GCU Forum - Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Canada

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Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Canada
Oct 26^th, 2009, 6:29am

Going back to my note of August 8th with regard to your bulk postage charges to Canads. This is a subject that is really ruining my relationship with you, otherwise everything would be perfect. When is this subject going to be looked in to?
DO YOU KNOW that a friend of mine ordered 200 Christmas cards from you and you charged him $112.30US to mail them from California to BC Canada. Come on people, this is ridiculous, we live in North America not Australia.... WE ARE NOT INTERNATIONAL. It wouldn't even cost that to send them to Australia. GIVE THE MAN A REFUND. No doubt you must realise that he will never buy from you again. It would have been cheaper for him to go into any shop and purchase the cards, or even have each one mailed out by you... because he still has to pay postage to mail them to where they have to go.
I plan to warn all my customers to phone you and find out what you plan to charge for postage BEFORE they even take the time to put the order in. What a waste of time that is if you are only going to find that you are being gouged for the shipping and mailing costs at the finish.
I cannot even afford to buy my own card in bulk so I can sell them here, after adding on the huge shipping costs I would have to charge too much for each card for the whole thing to make any sense. SO, what do I have to do? I have to have them printed here and cut and fold them all myself for my own sales. When I do want to purchase a card from you for somebody else, I send it to myself and have envelopes here to send it on it's way.
I am ashamed to recommend you to my Canadian friends, not for the quality of the cards because that could not be better, but for the price gouging when it comes to bulk purchases. We are your neighbours to the north, not aliens or folks who live on the other side of the world. Please look into this as fast as possible. Rosemary Lott

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Pamela_135500 Gold Member artist Posts: 1945	Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana Reply #1 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 6:47am Wow Rosemary I cannot believe that rate for shipping! Was that sent via the USPS? That's insane for a bunch of cards There must have been an error Hope they take of that for you and your customer. Pamela
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Steve_134004

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #2 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 6:51am

Rosemary, I don't think it's GCU fault. Shipping costs have gone thru the roof. I can't really afford to send my work to Canada- Sorry, I send my cartoons to publishers up that way. It costs more money to send a postcard there than a letter and even more for a package. I think it has to do with the fact that everyone's doing email etc. and not using stamps/shipping. Maybe FedEx ground or UPS. Or howz about giving the customer a choice of shipping? Maybe they/we already do? I think generally that the cards are heavy and that's where the cost comes in. Anyway that's my two cents.
Cheers,
Steve

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Rosemary_135806

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #3 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 7:01am

Quote from Steve_134004 on Oct 26^th, 2009, 6:51am:

Rosemary, I don't think it's GCU fault. Shipping costs have gone thru the roof. I can't really afford to send my work to Canada- Sorry, I send my cartoons to publishers up that way. It costs more money to send a postcard there than a letter and even more for a package. I think it has to do with the fact that everyone's doing email etc. and not using stamps/shipping. Maybe FedEx ground or UPS. Or howz about giving the customer a choice of shipping? Maybe they/we already do? I think generally that the cards are heavy and that's where the cost comes in. Anyway that's my two cents.
Cheers,
Steve

I know your mail costs have gone up but not that much. I know how much it costs, I have many packages sent up here from the States.... and for 200 cards (how much packing does that take?) Nothing will make me thing that this is fair. Look at it, we are talking 200 cards at a cost of $112.30, that's crazy, it doesn't cost that to get a cheap flight from California to BC, and these cards were not sent by any special kind of mail just the normal thing. Rosemary

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Sally_136467

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #4 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 7:51am

OMG, that is a huge amount of postage. I had to go check myself as I had thought of buying a large amount of my own to on-sell here in Canada.

It looks like your 'customer' chose priority shipping, where basic shipping would have been $40.70.

It took 14 days for my last order (of only 9 cards) to get here so one thing would be to let Canadians know if they choose basic shipping, to allow plenty of time!

Even WITH my discount, my NINE cards ended up costing ME $2.77 canadian EACH including postage. Not really much of a deal embarrassed

The reason I ordered nine was that to get TEN the postage would have been an additional $3.65 for just one more card.

Perhaps we artists could have a bit of a postage discount? Roll Eyes

Having said all that, I do agree that the quality of the cards is impressive !

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Donna_137698

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #5 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 8:36am

I have to agree with the issues of shipping... it's sad but life... my mom retired from 20 years with the Postal Service, and for one, Canada is one of the most difficult countries to deal with... their Customs is truly horrible and costs to ship there are through the roof. Packages take ridiculous amounts of time to get there and never fail to be rifled through. I can tell you a story of shipping a $2 toy horse to a friend and shipped it standard airmail and it was returned to me OPENED and damaged. I fixed it and sent it back - this time PRIORITY MAIL and it cost me $35 for a $2 toy... but I needed something to show that I had indeed shipped it and could at least get a refund if it disappeared. THAT second time it took well over a week to reach her hands... and THAT was 15 years ago... I can't even imagine what shipping costs to Canada are now... let alone the headaches just to get something there. I sadly can see $112 as a reasonable price to ship a box of cards... they are indeed HEAVY once you put them all together and the PO now ships not only by weight but charge for the SHAPE of the box... so it very well could be a correct price.

I'd agree in perhaps setting up a page with shipping estimates - perhaps ballpark what 1-10 cards would cost for each service, 10-50 cards, or 50-100 cards... at least to give folks a chance to get an estimate up front... perhaps a tally of prices for all services and to what country so they are not surprised after placing an order.

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Cynthia_136824

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #6 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 8:47am

Hi,

I did some checking with USPS after I read this complaint this morning.....and unless GCU is using a vendor like Global Express ( 30.00 & up for a 2 lb box to Canada) or something ....it just does NOT cost this much to send cards to Canada! Also, I don't remember getting the choice of priority mail or not when I ordered some of my own cards.
The other thing I noticed on my box of cards I ordered was that GCU uses Endicia.com, a licensed Vendor of the USPS that business's use & pay for on a monthly bases to mail and ship their domestic and international pkgs. For a flat monthly fee a business can do it all online and print their postage label too. All they would have to do is "drop it in the mail".
They are supposed to be the most cost efficient service (with return savings each month) a business can use! So it's hard to believe they would just turn around and use some other vendor for their Internal. mailing....when it is all done thru Endicia.com!
Then GCU uses other factors ( with good intentions, I am sure), that drives up that extra cost...like "Priority Mail" and "Delivery Confirmation"..... ( that's how my little box arrived anyway,) and I didn't choose those options either! They were automatically applied! but, I still don't see how it added up to this much? Not sure if GCU is adding some extra costs of their own on top or what?

I am so sorry to hear that a customer got socked with an amount like this to receive an order! I send and receive pkgs from Canada quite often, and the most I have ever paid was $ 7.00! That was a "WINTER JACKET" in a LG BAG, for my son!

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Rosemary_135806

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #7 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 8:51am

Quote from Donna_137698 on Oct 26^th, 2009, 8:36am:

I have to agree with the issues of shipping... it's sad but life... my mom retired from 20 years with the Postal Service, and for one, Canada is one of the most difficult countries to deal with... their Customs is truly horrible and costs to ship there are through the roof. Packages take ridiculous amounts of time to get there and never fail to be rifled through. I can tell you a story of shipping a $2 toy horse to a friend and shipped it standard airmail and it was returned to me OPENED and damaged. I fixed it and sent it back - this time PRIORITY MAIL and it cost me $35 for a $2 toy... but I needed something to show that I had indeed shipped it and could at least get a refund if it disappeared. THAT second time it took well over a week to reach her hands... and THAT was 15 years ago... I can't even imagine what shipping costs to Canada are now... let alone the headaches just to get something there. I sadly can see $112 as a reasonable price to ship a box of cards... they are indeed HEAVY once you put them all together and the PO now ships not only by weight but charge for the SHAPE of the box... so it very well could be a correct price.

I'd agree in perhaps setting up a page with shipping estimates - perhaps ballpark what 1-10 cards would cost for each service, 10-50 cards, or 50-100 cards... at least to give folks a chance to get an estimate up front... perhaps a tally of prices for all services and to what country so they are not surprised after placing an order.

When GCU awards me a free card I have to pay over $3 shipping, yet if I have them mail that card to me it only costs 75cents to do that and I just provide my own envelope for it. Now tell me that is fair.

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Pamela_135500

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #8 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 8:59am

Hi Sally,
I am not sure that the customer chose priority shipping, undecided

I think that appears to pertain to the US only. Under International it shows 122.30. But this brings up a very good point in that it is not clear. Perhaps the international shipping rate in the info window should be in a separate box from the US rates. (Hope that makes sense-hard to describe)

Anyway, also just want to add when I go to a new site to shop I often look for a link on the home page to see estimates for/and shipping policies, before I go through the whole process of selecting an item. I think it would help if shipping info was made a little more obvious in the promo blurb at the top of the page with a link to only shipping rates (right now it comes up if you click on 'bulk pricing').

Pamela.

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Lisa_131617

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #9 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 11:09am

The friend that Rosemary speaks of may well be a customer of mine (which means our Canadian customers, contacts and friends in common are talking about the gouging ship to Canada rates). I believe this could be an order that I actually placed for my customer which was indeed 200 cards shipped direct to a BC customer and it cost $112.30 to ship and NO, priority shipping was not selected: See the bulk rates under quantity discount ship costs - this IS what GCU is charging to bulk ship 'International' to Canada.
Donna, although all forum feedback is appreciated - at .021 grams per card with envelope plus approximate weight of box to fit 200 cards, the package would be under 5kg. Sorry you had ship problems and costs associated with a $2 toy but that is NOT a Canadian custom's monopoly, there are cases of custom's delays to or from any country and isolated cases have nothing to do with the ship costs being charged by GCU to bulk ship to Canada. I don't know which USPS www you looked the prices up on but I know what I pay for similarly sized packages shipped to Canada from USA and it is no where near $112.30 for a less than 5kg package. Also, USPS has different rate zones for other than USA to USA so WHY is Canada (an adjacent country, also part of North America) charged the full international rate that shipping overseas costs???
For further background, I placed this order on behalf of customer and had shipped direct to them. The card cost was at 1.79 because of quantity which I relayed on (without mark-up) at $358. and as for the ship costs, I deducted my full sale's commission from the $112.30.
$42.96 (12% - $0.21 per card).

Even at that, the ship costs are high for USA to Canada rates for a package that size. My customer knows the ship cost would have been $112.30 and is in protest of such and deducting artist commission on an order is NOT something I will make practice of. I forfeited my commission to accommodate customer in the time frame they wished to receive their cards and alternatively, they would have purchased cards from another source so GCU would have lost the promotion. Last year (and here we are a year later with the same shipping to Canada cost concerns), my custom Christmas card orders & envelopes and cards for my show resales were printed locally at trade prices whereas I would rather have promoted GCU and been convenienced by purchasing the cards from them if it were not for the unaffordable ship costs. I am following up with my customer and have asked them to let me know the actual postage on their box when they receive it. If postage does not show, we'll take weight and measurements of the box and call the carrier for ship quote. I'll let you know when I have the cost and we'll see then if $112.30 is gouging or not.
GCU could address shipping costs by arranging different bulk rates with their mailing house - i.e., one rate for Domestic, one for Canada and one for International. Until then, we ALL lose customers.
Lisa

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Donna_137698

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #10 - Oct 26^th, 2009, 3:09pm

Quote from Lisa_131617 on Oct 26^th, 2009, 11:09am:

Donna, although all forum feedback is appreciated - at .021 grams per card with envelope plus approximate weight of box to fit 200 cards, the package would be under 5kg. Sorry you had ship problems and costs associated with a $2 toy but that is NOT a Canadian custom's monopoly, there are cases of custom's delays to or from any country and isolated cases have nothing to do with the ship costs being charged by GCU to bulk ship to Canada. I don't know which USPS www you looked the prices up on but I know what I pay for similarly sized packages shipped to Canada from USA and it is no where near $112.30 for a less than 5kg package. Also, USPS has different rate zones for other than USA to USA so WHY is Canada (an adjacent country, also part of North America) charged the full international rate that shipping overseas costs???
Lisa

Lisa

I cited my story as just a little reminder of what shipping costs to Canada can be like... my situation was a $2 horse that maybe weighed the same as a card... and cost to Canada was $35 for priority mail THEN. Also, I cited my one situation as an example. My mom worked for the USPS for 20 years, so did my grandpa, aunts and uncles and a host of friends... it was common knowledge of issues across the board with Canadian shipping... that comes right from folks in the biz actually doing the shipping to the country in question... Italy is another problem spot and I can cite others that I've been warned of... yes, the issues with prices by USPS are indeed the flip side of the coin and you don't have to get me started on my complaints with that too...

I'd be curious on the postage gouging but then again I can see how such a price might be. The USPS has recently undergone yet another change in their services and we the customers are loosing out big time AGAIN. As stated, I'd be curious what the shape of the box was because that's now a factor in calculating shipping rates by the USPS - a cost we all have to deal with. We are paying more and getting less service. And yes, you'd think that sending stuff to Canada wouldn't be such an issue when they can be trucked over and not actually go by plane as with other countries... but Canada is NOT the USA... so it is considered another country and subject to International costs.

I suppose the best thing is to demand some discussion from GCU on this. This is a very important issue that does need to be cleared up. I just got started here and I'd really hate yanking my stuff and going elsewhere if wrongful practices are going to 'screw' customers. And Lisa, please let us know if you make any headway or get any answers or rectifications regarding this situation... this truly bothers me as a newbie and sends up red flags...

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Shaun_131054 GCU Administrator artist Posts: 2482	Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana Reply #11 - Oct 28^th, 2009, 12:34pm I do know that new rates for Canada and Mexico are on our list of site enhancements, but I unfortunately do not know when these new rates will be added to the site. Shaun
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Pamela_135500

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #12 - Nov 2^nd, 2009, 9:02am

Sorry to dig this up again but having relatives in the UK.....
I happened to be looking at the shipping rates this morning and I noticed that if an international customer orders 200 cards they pay the $112.30 as discussed here.

Am I seeing this right that if they place separate orders in small batches of 9 cards per order the total shipping costs overall are cheaper undecided

still high but less?

IF it costs 3.50 shipping to send 9 cards international then
22 X 9 card order=198 cards and another order for 2 cards = Total 23 packages at 3.50 per package. Grand total=80.50.

I thought maybe it's 3.50 per card for 1-9 but that doesn't make sense either.

Of course who wants to send 23 packages to get their cards but then again who wants to spend more than you need to.

Huh

What am I not seeing right?
Pamela

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Rosemary_135806

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #13 - Nov 2^nd, 2009, 10:17am

That's bad enough to send to England, but at least that is 'overseas'. Imagine what it is like to be charged that from the States to Canada, you don't even have to go 'over a sea' to get there. We are on the same continent and it is cheaper to get a flight from Vancouver to LA for a person than to get 200 cards sent here. I am very upset about this, will not recommend GCU to any of my Canadian friends, as far as I am concerned it is just for the people in America. Rosemary

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Lisa_131617

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Re: Another Complaint About Shipping Costs to Cana
Reply #14 - Nov 3^rd, 2009, 10:14am

Wish I'd thought to send individual packages of 9 as Pamela noted and saved over $30 in post.
My customer's package of 200 cards arrived within 10 business days. They LOVE LOVE LOVE the cards but that does not take away from the high ship costs to Canada.

To recap: 200 cards (costing $358.) at current 'International' rate to Canada costs $112.30 in shipping. The postage on my customer's box was for $34.75US. Anyone else's chin just hit the floor!!! Even with a handling charge or cost of packing supply (noting USPS supplies box sizes for free at lesser ship rates, see below), that's a mark up of $77.55!

$3.50 for 9 cards, no problem with that - the post cost is US$2.49 (plus cost of cardboard mailer) but for higher card quantity parcel rates, it is nice to hear from Shaun that Canada and Mexico will have revised rates in upcoming site enhancements. However that doesn't help with the now costs! Hopefully these rates can be implemented soon please.

http://postcalc.usps.gov/ -a USPS post calculator shows 12" x 12" x 5-1/2", 11-7/8" x 3-3/8" x 13-5/8" or 11" x 8.5" x 5.5" (Boxes supplied FREE from USPS) 6 - 10 Days delivery (that includes custom's clearance) Rates - $25.95 - $32.95 for Maximum weight 20 pounds for USA to ANY address in Canada. I believe my customer's order of 200 cards would easily have fit in one of these boxes, lowering further the shipping costs at GCU's end.

Thanks GCU for listening. Hoping for changes soon to the current GCU ship rates to Canada.
Lisa Charlton

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