I’d heard stories about excessive postage when using postal outlets but today I’m believing it!
Went to 7-11 postal outlet today to mail a CD to Haida Gwaii. It was in a padded envelope, sold at the post office and made for a CD (8" x 7 “x 1/2”). Clerk took out a measuring tape and said it had to go as a parcel and would cost $9.96 regular mail, nearly $25 express!! I thought “ridiculous” and went across to the post office. Clerk there slipped the envelope through a plastic slot thing and said it was regular mail and sent it off for $2.20.
Not sure how outlets are paid, commission/percentage of sales or what, but this p’d me off! 7-11 may be more convenient for mail if you are there anyway for gas etc. but woudl suggest using the post office for parcels or odd sized envelopes.
I have sent similar items through 7-11 in the past and the clerk has always used
the plastic gauge for width and thickness. However, the postal outlet doesn’t seem to be
a priority with the store. Often I have waited when there was only one clerk on
(that I could see) and there were gas customers and lotto customers and candy
customers lined up at the main counter.
Thanks for passing this information on. It could have been a new clerk that didn’t know the procedures.
In any case it may be worth complain to Canada Post.
[quote=“97 B-LINE”]I have sent similar items through 7-11 in the past and the clerk has always used
the plastic gauge for width and thickness. However, the postal outlet doesn’t seem to be
a priority with the store. Often I have waited when there was only one clerk on
(that I could see) and there were gas customers and lotto customers and candy
customers lined up at the main counter.
Thanks for passing this information on. It could have been a new clerk that didn’t know the procedures.
In any case it may be worth complain to Canada Post.[/quote]
I would think a Canada Post outlet would certainly have the exact same rates. I’m curious now… I’m going to go to Canada Post tomorrow and ask…
Nothing against the 7-11 outlet per se but one clerk once told me that I couldn’t put stamps on a parcel, that I had to use the metered stamp. I went to Canada Post and sure enough you can put stamps on a parcel. In another community at another store with an outlet (not 7-11) I was given bad advice and when I returned to Rupert, a couple of letters that I had sent were returned to me marked insufficient postage.
I now go exclusively to Canada Post. With my son in Korea, they have been incredibly helpful in showing me how to get the most out of the packages I send.
Just a simple tip. Take the parcel in before wrapping it up. They will tell you the price and whether or not you can add something without moving into the next price range or whether you will save money by removing a light item.
I figure they are specifically trained to do the job. They are not distracted by the other duties like candy and gas. And I have no evidence besides feelings, but with two people usually open, the wait at Canada Post is shorter.
I needed to send a parcel, but before I sent it I needed to know how much it would cost. I was quoted 9 something… Anyway, I sent a message to the recipent to let him know how much the postage was going to be so he could add it onto the amount being sent for the contents. He sent me a cheque. I took the parcel back to 7/11 and guess what - it cost me 11 something. I will also use the Post Office from now on.
I get wanting to get an idea of what the postage will be before you ship, but with respect, did you actually take the package into and say “can you tell me how much this will be?”. Or were you one of those people that – as someone who once worked as a Postie and frequently wanted to strangle these sorts – did the, “Well it’s a package about yay big, roughly so-and-so heavy, and, oh, a postal code? You need a that now? Sigh!!! Oh just use this one. Now how much is it?” 'Cause seriously, if you’re one of those, you’re lucky the clerk didn’t clock you. That is, if you weren’t wanting to know all this over the phone while the clerk had a half dozen people lined up in front of her. If you need a quote, take the package in, in the state it will be mailed out as any additional weight added later may be just enough to dump it into a different weight class, with the correct postal code at the ready and you should get the correct information.
Rates from retail outlets are just the same as mailing from the corporate place up the road. But seriously folks, mistakes happen. I’ve seen plently of errors over the years from my outlet, as well as the corporate place. People mess up. If you think the clerk is making an error, ask if there’s a more senior person about who can check and make sure you’re being charged correctly. In cases as in the original post and the mistake is realized later on, please tell the manager of the office the mistake was made. Complaining to a different postal offices about the other one doesn’t accomplish much other than give the staff fodder for gossip as retail and corporate offices tend not to want to play nicely with each other.
I always liked the 7-11 postal outlet. But it really depended on who was working. For example, not every employee knew about things like “small packet international” and stuff like that. Even if they didn’t know about them, you could always ask them to look up different rates for you.
And I liked the fact that they would go out of their way to find my parcel even when I was there before the time indicated on the card. Instead of just saying “go away, it’s not in the system” they would put in an effort to find it.
I’ve been standing in line behind people who were rude and shitty to the employees, though. And honestly, if you’re going to be an ass, then don’t expect great service. But if you’re decent to them, they’ll go out of their way to help you.
7-11 Postal Outlet is much better than the Shoppers Postal outlet in Terrace, that’s for sure Post office closes at 9pm, so they wait until 8:30 to take a 30 minute break? WTF?
Great service at both the Prince Rupert & Terrace Canada Post offices as well – the preferred place to buy migratory bird licenses. Who knew?
Post office closes at 9pm, so they wait until 8:30 to take a 30 minute break? WTF?