never bothered to update their thinking. And of course there are those who send something that needs tracking once a decade or less.

I'd tell those **bleep** kids to get off my lawn, but they are building a snowman.

[recped]

At what point would it be advisable to complain to the sellers about this?

Don't let it go more than 30 days past the expected delivery date.

A buyer can report in My eBay that they didn't receive an item once the item's latest estimated delivery date has passed, and for 30 days after the latest estimated delivery date.

Once you have opened a case you have another 30 days that you can escalate. If you miss either deadline you would have to go to PayPal.

Even when Registered was a priority service it was still slower than regular airmail because of the special handling, nowadays the "special handling" meaning is that it's the very last piece of mail to be dealt with.

[dutchman48]

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@mjwl2006momcqueen wrote:

I suspected from what I've read on the boards that registered mail from Asia is delayed on top of the fact it is untraceable inside Canada. Does that delay include other countries such as Germany and Italy?

Two personal packages -- both Christmas gifts -- that I purchased from small-time (but reputable) sellers on November 25 and November 27 have not yet arrived. Actual airmail would have had each item here well before Christmas. I don't quite understand the problem. One was a book and the other some stickers. Nothing fishy.

The problem seems to lay with the fact each seller used Registered Mail to send it here. Isn't Registered Mail an airmail service? There's no data on the items as far as Canada Post is concerned. It looks like one at least was mailed according to the originating postal service.

Of course, Christmas is now passed and I had to substitute both parcels for other items but I don't want to cause problems for the sellers if I don't have to. At what point would it be advisable to complain to the sellers about this? How long should I be prepared to wait? 

I don't want to be unreasonable but I don't think I ever had a problem quite like this arise before. (Maybe no one from whom I've purchased has used Registered Mail before?) Together, we're looking at about $300 CAD in merchandise that's AWOL and I'm not going to be pleased if I'm expected to wait with no updates on the whereabouts of my goods until the end of April. 

Just wondering. I don't want to be a jerk about this but I'm also feeling rather irritated by it. These weren't rookie sellers, shouldn't they have known this problem would arise? 

---

This subject has been beaten to death.

Registered mail from Europe is secure, but very very slow, especially this time of year. Europeans use if for tracking.

If you are buying stuff from Europe, ask which shipping method they use.

If it is time sensitive, don't buy as you will probably not get it on time.

The only other secure method Europeans have is courier and you don't want to pay the rates unless expensive and heavy.

As far as claims, to file after 30 days is not very polite as you should have known by all the posts on these boards that it will not be here within that time.

You would be punishing a seller that did nothing wrong.

Paypal gives you 180 days to file an INR which gives you more than enough time.

Being on the boards as much as you are,you should not be hasty in filing as it will do nothing to help the situation you should have asked about ahead of time to use preventative measures.

This is not what you want to hear, but they are the facts.

[momcqueen]

I didn't use ebay to make these purchases.

Also, I paid $50 CAD in postage for each item.

Also, I don't think it's fair to admonish me as a buyer for the mistakes made by the seller. These were not cheap knock-off junk items from China with free shipping for 99 cents.

When I made mistakes with overseas shipments as a rookie seller, I apologized and made amends to my buyers, not the other way around. 

Don't blame the victim. 

My questions were: is this normal with registered mail from all originating countries and, if so, how long should I wait to address it? 

[momcqueen]

Also, which of those statements were facts again? Your answer was 99 per cent opinion except, perhaps, the one that states paypal gives a buyer coverage for 160 days from purchase. Which we all already know. But thanks anyway. 

[momcqueen]

I repeat: these items are not tracked within Canada. Therefore, I have no idea where they are or if I will ever receive them. 

It's not as if this is my first time ordering from Europe. 

None of the items that I've ordered from Europe in the past went missing at the border or took longer than 30 days to arrive. 

But, taking everyone's opinion into consideration, I will wait another two to four weeks before I ask about reshipment with actual tracking. 

Anyone who sells online should agree it's the seller's responsibility to ensure their buyers receive goods in a timely fashion. 

[momcqueen]

(My apologies to the other respondents if that sounds snippy.)

[dutchman48]

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@mjwl2006momcqueen wrote:

I didn't use ebay to make these purchases.

Also, I paid $50 CAD in postage for each item.

Also, I don't think it's fair to admonish me as a buyer for the mistakes made by the seller. These were not cheap knock-off junk items from China with free shipping for 99 cents.

When I made mistakes with overseas shipments as a rookie seller, I apologized and made amends to my buyers, not the other way around. 

Don't blame the victim. 

My questions were: is this normal with registered mail from all originating countries and, if so, how long should I wait to address it? 

---

I did not admonish any one, what you paid is not relevant, where you bought them is not relevant.

My information is factual as it came from a CP manager when I had issues with registered mail from overseas.

Mail from anywhere other than Canada sits in customs due to fentanyl being sent by mail to Canada. It can sit in customs for more than 40 days. That is a facet from the CP manager, not my opinion.

As I stated, there is some responsibility on the buyer to ask how long it will take and what method of shipment is being used.

Some sellers have already put it on their websites that mail to Canada is extremely slow and could be 30 to 60 days or more to arrive in Canada. That is a fact.

If you go to the US boards, many sellers will not ship to Canada due to slowness and claims being opened so that sellers get ripped off.

That is a fact.

I am not looking for an argument, only telling you the problem is with Canada Customs and Canada Post, it is not my opinion but fact.

I buy from Europe all the time and mail takes forever, even courier can be slow. I pay for courier because it is usually much faster but also much more expensive.

You can argue about the situation all you want and tell me it is my opinion, but it is not. If you want fentanyl to keep coming onto Canada and killing people to speed up the mail, it is not going to happen thank goodness.

A buyer has as much to do with a transaction as the seller and should take equal responsibility and maybe even more to get method of shipping and time to ship, especially if the buyer is in Canada.

If you choose to open claims and not wait, that is entirely up to you and I am not here to argue about it.

If you don't believe what I am saying about Canada Post, find a competent manager at CP to talk to to confirm.

Oh, and one other thing, Canada Post gives priority to Amazon shipments as they can't afford to lose their contract.

The rest is up to you!

[pjcdn2005]

Mail from anywhere other than Canada sits in customs due to fentanyl being sent by mail to Canada. It can sit in customs for more than 40 days. That is a facet from the CP manager, not my opinion.

The most recent information that I have read about mail being purposely delayed is for untracked mail and it is generally from Asia. I haven't read anything about mail from all other countries receiving the same treatment. Also, I've gotten the impression that fentanyl really isn't the problem. It is that Canada Post handles the cheap 'Asian parcels last because they are not compensated for that type of mail.  Your CP manager may be right or maybe they were told that because it sounds better than saying that they don't like the fact that they aren't paid enough for cheap mail from China.

Anyway.....our version of registered mail is supposedly not tracked in some foreign countries. For example, you can't even buy registered mail to the US anymore...if you want registered to the US they will sell you xpresspost. It stands to reason that the same happens in reverse...that registered mail from some other countries is never scanned here either but as I rarely purchase from overseas that's just a guess.Here is one article that gives a few different reasons for the slowness but I think that they are referring just to mail from Asia.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/canada-post-reveals-it-is-the-reason-for-lengthy-parcel-delays-1.3447438

MJ, I have heard that registered is slow because of the way it is handled.  Was the mail trackable at all when it was in the originating country? I've always found this subject confusing because it seems that what we mean when we say registered mail is not necessarily what someone else means when they use that term.

[dutchman48]

You people can post whatever you like as I will not partake in this discussion anymore.

[pjcdn2005]

Ok, that's your choice.

As I said, I don't generally buy from overseas or use registered mail so I'm going by what I've read and what others have said. I am sure that sellers like yourself who buy and sell coins and/or stamps are probably more familiar with registered mail from other places.

[momcqueen]

One says 'in transito' at https://www.poste.it/cerca/index.html#/risultati-spedizioni/Ra924420523it

And the other? Nothing although the shipper sent me a screenshot with data I can't replicate using Deutsche Poste (DHL) or PostNL. https://nolp.dhl.de/nextt-online-public/en/search?piececode=RS324589620NL

NL = Netherlands? The company is Germany, I get nowhere with that tracking number in the Netherlands either, PostNL. Perhaps I'm not using their site correctly. 

[momcqueen]

Hooray! One of the items just arrived in today's mail. IBS Logistics via PostNL. 

[femmefan1946]

I have heard that registered is slow because of the way it is handled.

It's a 19th century service. Originally called "money letter" because it was used, often by banks to ship cash.

We see Registered rate stamps on those light card tags fairly often when banks used the mail, and the railroads, to transfer money to branches and back to Head Office.

Registered Mail was recorded by hand in actual paper registration books at every single stop along the way.

That speeded up a bit in the 1980s when those barcoded brown sticky labels were introduced. But not much.

And as mentioned --"registered is foreign for worth stealing".