# Canada Post is horrendous



## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

In the last year or so i've ordered about a dozen things delivered from canada post. Never has the process gone smoothly. I've bought 2 laptops which were to be signed for at the door, left on my front step(im in oshawa so i'm surprised they were still there) 

Had a package that was "delivered" that didn't show up till 3 days later and about a dozen phone calls. 


And today for the wonderful finale, I ordered a batch of food from angelfins, who might I add did everything right. Was supposed to be here tuesday according to canada post. Still not here it's "in transit". It took 26 hours to get from guelph to mississauga, and another 20 plus hours to get to oshawa. Now it's somewhere in the shwa, and supposed to be delivered yesterday so as per usual canada post fails majorly.

Anyone else hate canada post as much as me?


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

I ordered books from Chapters and they were sent by Canada post. I had no issues, they did leave my package at the door (as I live in the basement and was not home at the time to even both to check the mail). That's the only thing I consider irresponsible. They don't know what the package contains however, so you can't really blame to drivers.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Yes I can't stand them. 

Their employees are rude and the service they provide is horrible. 

I had one idiot tell me they don't knock on doors. Really? How should we know you're here. 

Plus their prices are a joke


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

interesting..opposite experience with me, I actually like canada post when I got packages from can post they left a key in my mailbox to open the bigger slot box where the packages are so thats convenience and secure. But when I got packages from UPS and am not home I have to go to nearest UPS store between their work hours of course which I can't get to till the weekend.


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Oh man UPS is just as bad

We really don't have many choices


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## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

I get to the door delivery. So for me there is no excuse for leaving a box unattended, when clearly written on the box it says do not SAFE DROP. which is leaving the item on a door step. Especially when LENOVO is written all over the box.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

lol... Well crap happens... The post office is dumb and that it. I recall my fiance was applying for OSAP and she couldn't send the postage from a Shoppers Drugmart Canada post to the main Canada post location... Instead we had to take the bus down the road (not even 10 minutes down the road none the less) to another shoppers that would send it to the main post office....

If it all gets processed from one area in the end... Then why the hell can't EVERY location send in mail if it does already anyways! -.- stupid postal workers...


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## SmokeSR (Jan 28, 2009)

I'm not a fan of Canada Post but they are by far the best option for me for items coming from the USA. (I request everything to be shipped USPS, which results in Canada Post delivering it). I buy a lot of car parts and have had extremely horrible experiences with FedEx and UPS (like $350 in brokerage and duties for a $250 item...).

I'm never home when the postman comes but they always leave a tag in the mailbox telling me when they were here and to pick up my package from Shoppers, which is right around the corner. Tracking has been dead on every time. This could also be a regional issue - I'm in Thornhill and never experienced an issue with over 50 packages. 

On the contrary, I've been to FexEx three times for the same package, which they supposedly had in the back but couldn't track/find it and told me to come back the next day (30 minute drive each way). Then the next day. Finally on the 3rd day, they found the package and had the nerve to try to charge me a late pickup fee for not getting the package within 24 hours.......


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## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

So i guess we can all agree shipping in general is a pita?


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## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

Spicoli said:


> So i guess we can all agree shipping in general is a pita?


Yup a total PITA


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

SmokeSR said:


> ...*and have had extremely horrible experiences with FedEx and UPS* (like $350 in brokerage and duties for a $250 item...).


+1. Horrible experience with their brokerage fees. Outright robbery.

Paid $30 brokerage (+ HST) on an item I purchased from eBay for $33.

Did I mention the item arrived broken too? 

Canada Post has slightly less outrageous handling fees ($9.95, up from the old $7.95 and the older $4.95). While in general, they are good, they have managed to screw up twice.

One time, I was charged duty + HST for an item marked as gift. I had to file a claim for a refund. They mailed the cheque and then it got lost. When I called to inquire, they had the nerve to try to blame me, saying I forgot to put it down on the claim form (I was looking at a photocopy and offered to fax them my photocopy...). They said (and I quote), "Oh, wait, it's on file! We must have forgotten to put it on the envelope!" 

Canada Post has also been bad with deliveries; I mailed something via Xpresspost and it was 1 business day guaranteed. Took 3 business days (Toronto to Ottawa). Had to apply for a refund and again, but at least this time the cheque didn't get lost


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## CanadaPleco (Sep 7, 2009)

i am at a point where if an online store ships via UPS i wont order from them. CanadaPost is leaps and bounds better then UPS. 

I still prefer fedex, but i live in the middle of nowhere so we get a little different service  I had a driver come to my house once, saw I wasnt there then went down the road a few km to my parents house to see if I was there. AWESOME. Love small towns for stuff like that.


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## df001 (Nov 13, 2007)

A canada post employee told me that if they leave it at the door, tell them it was never received... Prove the signature.

I was blown away by that  Usually they are great, but like any organisation there are always a few bad apples. The worst is trying to get them to cough up the $$ for insured packages that either dont arrive or are broken.


Fedex is evil. When my brother ans i were kids, their local number was 1 digit different than ours, we had the number for 15 years previous to them,and they had the gall to tell us to change our number because their drivers were lazy and writing it by hand such that it looked like ours.

Oddly they went to a 1800 number when their clients started complaining about having called purolator courier, or being told that their package was destroyed, or being told they dont offer guaranteed service anymore.....

*innocent grin*

Kids say the darndest things...


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## WiyRay (Jan 11, 2009)

Jumping on the bandwagon! Sorta... Gonna play devil's advocate just cause its fun!

IMO, it really is just dependent on the individual employees. As the job itself has virtually no "higher ups" to keep an eye on you to ensure proper service, you're left to your own devices as to what you want to do. To add on top of all that, launching a complaint will do you no good as unions these days will back up even the most incompetent of employees to the point of where the company is afraid to look at them the wrong way without getting sued. And honestly, with the way that pay raises are pretty much guaranteed based solely on seniority rather than effort put forth, why bother giving it your all when you gain the exact same for doing less?

The employee shows up in the morning, says hi to someone just to acknowledge that they've shown up for work to ensure their paycheque, grab the daily bag of deliveries, and that's the last anyone will see of him/her until the next day. They are now free to deliver the mail however/whenever they choose. 

Sure, there are probably guidelines and standards that are listed out somewhere that are expected of the employees to adhere to, but honestly, who enforces it if no one is watching?

Now I've heard my share of horror stories and I'm sure you have too. 

1. Packages are not even bothered with because it's too cumbersome or whatever to deal with so the mail-person just writes up a "was not home for delivery" slip and slaps it on the door, dumps the packages at their local branch and let the others deal with it. (regardless of whether someone was home or not)

2. Ding-Dong Ditch (sometimes without the ding-dong) the package because it wastes too much time to wait for someone to answer the door or they don't like that particular person who lives there for reasons unknown.

3. Recycle the mail. Can't seem to deliver it all for the day? Toss it back in the mailbox, deal with it another day. Leave something for last, because that particular house or whatever is far too out of the way, or even just let the mail compound for a week and deliver it all in one chunk. 

I'm sure there is more, but yeah... 

Anyway, here is my somewhat half-assed excuse for an excuse for such things. Just a disclaimer, I'm arguing more for the "decent" employees where you get the occasional blunder or so. If you're getting consistent unsatisfactorily crappy service... well then... your mail-person is a lazy jerk who should get fired. 

It's all about a balance between efficiency and laziness, and this applies to people in the workplace in general. Sure, we would love to be able give 110% but who can honestly say they can do that every single day without being burnt out? C'mon we all have our lazy days, don't deny it. 

1. It could be a high season. Christmas is really the only example you can get the majority of people to sympathize with. Your job isn't done at 5pm like the rest of us, your job is (technically) done when it is DONE. And there are days where your workload is far greater than you can handle, so sure, maybe some of it will have to carry over to the next day. 

2. You gotta sort the mail out yourself. Sure, the mail may have already been sorted to your specific route, but that doesn't mean it is already sorted out for each individual house in a precise manner that allows you to just pull something out, drop it off in the appropriate manner, and the next piece you pull out will be for the house next door. No... you pretty much get a giant garbage bag(s) of randomly mixed mail. You have to go through and arrange them so that you don't have to come back to the same house. Don't forget about junk mail, that crap has to be delivered too... So for people who may get an average of 10+ pieces of mail a day, you don't want to come back to the same house 10+ times. You're also not going to drag that giant bag around and sort them out infront of the house. Imagine trying to do that in today's -15 weather! So in essence, you gotta have a game plan before leaving for your route. 

3. Don't forget that your house isn't the only house. Routes could have 100's of houses, and not only on just one street/neighbourhood. There is A LOT of travel time involved. Delivering to individual houses is tedious, that's why most neighbourhoods now contain that communal mailbox thingy, I don't know what its called. Can you tell that I don't have one? 

4. Corners WILL be cut. This goes out to all those people who hate the mail-people for walking on their lawns. If we really took the time to walk up your driveway, knock on the door, wait for someone to answer the door, say hi and maybe even get stuck with idle chit-chat, deliver said item, and walk all the way back down the driveway to walk next door, walk back up the driveway... etc. How long would that have taken for you to deliver 1 out of X number of houses? There will not be enough hours in the day for you for sure. 

5. You instinctively look for the address. With so many addresses to go through, you need to do this quick and there will be times where you missed looking at something else that was labelled on the envelope/package, especially if it doesn't stand out, or was labelled on a side of the box that's not on the same side as the address. 

6. Don't forget that this is an "unperfect" system. Don't just think about travel time between your current location to the destination. This reminds me of a time where I saw an old lady tear the head off a Canada Post employee saying it's absolutely ridiculous that a single letter could take 2-3 days to deliver to a house that's a 20 minute drive away. Let's look at the adventures of a single piece of mail shall we? First, the piece of mail must be dropped off a location such as Shoppers. Don't forget that the cut-off time is arbitrarily set at 5pm, the time when the mail is picked up from the branch. So let's say that you dropped off your letter too late and the mail has already been taken, your letter will have to wait till the next day (1 day). Next day, the mail is now picked up and delivered to the nearest sorting office to be sorted so that they know where it must be delivered to, then deliver it to the nearest branch to your destination to be sorted out again for the employees individual routes (at least 1 more day, totalling 2), and now on day 3 is when your mail-person receives the bag to go out and deliver it to you. If you haven't noticed already, this example doesn't make sense as it appears to require a minimum of 3 days to deliver mail... when I know for a fact that I've received letters the next day. HOW DO THEY DO IT?!

I could keep going on forever... but I'm tired now. So... Happy reading! 

Disclaimer: Oh, and this is all more or less glossed over speculation. Don't kill me for getting something wrong! Please?


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## rburns24 (Jan 31, 2011)

I must be very lucky then, because I've ordered a lot of stuff from goreef and never have any issues. Same with MOPS and J&L Aquatics. The only US place I order from is BRS, so that's never a problem.


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

I hate Canada post. 

When I was building my car, $1000 turbo was left at my front door, and I lived on a busy Main Street, ( directly on Sheppard ave) anyone who would be into cars would have known what's in the box with big letters "garrette" and a big ass turbo printed on the side. Same deal for waste gates ($500). 

Big ass shipment from go reef? I never knew it took 1.5 weeks to deliver a package from Quebec, I can drive there myself faster. Then they drop it at the door, ring the door bell and RUN away. I saw the guy hauling ass away like he had a kilo of coke and cops were after him! 

Prior to moving to my current house I was in a condo and packages were left with the concierge but of course canada post always missed the delivery by at least a day.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

always ask shipper to sent as "signature on delivery". In this case they will not leave expensive package on the porch

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## cliff (Aug 30, 2010)

sig said:


> always ask shipper to sent as "signature on delivery". In this case they will not leave expensive package on the porch


It`s still up to the driver, I`ve had all of them - UPS, fedex, purolator, canada post - leave the package at the door, when the signature is required.

IMO they are taking their chances if the package happens to disappear (although that can`t happen very often, or they would stop doing it).


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## Spicoli (Dec 11, 2012)

Redemption somewhat today. 

Package sent yesterday, got to my house at noon today. So i guess canada post isn't always too bad.


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