Discussion: Guidelines re Items Being Shipped to Canada

[JohnHwangBT]

The issue is that I cannot get consistent tracking information from the US into Canada - if I could get reliable delivery confirmation tracking like I get in the US, that'd be different. Often, USPS tracking stops at the border, and that's the last one sees of it.

[kturock]

The issue is that I cannot get consistent tracking information from the US into Canada - if I could get reliable delivery confirmation tracking like I get in the US, that'd be different. Often, USPS tracking stops at the border, and that's the last one sees of it.

You can, but it's not cheap. All of the major shippers, USPS, FedEx, UPS; have a premium service with tracking.
USPS has registered mail or Express Mail. I don't know what the services are called for the other two, but I know they're available.

[JohnHwangBT]

OK, that's what I thought.

Thanks!

[HarlequinZero]

So the customs label number doesn't work for tracking inside Canada? I thought you could use that. In Japan that works. As long as the shipper from the US copies down the customs number they can track it via the Japan Postal service's English website. Don't need to buy priority shipping or anything, just a standard first class parcel with the green customs form on it. It all gets scanned into the tracking system here. Canada doesn't have this?

[JohnHwangBT]

No, not consistently.

Since I learned that customs IDs may be trackable, I had one work and the other fail.

[HarlequinZero]

That sucks. Well at least it's one more potential layer of protection. It works 100% of the time here in Japan.

[MaximumTaco]

I know you can just punch any regular tracking code into the Canada Post tracking site. If it's being tracked and on the USPS page it says "Entered Destination Country" or the equivalent, you can just head to the Canadian site (http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/default.jsf), use the same code, and you should be able to view the current details.

I've had pretty good luck with it, no problems so far.

[Ironhide]

First: This whole tracking thing kind of irks me. You are never going to get tracking 100% of the time, and that is with any service. The tracking system is reliant on someone scanning that package when it arrives at a point along the route; if someone forgets to scan it, your package will seem to stop at the last point it was scanned, but still may reach the destination. So tracking really isn't that much of an insurance policy. Getting insurance on a package is the only way to recoup your loss if the package goes MIA.

Second: If tracking is a main issue on not to ship somewhere, I guess that leaves are brethren in the military totally out of luck since you can't track all the way to your destination with them either.

Get over the tracking issue and just insure your packages wherever you send them.

[MagickalMemories]

So as not to distract from the initial post, the commentary on the "Guidelines re Items Being Shipped to Canada" thread have been split off into their own topic. Please, continue to discuss the topic here.

Eric

[JohnHwangBT]

If I'm trading, there are only two points of Tracking information I really care about: Did the other guy actually send, and did the other guy actually receive. The rest is unimportant.

[Norseman]

There is the possibility of tracking for everything to Canada, it is just that it is an entirely different service, and it costs a lot more than it does in the states. The problem most people have is they ask for "delivery confirmation" when they mean "tracking number". We DO NOT have a sign for system ie: Delivery Confirmation, but we do have a tracking number that tells you if it have been delivered.

The greatly varying costs in Canada can be described this way.
This isn't exact but the basics are sound. We have like regions 4-5 Postal Regions in Canada. If you mail within your postal region it is Cheap, really cheap. Better than US prices. If you mail outside your region it is expensive, if you mail 2 regions over you better go sell some blood.
You may ask why is this important to me in the states shipping to Canada. There are 3 entry points for mail into Canada Vancouver BC (West) Toronto (Central) Montreal (East). All the mail from the States goes to the closest entry point in Canada and is delivered from there. Then you apply the first section again. If it's close it's really cheap but if it's far you sir are getting hosed.

[HarlequinZero]

That must just be from the US into Canada. When I ship to Canada from Japan I always pay the same amount. It must be the fact that no matter where the package is going it's already pretty darn far.

[Forsaken Poptart]

So there might be some money in a shipping business that can consistantly and uniformly track mail between the US and Canada... that's interesting. I wonder if FedEx or UPS are watching!

[kturock]

So there might be some money in a shipping business that can consistantly and uniformly track mail between the US and Canada... that's interesting. I wonder if FedEx or UPS are watching!

UMM go check their rates, they already have the service, but it's not cheap.

You can also ship it USPS, with express mail or registered mail. Neither are cheap.

[carmachu]

never mind. didnt read far enough