i've asked a few times "why not!?" and i usually get the "too much trouble with paperwork" ...c'mon now! it's an extra 35 seconds, literally!! 35 seconds to make a little Canuckian happy, that's not asking for much
There's more to it than 35 seconds.
Our Post Offices have long lines and short hours in the USA. On any given day from 4pm to closing at 7pm on weekdays and all day Saturday (only times most working folks can mail parcels), there may be 20-30 people inline (With 2, maybe 3 clerks) which means you stand there for well over an hour just to spend 35 seconds on paperwork.
With a domestic shipment, you can bypass the line, head to a automated kiosk that weighs your package, allows you to purchase insurance and DC, return reciept etc, dispenses your postage and then you walk 5 feet to a giant bombproof box and drop it in. Total time if you know the machine.........60 seconds. INTl Shipments must have postage dispensed by a clerk at the counter.
The other thing with INTL shipments is that although we have good online guides by the USPS regarding INTL shipping, the pages are not easy to find on their webstite. They need a bare bones guide to insurance maximums and restricted items.
Problem 1- I shipped a well-packed parcel to france with a $1200 knife in it. After standing inline for an hour, the USPS tells me they will only insure for $600 to that country.
Problem 2- I had to self-insure half of it.
Problem 3 was that it had to go via a different service to get that $600 insurance.
Problem 4 was I had it in a Priority Mail box and it needed to be repacked in a Express Mail box to get that $600 insurance.
Problem 5- Back home to repack.
Problem 6- Return to the PO and another hour in line with the possibility of having to return the next day because they lock the door at closing time. If your not inside the counter room at closing, your SOL that day.About 20 people can cram in my PO counter room but if you add multiple parcels for each person, multiple screaming kids for each person, you wind up with about 8-10 people wanting to ship and the extras are just taking up space. Of course theres always a few people inline that don't speak English which further delays things.
It's a Royal pain in the arse to ship international!!!!!
Someone asked me just the other day to ship a knife into canada and that it should only cost an extra ten USD via air mail (I was to absorb this cost apparently). I looked it up and the price was $38USD without insurance.
Another issue is double red tape if it goes AWOL intransit. Which countries service lost it? Which customs service, after inspection, did the crappy job retaping it causing the contents to fall out? Who do you see about that?
It's a Royal pain in the arse to ship international!!!!!
