Canada Post now charging small packet Canada to USA even for $3.19 oversized in a bubble envelope

[justme007]

I am in Ontario, Canada. Seller of hockey cards for almost 25 years. NEVER have i had an oversized bubble mailer $3.25 cdn Canada to USA ever sent back if it met the oversized dimensions. They now want us CDN sellers to send this as small packet rate, no tracking either. I am so pissed- I called C.P. and lady had no answers. i called my local Shoppers P.O. outlet, where I send my mail and she said they are sending back all mail to USA in a bubble envelope so we can pay the $9.95 cdn to send it as a small packet, even though the dimensions fall under oversized rate. FYI- the cards i sell are cheap, almost always under $10.00 people in US will not pay $10.00 cdn for s/h for one or two cheapy cards; esp. if no tracking. They really do want to put us out of business. I will try to send a card or 2 in a letter envelope, without a hard top loader- and use a thinner/lighter less thick card saver instead, and wrap it in a letter sized plain paper.

[Cunnuc]

It has been like this where I am, 2 hours north of Toronto, for almost 2 years now. Lots of mail would come back and it wasn't worth the risk of poor feedback from poor shipping times(from being shipped twice) or the package coming back and postage was paid for and cannot be refunded.

Basically you cannot send ANYTHING BUT PAPER for those rates, so why would anyone use a bubble-mailer for just paper? So it must be worth money and therefore must be sent as a parcel.

As I've said in previous threads similar to this I have a new shipping method for sending cards $10 or less. I use #6 Manila Envelope (#6 Coin Envelope, it fits $ Bills perfectly) with corrugated foam around the top-loader. I have now sent over 500 packages likes this (probably 150+ to USA) and have had no complaints and a lot of compliments.

I charge $1.50 CAD to Canada and $2.00 CAD to USA for shipping.

Keep in mind, I buy these envelopes from Staples, 250 for about $60 CAD, which is expensive! Also the Top-Loaders cost money but as of right now I have 300+ still so I technically am not paying for them or already have paid something for them when acquired. So at $1.50 and $2.00 I would technically lose money on shipping if I were to buy everything new. The Corrugated foam I get from Staples as well for like $25, 100 sheets can do 5 cards per sheet.

I do this just to move all my low-end cards, otherwise it is impossible and running out of options. Cannot send them to COMC they charge $1.00 USD per card so that's out of the question now.

Yes they are trying to get their money on the sports card industry, just as the government now charges taxes on ebay purchases. It's pathetic and we live in a pathetic country in that regard but that is a whole separate conversation not for here.

[KleverRobot]

I've had this happen to me too over the last couple years, however it seems random. 90% of the time it goes through no problem.

[icefields]

i live in a small town right on the border (i can see the crossing from my backyard)
every single package that i have sent to the states from here has come back
fortunately for me they dont cancel the stamps so i do reuse them.
now i simply cross the border and pay US postage - its cheaper and saves between 1 and 2 weeks on shipping
i dont mean to sound boa™™™™ll, just consider myself lucky

[cjb]

I don't know if my story is related, but about a month ago i tried to mail something to the U.S. They lady behind the counter said if there was plastic in the envelope I would have to fill out a customs slip. Because the card was in a top loader, I had to say yes there was plastic inside the packet
.
When you fill out a customs slip the price of shipping literally triples.

[normopc]

My local post office told me to use cardboard enveloppes (used for photos) and pack the cards within peaces of cardboard inside the envelope. Works for me !