izzi81

This is one thing I do miss about the UK. When in Scotland I shopped online all the time, often got items the next day, it felt like anything I was looking for I was able to buy without waiting too long or paying too much (I'm a crafter so I'm always looking for new odd craft supplies). Here it's a very different story :-( Much harder to find things, shipping is often the same price or more than the item itself, and it can take weeks to get here. Unfortunately the lack of patience I developed using the UK system is not a good thing to have here!

caretaker

I began shopping online about 14 years ago for fishing tackle that wasn't available where I live but now that I have enough for the rest of my life (ie:too much) it's just occasionally. Decidedly less with the .80 loonie but some odd little items still are worth buying. Buying from England gave me a lot of respect for the Royal Mail.

scrubbedexpat091

I need to order a small test kit for an aquarium, 1 little vial and very light, can't get fish stuff locally for the most part. Was going to order online, but shipping was the same price as the item, and so not going to pay 30 dollars for a 15 dollar item, so going to wait until we are in Vancouver next time.

Canada Post sure knows how to kill online shopping.

They can't even forward mail right and considering they charge 50 dollars for the service, its a tad annoying the mail isn't being forwarded, they refuse to do much other then say, oops. The credit card company reversed the charge, if they can't manage to actually forward the mail, I am not paying for it.

The guy who moved into our old place was our old neighbor from below, so he brings anything we get over, but I think we changed everything over now.

How they screw up mail forwarding, I haven't a clue, but they really manage to not provide a good reliable service, and now they won't even deliver packages to the door, so no point in ordering online if I still have to go and pick it up.

foreigngirl

Money Saving Expert - I used to be addicted to the 'shopping codes' section, and consequently, online shopping. I shopped online ALL.THE.TIME. I hate crowds, so I rarely went to 'real' shops. But that was in the UK. In Canada, it's a whole different story. The shipping charges are crazy. Delivery times even crazier. And even though I write the buzzer number in two different places in the address, there's always a slip on the door 'Need buzzer number', so I have to go and collect the packages somewhere.

I do, though, shop from time to time for baby clothes on Gap and Old Navy sites. Less often Amazon. And I recently bought some blackout curtains on Sears.ca, but the wait was 4 weeks, so I doubt I'll ever shop there again.

scrubbedexpat091

If it's Canada Post delivering and leaving the notices it doesn't matter if there is a buzzer number, they have basically stopped delivering packages. I get the notes saying nobody home when somebody was home all day, and when the guy comes from Canada Post, he goes right to the mail boxes and puts in the notices, doesn't even attempt to deliver them, and not even sure if he actually has the parcels with him..

Canada Post is basically the most useless postal system in the modern world.

BristolUK

That was very common in the UK too. It used to irritate the hell out of me when I was working Mon-Fri and Saturday would be the day the card arrived leaving me no time to arrange a Saturday delivery or even going to get it that day.
I would have paid extra for a "prefer Saturday" service which I don't see as any more problematic than a forwarding of mail service.

But - as per the walmart grocery delivery thread - if the cost is paid by someone else or is free (or cheap) to you, might it still be worth it to collect it? Assuming you can do so conveniently.

If I miss my free delivery next week - and I'm perfectly happy with Canada Post service here at the moment - it's only a 10 minute walk. And it's in the Shoppers DM that we use regularly anyway.

scrubbedexpat091

I don't think I can ever say I like Canada Post...lol... They can't even get mail forwarding right and they charge 50+ dollars for it.... The bank reversed the charge, I am not paying for it if they can't provide it.

I try and only order from places that use Fedex or UPS, Canada Post and their Shoppers outlet are horrible, it can take Shopper's 2 days to have a parcel ready even though the slip always says available same day after 6p.

Aviator

Get your vendor to put signature required on the package and they have to deliver it then. No home delivery soon anyway, then we'll all have to go to a community mail box.

We stopped using Canada Post as much as possible, we e-mail our customers where possible and have direct deposit arrangements for them to pay us.

UPS are not a lot better, they misplaced a 2000lb pallet last week. Delivery schedule showed it was out for delivery - 3 days later no show. I am surprised they had not missed the truck and driver!

scrubbedexpat091

I am not sure how the mail thing is going to work for apartments, wonder if they are going to add community boxes outside on a corner or just keep coming to the buildings and using the boxes already installed.

We are one of the few residential area's in town that even gets home delivery, almost everyone in Squamish has to use a PO Box and go to the post office as they have never had home delivery.

Fedex is my usual preference, haven't had an issue with them, but haven't had an issue with UPS either, only 2 that have given me consistent issues is Canada Post and their Purloator division.

But at the end of the day, the scanning is only as good as the person scanning it and loading the truck.

nldfc

Got a dozen chicken and mushroom pot noodles coming from amazon for 25 bucks and change with free shipping

sharkus

It'll stay the same. The following is taken from here: https://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/a...xecution=e13s1

Will your mail delivery change?
Seniors’ residences, apartments or condos where mail is delivered to the lobby; and rural customers with a mailbox at the end of their driveway:
No change

MrHyperPants

Use to all the time in the UK. Only thing I seem to buy is the odd bit of clothing from superdry in the UK which has free postage to canada and pays import charges. Arrives in 5 days, also cheaper then buying it here in canada

BristolUK

Gozit

I hate Canada post. 2 weeks to get something from Richmond Hill to Saint Thomas... Charged $20 for shipping on a $40 item to boot. All the stores in my area that would sell the item have closed down so I was left with no choice... Ridiculous. Ordered an item from Amazon UK to shipped to Malta on a Tuesday, it went via air mail and arrived on the Friday. I agree online shopping in Europe is much more polished than here.

Siouxie

I ordered several items from Amazon.com and from Amazon.ca within the same hour on 27th November - the items ordered from the US were here last Wednesday morning. Some of the items ordered from Canada were supposed to be here by last Thursday but they have sat at Mississauga for the past 5 days. Another item ordered on the same day hasn't even been dispatched yet. I contacted Amazon.ca last night and they have changed the shipping to expedited on that item but still can't give me a date of dispatch, which is really annoying.

The customer service agent admitted things were a mess right now, sigh.