If you’re shipping a bunch of boxes with Christmas presents, just a reminder of a story from some years ago: You’re going to want to check rates with netparcel.com
Just search my previous stories on the how/what/why. Suffice it to say their rates will almost always be significantly lower than the post office! Here’s one of my shipments from today. It’s a 5 pound 10x8x6 inch box.
Yes, 8 different courier options that are all less expensive than Canada Post! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather pay $13 than $23…and strange but true: Canada Post owns Purolator. Their own courier at around 60% of what the mailing rate would be…
AC refunds are here: As predicted, Air Canada will now fully reimburse your non-refundable flights in order to get the federal government bailout this week. Any tickets bought since February 1st, 2020 where you cancelled the flight because of the pandemic, or the flight was cancelled by Air Canada, are eligible. Just go to aircanada.com and follow the big link section at the top of the home page. You have until June 12th to do so. They are also offering a voucher, but that will not make you a free agent – take the money back on your credit card! Westjet will follow soon if and when they agree to their bailout plan.
Cell rates: In response to Shaw entering the cell carrier market with their almost unlimited $25 plan if you are a Shaw customer, most other cell carriers have now dropped their rates. If you’re a free agent, make the call and simply tell them that you’re shopping around for a reduced monthly plan. If you’re not a free agent and locked in a contract – bad idea – and you’ll need to keep overpaying. If you deal with the big 3 of Rodgers, Telus or Bell you’ll likely also be out of luck. The main carriers (unlike their secondary providers) have a majority of customers and business clients that are not price sensitive).
My call was to FIDO (the secondary outlet of Rogers) and my plan went up 20 fold in data (2gig per month), added unlimited Canada-wide calling and free, full North America wide texting. and went from $45 down to $35! A $120 savings (23%) a year for a five-minute hassle-free call! PS: With Rodgers buying Shaw, the rate drops will likely stop in a year when the government approves the sale – and they will. Until then, enjoy the lower rates because of the competition in the industry!
Netparcel.com update: Wow! We talked about this Canada Post parcel alternative a few weeks ago and a bunch of people have already tried it. I hadn’t when we talked about it – but did use it for the first time last week. It was a 28 pound parcel Edmonton to Kelowna. The site is super easy: Do the quote, set up an account, and a bunch of courier offers pop up. Mine was $18 from UPS. Enter the details and print the label I print my labels on normal paper and then tape it onto the parcel. The site, based on your postal code, then pulls up the closest 10 drop off depots or stores for you. Even with my Canpar Courier national book sellers association rates it was almost half the price!
(Note that it’ll be a different courier and different rate each time, even for the same parcel size and weight. This is dynamic pricing so you’ll get a different rate from different couriers depending on whether they want the business that day or that hour, how busy they are, where you’re shipping from and to, etc., based on supply and demand!!)
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
