Super Expensive To Ship To Maritimes Compared To Rest Of Canada

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I just sent a small bubble wrap envelope by Expedited post from B.C. to P.E.I. & was shocked at the price. It cost about $21.00 & that was with a discount. I had no idea it was so much. And add the additional shipping fee that eBay takes & It isn't worth it.  I can send across the world for less. It makes no sense.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

I see that every time I go to my local post office with people in line in front of me trying to send a package from a to b and they find out how much it is going to cost and how long it will take to get there. Major sticker shock. And on several occasions they needed a box for their item and were sold one 2 sizes to big by the counter person. Almost seems like the post office is trying to take advantage of people. It's cheaper for me to send a 500 gram package small packet air from Calgary to Florida than it is to send it Calgary to Calgary. Even with our discounts. I agree. It does make no sense!!! Difficult to explain to your occasional eBay buyer why postage is so much when they never use the mail personally.

-CM

[mrdutch1001]

Has been this way for many a year...know your shipping costs for all Canadian provinces & territories before you list...

[femmefan1946]

For what it's worth, you can reduce your costs by buying discounted mint postage stamps here on eBay.

You can use them in conjunction with any postal service.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@2nd-time-around-jewelry wrote:

I just sent a small bubble wrap envelope by Expedited post from B.C. to P.E.I. & was shocked at the price. It cost about $21.00 & that was with a discount. I had no idea it was so much. And add the additional shipping fee that eBay takes & It isn't worth it.  I can send across the world for less. It makes no sense.

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Rural address (for ship from and/or ship to) have a higher base shipping cost (those postal codes that have a "0" as the first digit).

Urban rates for Vancouver, BC to Charlottetown, PEI (under 750g, 20x15x2cm)

Counter rate:

Regular parcel: $16.78

Xpresspost: $20.52

...

Solutions for Small Business Level 1 online label:

Regular parcel: $16.88

Expedited parcel: $16.88 (even cheaper if using the eBay Shippo rate)

Xpresspost: $19.07

-..-

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

I guess I have never shipped anything to P.E.I  before in over 15 years of selling.  So it was a shock. The parcel was 23 x 20 x 5 cm & weight was 65 grams. And the postal code was C0B 1M0.

[lachnrd]

I am the opposite as I’m in the Maritimes and don’t like shipping to BC because the cost along with things taking forever to get there unless tracked.

[triber]

The highest shipping cost I had was to Quebec, what I didn't realize was  an Inuit island, and had to go by local air once it got to a certain point. Wouldn't you know, there was a problem with it as they buyer had changed their address, but the Post office delivered it to the old address which no long existed, so it was returned to me, and they wanted over $40 to receive it, and $42 to mail it back. It was for 2 little balls of yarn.

I felt really bad for the buyer, but I wasn't prepared to lose any more of this transaction. So the package went to wherever undelivered packages go, and I was told that once it was there, there was no way to get them back.

Imagine my surprise about 4 months later when the buyer wrote and said "Guess what I am knitting with?" They had kept contacting CP, and eventually they returned it to them for free!

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

.... It's cheaper for me to send a 500 gram package small packet air from Calgary to Florida than it is to send it Calgary to Calgary. Even with our discounts. I agree. It does make no sense!!!

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All parcels in Canada are tracked. Small packet is not.

...

Small packet has 100g, 250g, 500g for the first weight steps.

Parcels in Canada have 750g, 1kg for the first steps.

...

Canada Post did some testing of a Small Packet equivalent (light weight, no tracking, flat rate) for Canada last July -- mentioned in the forums last year -- but nothing since then. It is needed for the gap between oversize lettermail and parcel services.

-..-

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

The other thing that affected your final rate (In Canada)was the dimensions of your packaged shipment. Using your measurements 23 x 20 x 5 = 2300 and then divided by 5000 =  460 grams. Add the distance and it affects the rate substantially. I believe earlier this year it changed from 6000 to 5000 causing an increase.

-CM

[ypdc_dennis]

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@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

The other thing that affected your final rate (In Canada)was the dimensions of your packaged shipment. Using your measurements 23 x 20 x 5 = 2300 and then divided by 5000 =  460 grams. Add the distance and it affects the rate substantially. I believe earlier this year it changed from 6000 to 5000 causing an increase.

That would result in no difference for Expedited as the first weight step is 750g and under.

...

The Expedited divisor did drop to 5000 at the start of the year. Regular parcel is unchanged at 6000. Which can have some odd dimensional weight results between regular and expedited.

-..-

[momcqueen]

The double-cost of shipping to NFLD versus across the street is the reason I use Calculated Shipping on eBay.ca. Flat-rate doesn’t suit me:
a middle-ground isn’t good enough. As a Buyer, if I live in the same postal region as the seller, I expect cheaper postage than someone in Nunavut, and not to subsidize the cost of mailing to BC.

[snoopwiz]

Are you anywhere near Charles St in Vancouver or Gordon Way in Richmond?

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Have the postal rates gone up this month? I was shocked at the price to send to the Maritimes but it looks like there is a huge increase all across Canada.  I just sent a small package in a bubble wrap envelope from B.C. to Ontario & it cost just under $21.00 (almost the same price as to P.E.I.) That again includes a discount.  It used to cost me around $16.00.  How can Canada Post justify a $5.00 increase.

[momcqueen]

Has your Solutions For Small Business Number or tier level changed? Are you using SHIPPO? PayPal Shipping? Snap Ship?

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Nothing has changed for me. I used PayPal shipping. Checked Shippo also & it was only a dollar cheaper.  I did a test on rates on Canada Post's site using my postal code in B.C. & pretending to send the same parcel to each province & it has increased all across the board. I sent a few parcels last month in April & the prices were all what I expected but not this month.  I will ask at the postal office tomorrow.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

Just went onto Snap Ship to see what their prices are like. They have changed some of their format since I last used it. They now include all types of packaging to pick from including padded envelope & when I put my dimensions & weight in it shows the correct prices that I am used to. I will have to only use Snap Ship from now on.

[retroman_studios]

I have done a few labels via CanadaPost and PayPal in the day, but I like going to the post office.

However, you need a postal outlet you can trust. Where I work there is a Post Office that is also the local sorting facility for the area, so we have seasoned CP Employees who know A from Z. They are quick to recommend service A B or C, or on occassion flat rate boxes depending on the item.

Near my apartment is a postal outlet that used to be run by a nice guy but he sold the business. The new owners sadly don't know as much and even my mom has sent items and remarked how it didn't make sense how a small item cost over $20 to send within BC.

I don't have proof, but I suspect a lack of knowledge could result in folks paying more. Plus, I'm sure there are a few places that may deliberately pad measurements to increase rates if they stand to benefit. This also is interesting as it may place a package in a higher tier. I don't know how these "franchises" work as far as profits, if they get a certain % or what. But something fishy going on.

[marnotom!]

Small packets are considered oversize letters, travel in the international letter mail stream and, unlike parcel post items, aren't subject to volumetric weight calculations and pricing.

[momcqueen]

Are you using the exact same parcel
size and weight each time you run your test? If not, you should be. If so, what is it? And what postal codes?

Earlier this year, Light Packet was eliminated from international mailings, and domestic Expedited Parcel was subject to a new dimensional volumetric threshold.