Shipping 1 chip Can to US $7??? (1 Viewer)

[GenghisKhan]

So I used to ship single chips to the US in bubble mailers taped between 2 pieces of cardboard and this would 100% of the time cost me $2.50 cad at both our local post offices.

I would tell them up front it was poker chips and show them. I never sealed my envelopes prior to showing them it was chips. So the postman (woman) always knew it was chips.

Now today same postwoman I've always dealt with wanted to charge me $7 and said only thing cheapet is letter mail and chips aren't letters. She now has no recollection of ever charging me $2.50 for shipping the exact same padded envelope with same weight etc. "No that never happened".

Wtf? How do other Canadians ship singles to the US? I used to put like 6 chips and it would STILL only be $2.50. At $7 I might as well pull all my singles ads off eBay and sell in 1 lot. Next she'll charge me $100 to ship a sfrb.

Can you tell I'm pissed? I sold 2 single chips that need to go to the US and what I charged ($2.50) only covers shipping. Chip is free at this price.:

 

[btbmason]

I just went through this from the other side too, sending from US to Canada.

A very small bubble mailer with 1 chip taped between 2 pieces of cardboard was $9.50.

I was able to send the same chip with the same cardboard in a normal white envelope for $2.29. It was classified as a "large envelope" in the white envelope and in the bubble mailer they would only mark it as a parcel.

 

[manamongkids]

@Quicksilver-75 i believe has been successful in shipping cheaply from canada

 

[WedgeRock]

Border crossing services available. PM me.

 

[moose]

Light packet a few years ago was $2.65, now it is $6.84! (up to 200g). You can get a small discount if you sign up for the Solutions for Small Businesses.

https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/pages/smallbusiness/default.page

 

[moose]

I just went through this from the other side too, sending from US to Canada.

A very small bubble mailer with 1 chip taped between 2 pieces of cardboard was $9.50.

I was able to send the same chip with the same cardboard in a normal white envelope for $2.29. It was classified as a "large envelope" in the white envelope and in the bubble mailer they would only mark it as a parcel.

Ask for first class mail international and ship it by weight. If your package was smaller than below, then USPS was classifying it incorrectly as a package.

Must be rectangular, flexible, and uniformly thick to qualify for flat pricing.

Large envelopes that exceed size requirements will be charged the applicable First-Class Package International Service® (small packet) price.


Size Requirements:

• Height: 12" max.
• Length: 15" max.
• Thickness: 3/4" max.
• Max. Weight: 4 lbs.

Canada is Category 1, so you were clearly being charged for a package.

 

[Quicksilver-75]

You can also ship up to 8 Chips via a small padded envelope for the price of a postage stamp. But it is risky because there is no tracking and possible damage.It has to be under 100 grams and tell them it's paper wedding samples.

 

[GenghisKhan]

I used to fit close to 8 in padded envelope for that old $2.50 price. Must be like moose says, they tripled the price. Pretty sure I was still doing this last year.

You can also ship up to 8 Chips via a small padded envelope for the price of a postage stamp. But it is risky because there is no tracking and possible damage.It has to be under 100 grams.

I never got any tracking info the old way anyways. Pm coming.

 

[moose]

That's not exactly right according to Canada Post but $2.95 for oversize is a lot cheaper. I'm going to try this route next time. I have a feeling they will say it can't be used for anything other than paper.

 

[moose]

Yeah, as I thought. You stick a standard stamp on it and you run the risk of it being returned for insufficient postage.

Letter-post items are composed of paper or other material with the general characteristics of paper (e.g., tickets, photographs, etc.). These items must meet the requirements for Letter-post, including size and weight.

Letter-post must be posted in Canada for delivery outside of Canada. Letter-post items can include:

• letters
• self-mailers
• cards
• postcards
• other paper that meet these specifications which the Customer chooses to deposit.

The following items may not be sent as Letter-post (U.S.A. and International):

• small packets
• goods
• film, audio or video recording (diskettes, CD, DVD)

 

[GenghisKhan]

Moose, that's what the postwoman talked to me about today. She said that was cheapest option but only for paper items, not chips.
She said maybe another postal worker was letting me use it for chips knowingly and should not have.

She said a hockey card would pass. So I just thought: dig out worthless hockey card (have some somewhere), place in hard plastic card sleeve (also have some), and then stick the chip inside the sleeve too behind the card. Do they scan these at the border to make sure only paper is inside?

 

[GenghisKhan]

Ok, went to post office #2. Asked cheapest for this package, said like $6. When I told her it used to be 2 something, she said we can ship it letter oversize US for $2.95.

She said she did not care if I wanted to send it that way and the worst that can happen is they ship it back to you free of charge and say insufficient postage. I even have "small packet" stickers on the envelopes clearly stating it's poker chips. She said it will probably work.

Next time she said dont use the small packet stickers post office #1 gave me.

 

[WedgeRock]

So your small package was the problem the whole time...

 

[leebert123]

I just shipped within Canada but went to Canada Post directly, shipping dealer buttons. After I bought the smallest bubble mailers she brought out a plastic piece to show me how to calculate the proper postage. Weight is one thing up to 30g and then up to 100g. The other thing is the plastic piece had two slots.

The most narrow one was for a thick envelope at most. She told me if it didn't fit through there it was a different rate. We tried the chips they didn't fit. Then she slid them through the second hole. Said if it was any bigger than that it wouldn't classify as paper mail anymore.

It's likely some combination of the same shipping to the USA. Mine shipped fine as paper mail on the higher rate fyi.

 

[CHP TD]

geez thats cheap

try living here

 

[GenghisKhan]

geez thats cheap

try living here

Sorry for being insensitive bud.
My rant must seem like gloating to you.