Tag Archives: Canada Post

Canada Post Parcel Alternatives

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In the last two years, Canada Post has increased their prices on parcel shipping to the point where I’m done. They’re so convenient and easy to get to, but at a massive cost.

If you’re a small business that ships something inside Canada or to the US every week, you HAVE to know the alternatives or you’re overspending literally thousands of dollars. Even if you’re just sending four or five parcels a year for presents, the alternates will save you at least a hundred bucks a year as well.

For individuals: Yesterday I discovered netparcel.com. The company gets bulk rates from courier companies that are insanely low. Last week I shipped a parcel to Calgary with Canada Post (0.72 kg) for $16.90. Netparcel would have been $8.67 – close to half the price for a tiny and light parcel! Their home page has a quick quote where you can get a courier rate inside of 10 seconds.

For small businesses: You HAVE to get away from Canada Post because those few thousand bucks of shipping costs you’ll save are pure profit. I sent 10 of my books to a great store on Harvey (in Kelowna) called Dare To Dream. Canada Post for the 2.6 pounds was $22 versus $10 almost anywhere else.

I also sell 8 of my books on Amazon in the US. That means that I have to ship inventory to Amazon quite frequently. The last parcel was 7.8 pounds and Canada Post to the US would have been $37. I paid $15, or 250% less through any company that does cross border shipping. These companies put US postage on your parcel. They then courier it across the border (to Sweetgrass Montana from here in Edmonton) and mail it at a US post office. No tax, no duty, no customs, no charge to get it across the border. So you’re sending it here in Canada as if you were across the border using the USPS. These companies give you a US address so you can also get incoming shipments from the US.

If you’re in the Okanagan, it appears that these companies aren’t there yet. If you find one, please let me know so I can share. The website for DYK is at: https://www2.dykpost.com/# and Net Parcel is at: https://netparcel.com/home.action

And finally, the blog from someone who has listed the different companies (in Canada) you may want to check: https://www.cindylouwho2.com/blog/2018/10/18/canada-post-alternatives-other-shipping-companies-in-canada

Canada Post Financial and Eating Out at Lunch

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Senator Elizabeth Warren has been promoting this idea for over a year in the U.S. But what about here in Canada? The post office is not exactly a growing business, but a very necessary one that isn’t making money, keeps charging more, and isn’t going to go away in our lifetime.

The post office is already a vast network of locations all across the country. They’re in remote areas that aren’t even serviced by a bank. Why can’t the post office sell prepaid debit cards, do cheque cashing, incoming and outgoing foreign money transfers to relatives, small loans and the likes?

Even if it just re-directs 10% of people from payday lenders or cheque cashing places it would save Canadians billions of dollars, rescue the post office and a ton of jobs there, become really convenient for people, and a new revenue stream.

 

Last year (2016) there were 430 million fewer lunchtime restaurant visits in the U.S. It has to be true in Canada, too, judging by the vast number of lunch ads from Boston Pizza to Subway, Tim’s and others. That’s a lot less eating out, or is it? Are we still buying at the lunch places but having desktop meals? That’s the slang for eating at your desk.

If you’re someone who has cut down, what I want to know is whether that money is getting saved, used to pay down bills, or just leaking out into some other “mystery” spending the rest of the week, in whatever, instead of food at lunch. Just because we eat out less, doesn’t mean we’re actually saving anything…