Canadians - How Do You Ship Your Cards?

[Betmey]

I had a nice order of 10 cards from a very dear lady. When I went to mail them today, I was shocked at how much it cost to send them by Canada Post.
Can anyone else tell me - how you ship your card orders ---- do you use Canada Post or is there a cheaper way to ship them?
I would really appreciate any input.
Thank you.

[stampinjewelsd]

I ship them with Canada Post. It can be very expensive! I actually find that it can be more expensive to ship within Canada than it is to ship to the US! Crazy!!!

I don't know of a cheaper way to ship things. UPS and Fed Ex are all more expensive.

[stamp luvr]

We use Canpar to ship parcels to our kids. We find them more reasonable than Cda Post and they get them there in 2 days.

[craftygirl04]

Sent my son one card, albeit Priority post so he would get it faster....$10.00 with Canada Post.

[Asingh]

Canada Post is expensive! but as stated above, UPS & Fedex are more.

[Lorri.V.]

There is express mail that is a stronger cardboard flat box. You can get 12 cards into it and it is around 10.00, but your delivery is 3 - 4 business days. I Often mail cards to friends as little gifts over the year and find that this is the best way to do it. Yes we pay very high postage in Canada and sometimes it is hit or miss with delivery for regular mail.

Lorri

[Sorosie]

You can ship it regular mail as long as it's thinner and goes through the slot

So it might be more cost effective to split up that package - into 2 or even 3 smaller envelopes- the send it as one big envie.

But thanks for the CAnpar tip. I'll be checking that out

[Betmey]

Ladies - thank you for confirming that Canada Post can be expensive. We do have Canpar at work, so next time I am going to see what it would cost through them. I should have thought of that route before sending by Canada Post.

[lindagrace]

With Canada post the issue is thickness. Keep the thickness under 20mm to keep the other lettermail rate. The envelope can be quite big 380mm x 270 mm.
I use a large envelope and then layer the cards in bags taped together, so they don't shift. I also bought a scale so I don't go over weight by even 1 gram, because they will charge you the next pay rate for a couple of grams. I picked up a postal prices brochure and use it everytime I need to send a package
For single cards the thickness allowed is only 5mm, you have to be very careful about your embellishments, I made a 5mm slot in a piece of plexiglass so I can test my cards before going to the post office. If needed, I can change the embellishment before mailing.
Linda

[Jennifer R]

This week I mailed a parcel to the U.S. (small 9" pizza box) and it cost me $22!!

If I drove to Buffalo NY and then mailed it the exact same parcel would cost me around $4.

So yeah, Canada Post is a total rip off. I'm lucky that I live about 1 hour from the States so if I'm planning a trip and have stuff to ship I just do it from the U.S. side to save money.

[lharnish]

I've found the same thing. When I'm looking for "new to me" stamps on the BST board, I often have to decline Canadian offers because of the postage. The last set I bought, the Canadian seller wanted $18 for it and it was going to be $10 or $11 to send it to me in Nova Scotia. Another seller in the US sold it to me for $12 and the shipping from the US to Canada was $6. I wish NS was closer than a 6-hour drive to the border :-) Or, maybe I need to find a job in Woodstock or St. Stephen, NB. Just let me be a border crossing guard for a day and all the Canadians would be coming back tax-free LOL!