Canada Post Has upped rates and removed options.

[Skysteed]

Attention all Canuks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canada Post has done it again.
Today (Feb.14/2013) they raised their package rates with insurance (created new class with mandatory tracking) and removed insurance on "Small Packet Air" and totally removed "Small packet Ground" the cheapest method that was available at the time.

We are now burdened with **Tracked Packet™ - USA / International** at almost double to the US and 4X's for International.

Good luck to all sellers and Canada.

Paypal *suggests* tracking. At what cost and will buyers pay????? I think not.

I may have to get rid of PayPal to keep the shipping rates to a minimum and go back to the old days of "money orders" only and use "Small Packet Air" to the US and International..

I've purchased a few thing that claimed to have tracking from the US.
Surprise! surprise! the #'s used are just postal receipt #'s and are not tracking as I've followed the #'s through and they just never show as a tracking # here or in the US.

I'll stop rambling now, have to relist 40 items with new shipping rates and probably get rid of PayPal as a payment option?

Anyone have any other options or ideas in Canada for payment?

[meebo1]

Hope the moan has made you feel a little better. I wouldn't remove P'pal if you want to sell internationally. It is a nice easy way to pay for things in other countries. Personally I only use tracking for more expensive items, not the cheaper things.

[Maelbrigda]

oh no! i just bought a load of stuff from canada and wanted to get more at the end of the month . their postage was very reasonable

[rokins_toys]

PayPal can "suggest" what they want. It is up to the seller whether or not they wish to offer to send an item tracked and extra expense. Sending items tracked now is becoming far too expensive, including for us in Britain. Even Royal Mail want £5.95 for international signed for stating "it's tracked all the way" but when you read the small print, they say they can't track something once it has left Britain lol! So they want sellers/buyers to pay for a service they will not actually get! We no longer offer international signed for unless it is a really expensive item or an order over a specific amount money. Luckily, Royal Mail have a free "certificate of posting" which we can use to make claims in the event of loss or damage and since the introduction of this free certificate of posting we have not used international signed for or any of the other costly services for tracking.

I think it is wrong for postal services in general to try and force customers into using unnecessarily expensive "tracked/sign for" services especially when they keep putting up the cost of such services. Granted, they do it because of the loss/damage to goods, but if postal services raised their standards and weren't so incompetent at times, then there wouldn't be so many claims for lost/damaged items. Royal Mail stated to me once in an email that the cost of international signed for had to rise, this was back when it rised to I think £4.95, because other postal services were increasing the cost of tracking etc. to them. But in reality, and the fact is, they keep increasing the cost of signed/tracked services to help cover the cost of claims against them, making the customer pay for loss/damage at the end of the day when loss/damage during transit is purely and legally in the hands of the postal service.

I personally think these tracked/sign for services are just a big con to make a little extra profit for the postal services, especially when 90% of items are delivered on time and in the condition they were originally sent out in. It is only through postal worker incompetence that items get lost or damaged during transit, or, the incompetence of air port workers loading planes etc. for airmail, as we might as well be honest, things can and do get bashed about during transit, especially during loading and transfering etc.

[FirstGreenIsGold]

Yes, I wouldn't take off the PayPal ... most buyers seem to use it to pay.

Skysteed, thanks for the information. I didn't know about this change and I appreciate that you posted here. There aren't many Canucks who post on the eBid forums.

Canada Post was expensive before and, like Royal Mail and USPS, the costs keep going up.

If a person is trying to selling lower cost items (like I do) and they don't make much profit as it is then these increases in fees and postal costs have a major impact.

[Skysteed]

Rates have gone up in UK, US and Canada. The only cheap shipping as far as I can see is China. Many items shipping is "free"(included in price of item) but when the item it only a few cents to a few dollars (our money) what the heck.

I really don't like buying from there, quality is iffy but since they are pretty much the only country producing many of the items we now buy and use why pay more for the same item that is sold to a middle man.

Check out walmart: almost everything is made in China. Go to your dollar stores: "Made in China"

Check your frozen prepackaged fish"Packaged in China"I just found frozen carrots "Packaged in china"
No wonder we can't find jobs in our own countries. Everything is in China.

When will the companies realize that with them sourcing out of country for manufacturing, people are now out of work and can't buy those same products they once made. Yes it would cost more to produce locally, but people with jobs have money to spend.

Sorry, venting again.

[billsstamps]

The quality that concerns me about China is quality of life for the workers. I actually like the range of high-spec to budget-knockoff in chinese goods. Something for everyone.

But China has a pragmatic approach to developing its economy, it subsidises the export of its goods, most obviously for us internet sellers in the "Free" shipping offered by Chinese sellers.

In Britain we spend infrastructure billions making sure that people and produce can move at high speed on road and rail, and it does help the economy.

But we also need postal infrastructure with speed and value to make our ebid contribution to the economy hums, and infrastructure includes export as well national post.

[Juliebabe25]

Yes higher postage costs all around the world are making it very hard for some people to sell low cost items.

That and with fvf fees and paypal etc makes it very marginal.

[Juliebabe25]

Check out walmart: almost everything is made in China. Go to your dollar stores: "Made in China"

Check your frozen prepackaged fish"Packaged in China"I just found frozen carrots "Packaged in china"
No wonder we can't find jobs in our own countries. Everything is in China.

When will the companies realize that with them sourcing out of country for manufacturing, people are now out of work and can't buy those same products they once made. Yes it would cost more to produce locally, but people with jobs have money to spend.

Sorry, venting again.

Well said, but is happening all around the western world, here in New Zealand as well.

Although we do not bring in much food from China ! (I hope) I'll watch otu fro those carrots!

They bought in some peanut butter and there was a huge hue and cry.

Western people want lower prices, but they also want jobs, and who will be next to lose their job?

With modern technology soon the only job in the western world will be home care nurses.

Just about everything else can be done by technology.

[Skysteed]

I have to agree. The quality of life is a valid point. But the quality of the food they are selling to us is a little more important to ME.

If they are willing to kill off their own babies (dried milk sold for babies that in reality was ground up rice and their babies were dieing of malnutrition) why the HELL would I trust any other food products that they manufacture/package and ship to us.

I saw a tv doc made with a hidden camera on workers who were making name brand jeans. Paid pennies a day, lived on site in company housing bunkies stacked 3 high, (no glass in windows(winter), shower for toilet, washing themselves and brushing their teeth)7-8 women per room. Paid half their wages to cover "room and board(rice with some liquids for meals)" work 7 days a week, do I need to go on .
Its' the management (seen driving Mercedes) that are making the money not the workers.

The companies that have their products made there are responsible for this.

A Canadian rep was there doing a tour for Head office Canada of this company.
"Oh, how nice they can live so close to work" But they never looked at the actual living conditions in the rooms.