Canada Post hurts business
Online sellers must pay 50 to 100 per cent more than in U. S. to ship goods
I live in Quesnel. To get a good shipping rate I could travel seven hours to Sumas, U. S., ship my 20 kg package destined for Greece with the United States Postal Service, and drive back seven hours. After the gas cost of $ 70.00, I would still come out ahead by $ 15.40 compared to sending the package via Canada Post — that’s $ 353.79 to ship via Canada Post Air for seven businessday service, vs. $ 268.37 for a three- day- service provided by USPS. Another example: a 20 kg shipment to England shipped via Canada Post Air ( Xpresspost) will cost $ 353.79, while USPS is charging $ 166.02 for the same five- day service — more than double the cost.
I have an online business ( www. fine- woods. com) and ship wood products worldwide regularly. These are heavy products and my international customers get turned off by these outlandish shipping charges. Since the same woods are found in the U. S., U. S. sellers have the upper hand and will get most of my international sales. The same is true for most every product so how can Canadian online sellers compete with U. S. sellers when our transactions include a shipping charge that is usually 50 to 100 per cent more expensive?
More than half of my international buyers are choosing to consolidate their shipments in the U. S. and have the orders shipped via USPS. Even with the extra shipping cost through the U. S., they are still saving on average $ 50 to $ 100 per shipment.
My case is not an exception. Anyone who has purchased an item in Canada from eBay or Amazon will find better shipping costs posted by most international sellers and will simply bypass Canadian sellers whose shipping costs make the transactions absurdly expensive.
If Canada Post would be more concerned with being competitive rather than seeking short- term cash grab solutions, it would usher in a new era in which Canadian online sellers would be able to compete with international sellers. By lowering the prices and allowing Canadian sellers to become competitive, Canada Post’s profit could grow alongside our online businesses.