vallejo Game Color vs Model Color

[DreamKnight]

You know, maybe it's Canada Post who's making it tough. Miniwargaming is at the same shipping as you. $9.99 and it takes 1-3 weeks. If they want to control the routes so they will always be the main carriers, then FedEx and UPS have no choice. I think Royal Mail and FedEx has a deal with each other the last I read. I know because FedEx almost pulled out a couple of years ago because of the problems Royal Mail was having. Some kind of strike or something. It got to my desk because it affected one of my clients business for Christmas for shipping to UK so I had to adjust the whole shipping process on their websites/business intranets/amazon stores to work around it.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Also could be that he is eating the difference in shipping in the hopes of doing more sales.

Possible, but not likely...if Fed Ex has a deal with Royal Mail, then that is probably it....we don't even have a Fed Ex depot here, Purolator Courier handles Fed Ex pick-ups and deliveries (as well as UPS, but at least we have a UPS store here in town), and that isn't saying much, as Purolator is only about a 1/2 step better than Canada Post.

Just as an example, a parcel going to you, 500grams (1lb), 30cmX20cmX10cm (12"X8"X4")

Canada Post:

Small Packet Air - $9.21, 10-14 business days
Expedited - $17.01, 6-12 business days (despite their claim of 6 business days total!!!)
Xpress - $29.53, 5-6 business days
Priority - $58.32, 2nd business day by noon (yeah right!)

Fed Ex

Ground - $18.41, 8 business days
Economy - $61.54, would be there by Monday if it left today
Priority - $78.31, would be there by 10:30am Friday if left today
International First - $153.89, would be there by 8:30am Friday if it left today....lol, double the price to have it there 2hrs earlier???

UPS

Standard - $26.48, End of day Tuesday Sept 7!!! if left today
3 days - $56.23, Wed, Sept 1 end of day, if left today
Expedited - $61.10, Tues Aug 31 end of day, if left today
Express Saver - $74.41, Mon Aug 30 end of day, if left today
World Wide Express - $78.29, Mon Aug 30 by 10:30am, if left today
World Wide Express Plus - $153.79, Mon Aug 30 by 8:30am, if left today....again double the cost to get it there 2hrs earlier.

But here is the funniest.........

World Wide Express - $101.29, delivery by Sat Aug 28 by noon, if left today. This makes no sense....you could pay $153 and get it to you by Monday....or pay $50 less, and get it to you 2 days sooner on Saturday??? WTF?


As you can see....Canada Post has it pretty much wrapped up, and by most accounts prices aren't too bad compared to Fed Ex and UPS, but would be nice if they stuck to their delivery times as advertised.

I currently have a book going to a gentleman in California, he paid for Expedited shipping, was send on Aug. 5, and entered the US on Aug. 8....he still hasn't received it, and Canada Post customer service (or non-service which is what I like to call it) can't help....they say that it might be held up in customs somewhere....well heck....its a book, even if customs did want to look at it, you would think it would be in and out in a day or 2, now going on 3 weeks since it has entered the US. USPS is no help either, won't talk to me because I am in Canada, and the tracking on USPS shows it last in JerseyCity, NJ, on the 8th when it entered the country.

Make a person pull their hair out!!

 

[Jeep]

With my orders, I could track a package only when it was in Canada, once it got to the US, all bets were off! exact opposite of what I was expecting. It to bad that it can't just go into the UPS stream and be trackable and expedited for a reasonable sum of money.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Problem is, everything has a tracking number with the exception of Lettermail.

The difference comes as to whether it is a "live" tracking number or not. In otherwords, if you paid for a tracking number.

The least expensive from Canada Post to the US is Expedited, and comes with insurance and tracking, and can be tracked via USPS tracking as well.

Small Packet Air and Surface also have a tracking number, its just not a live number that will show the package every step of the way, but is indeed a tracking number. If it should get lost, it is what Canada Post uses to find it.

Insurance is another money making scheme for Canada Post. They make it seem like you "have" to opt for Expedited to get the insurance (up to $100) and then I think $1.10 for each extra $100. When in reality, even their Regular Parcel within Canada, or Small Packet Surface and Air to the US as well as worldwide, actually has $100 insurance on it already, but....they don't want to tell you that. I have actually been standing in line, with the CP rep telling the customer that they would need to pay for the Expedited post in order to get the $100 insurance. Now whether they were trained to tell the customer that, or didn't know, I don't know.

 

[DreamKnight]

Insurance in itself is a scheme, period. No matter what. You pay in and then when you need it you get covered for less then you paid in in the first place then have to usually cover the rest. Not to mention when you do file a claim, you're treated like a criminal until you can proved to them it's dire. That's usually by the time when you're half dead or dead and if that happened, well, the insurance company don't have to pay do they? Bastards.

But yeh, sounds like simply Canadian Post just wants to keep everything for themselves up there. That was the USPS years ago. But I think if they continue (I dunno how Canadian law and how much Canadian Citizens have an effect on commerce through the law) I'm sure the people would start looking for solutions other than Canadian Post and push the use private companies.

USPS buried itself. People just got tired of their slow unreliable service and start using FedEx and UPS for packages (USPS has a law that only they can deliver letters) that they started losing out. Then USPS kinda reorganized a bit and started to do way batter in the past years until lately where they keep raising the prices on rates and cutting out Saturday delivery and people are starting to get pissed off again.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Problem is, Canada Post is owned by the Canadian Gov't....Federal institution.....not so with USPS, which is privately owned!

So no only are you dealing with morons with CP....they are gov't morons who know there isn't much a person can do!

 

[DreamKnight]

Problem is, Canada Post is owned by the Canadian Gov't....Federal institution.....not so with USPS, which is privately owned!

So no only are you dealing with morons with CP....they are gov't morons who know there isn't much a person can do!

USPS is "partially" owned by the government (semi-independent federal agency). It's weird to explain but they run as as private company but have all the spiffy federal tax exclusions and specific laws that protects then specifically. This is why even though people are trying to push a monopoly on the USPS on letter delivery it won't stick.

The USPS is considered by law revenue-neutral so they only can break even and never make a profit. This is one of the reason why people are perturbed about price hikes when the USPS has been making a profit in the past years (not much but it's still making a profit).

This is one of the best examples of how bullshit the US government can be.

 

[AKE]

I remember reading that the post office will only pay for the actual material value of an item, regardless of how much insurance you pay for. So if you mail the Mona Lisa and pay for $10 million in insurance and they lose it they will only pay you for the cost of the canvas and paint.