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Canada Post Question


nolan.mcintyre

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While it's not a deal, I didn't know where I should put this, so my apologies in advance. 

Does anybody know if we can sign up for a Canada Post Small Business card without encountering any issues? I know someone who has one and they've let me use it a few times and I'd love to keep getting that discount. I don't ship a ton of stuff, but what I do ship is pretty large. I'm not registered as a business or small business and don't want to run into any legal issues here.

Thanks for any insight

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29 minutes ago, Sandwraithx157 said:

You do not need to be a registered business for the Ventureone program no. At least you don't to sign up, but maybe they intend you to actually be, but i've never had any issues and i don't have an official business or anything.

Correct. When applying under business name just use your own name and home address.

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I'll also chip in though, using your VentureOne at the counter is great for some discount, but if you're selling on ebay, and have a printer, you can get an additional discount on top of the VentureOne for printing your own label (on a piece of paper and taping it to the box). 

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They changed the name from "VentureOne" to "Canada Post Solutions For Small Business"  (canadapost.ca/smallbusiness) a while ago, unfortunately they made it terribly confusing & also removed many of the features that were the most useful, all the Free supplies they would mail right to your door next-day with no shipping costs such as mailers, plastic pouches, labels (full sheets of 8x10 sticky back printer paper), fragile stickers, envelopes etc.  At least you can still get some useful more common plastic pouches (packing slip pouches) & stickers free but some you now have to pay for, even the ebay envelopes now have a cost & the bubblemailers that were .08 are 1.00 each - yikes!

https://www.canadapost.ca/shop/commercial-supplies/labels-and-forms/pouches.jsf

Still when shipping packages that don't fit the limitations with PayPal shipping (such as maximum insurance, size levels etc) it does have its uses & is still free to sign up.

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  • 5 months later...
29 minutes ago, seapotato said:

I'm not sure about express lettermail but you can definitely fit minifigs into a padded envelope and mail for $1.80.

That was the original plan, but the buyer requests express mail because he is worried about delays in shipping due to the ongoing labor dispute at Canada Post.

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Honestly the buyer doesn't need to worry at this point. It will be a couple extra weeks before anything happens - nobody wants to be the bad guy who denied the 30 extra days.

The danger of any letter mail is having a clerk complain it doesn't fit. Paying for express letter mail leaves you open to having it bumped... And they are within their rights. Technically we should not be sending Lego of any kind via letter (it's not a letter is it :)) and Canada Post can refuse to deliver it.

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10 hours ago, gregpj said:

The danger of any letter mail is having a clerk complain it doesn't fit.

Just my 2c for avoiding this from happening:

I think there may be some way to get your hands on one of the measure tools they have at the office, but it's pretty simple to create a makeshift one at home to check your lettermail pouches before taking them in. Find some heavy boxboard or seal two layers of normal cardboard back to back with glue (prolongs future use by making it sturdy). Draw a box 1.9cm (<--gives yourself a margin of error) x 30cm. Very precisely cut out the box with your box cutter. Check packet. I've discovered with a little bit of creative packing of baggies, you can ship small sets this way too, providing they don't have any large parts. $2 shipping is very attractive to buyers! :)

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Just my 2c for avoiding this from happening:

I think there may be some way to get your hands on one of the measure tools they have at the office, but it's pretty simple to create a makeshift one at home to check your lettermail pouches before taking them in. Find some heavy boxboard or seal two layers of normal cardboard back to back with glue (prolongs future use by making it sturdy). Draw a box 1.9cm (


That's a good idea, but like I said.. They do not have to accept or deliver letter mail with Lego in it. In my experience they will always deliver once it's in the system, they just might not always accept at the post office... But being nice and getting to know your clerk solves that problem too.
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2 hours ago, gregpj said:

That's a good idea, but like I said.. They do not have to accept or deliver letter mail with Lego in it. In my experience they will always deliver once it's in the system, they just might not always accept at the post office... But being nice and getting to know your clerk solves that problem too.

 

As far as I know, Canada Post really doesn't care what's in the bubble mailer as long as it's under 20mm thick.

I always drop them in a street letter box anyway, I only go to the postal counter for larger boxes.

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As far as I know, Canada Post really doesn't care what's in the bubble mailer as long as it's under 20mm thick.

I always drop them in a street letter box anyway, I only go to the postal counter for larger boxes.



They have a set of rules I dug out before... I'll have to find them again. Lego is definitely grey area at best! :)
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Unless there is a different list somewhere. The only limitations for Lettermail (besides dangerous goods, etc) are for Standard Lettermail, the non-standard/oversized don't seem to have these limitations.

I know that Lettermail to the US and International can only contain paper.

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGletterml-e.asp

2

Unacceptable Items

  to top of page

The following items cannot be mailed as Standard Lettermail:

  • bottle caps
  • loose coins*
  • food stuffs
  • glass
  • jewellery
  • keys
  • liquids
  • pencils
  • pens
  • powders
  • seeds
  • anything fragile or perishable
  • anything that may soil or harm other mail, postal equipment, or can cause injuries to persons handling them.

The above items may only be mailed as Other (Non-standard and Oversize) and the applicable price shall be charged.

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Unless there is a different list somewhere. The only limitations for Lettermail (besides dangerous goods, etc) are for Standard Lettermail, the non-standard/oversized don't seem to have these limitations.

I know that Lettermail to the US and International can only contain paper.

https://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGletterml-e.asp

2

blue-back-bullet-up.gif

*

  • food stuffs
  • glass
  • jewellery
  • keys
  • liquids
  • pencils
  • pens
  • powders
  • seeds
  • anything fragile or perishable
  • anything that may soil or harm other mail, postal equipment, or can cause injuries to persons handling them.
  • The above items may only be mailed as Other (Non-standard and Oversize) and the applicable price shall be charged.



    Right and sticking $2 worth of stamps on a bubble mailer full of Lego violates these conditions.
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    • 4 months later...

    Thought I'd reboot this thread rather than start another...

    Can anyone help me in creating a shipping label for an Expedited Parcel using my Small Business membership, without a sale having taken place?

    I need to ship a set to my uncle back east. I found their Ship-in-a-click tool, but it doesn't allow for the small business discount, or the option to choose Expedited. There must be a way using one of their other shipping tools like EST Online.... but I can't navigate their site for the life of me, and seem to keep going round in circles never actually finding the tool. Anyone able to give me some guidance here? 

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    2 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

    Thought I'd reboot this thread rather than start another...

    Can anyone help me in creating a shipping label for an Expedited Parcel using my Small Business membership, without a sale having taken place?

    I need to ship a set to my uncle back east. I found their Ship-in-a-click tool, but it doesn't allow for the small business discount, or the option to choose Expedited. There must be a way using one of their other shipping tools like EST Online.... but I can't navigate their site for the life of me, and seem to keep going round in circles never actually finding the tool. Anyone able to give me some guidance here? 

    I have never been successful on their site to ship anything. I had the same problems as you - felt like i kept going around in circles and never could actually print/pay for the label with the discount. However i don't actually need to use their services as i only make labels through sales via ebay. Sometimes when i ship stuff to say fellow BPers i just take my card in to the post office and they scan it and it applies the discount.

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    11 hours ago, Zelgazra said:

    Thought I'd reboot this thread rather than start another...

    Can anyone help me in creating a shipping label for an Expedited Parcel using my Small Business membership, without a sale having taken place?

    I need to ship a set to my uncle back east. I found their Ship-in-a-click tool, but it doesn't allow for the small business discount, or the option to choose Expedited. There must be a way using one of their other shipping tools like EST Online.... but I can't navigate their site for the life of me, and seem to keep going round in circles never actually finding the tool. Anyone able to give me some guidance here? 

    Gee, It's changed allot since it was "VentureOne", then "Solutions for Small Business" now it's "SSO-Epost"

    https://sso.epost.ca/sso/lfe/ui/login

    Just create an account if you haven't already (your old V1 account will still work if you had one, at least mine did) this gives you your customer number for the 10% discount.

    Tutorials are available at:  https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/kb/details.page?article=print_shipping_label&cattype=kb&cat=sending&subcat=generalinformation

    Hit the Go To EST Online

    select your Shipping-location and away you go, from there it's pretty much the same as before (as long as you are logged in with your account you should get the discounts automatically)  They used to send you a plastic card with your account info (customer number) on it, don't know if they do they anymore, but you can access your profile information from the top menus anyway.

    Just remember now you have to enter all the detail specifics rather than leaving them blank including contact/phone number, HS code (Lego is 9503.50), etc. etc. etc.   it will tell you what info is missing before it lets you get to the summary page, just use the back button to fill it in and try again.

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    I knew I had done it once before. Before seeing your post I tried searching fresh after a coffee. Within a couple of minutes I landed on the page. 

    https://est.canadapost.ca/esto/app/shipment/domestic is the quick link direct to the shipping tool. If you're not already logged in, that link will prompt you and then proceed to the form to fill out. Expedited is an option of course. :) 

    Noting that last line there.... I did nothing of the sort, just my weight and dimensions, and it printed like every other paypal generated label prints. Looks identical. 

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