It seems like either USPS or Canada Post has slowed right down the last little while. The Express service seems to be moving at the same pace but regular mail and the Expedited service seems to be taking quite a while to cross the border. Is anyone else noticing this or is it just me? Jim

i am have the same postal issues over on the westcoast , there must be alot of cp workers on vacation .

I find, No offense to my American collectors here, But American shipping ALWAYS seems to be slow! Their shipping costs also seem to be all over the place, Some companies charge like $10-15 and that can't even insure the package. I always find US packages coming up to me take forever. I find packages from New York, Right across from me take 3 times longer than packages even from the West Coast. I have to say that I wish the US offered a postal service like eXpress Post, Cheap to Canada and the US and at most it takes me 5 days to ship from Ontario to the West Coast, Or even as far down as Flordia and Texas.

Andrew

i am certainly noticing it.

Customs is often the hold-up on parcels from the U.S. At least that seems to be the case on the registered packages I send. I like Canada Post's online tracking way better than the USPS's. It gives you a good sense of what's causing the delay, which is usually border issues.

Andrew, I think you're probably just getting gouged by American sellers. Standard air mail to Canada is only marginally higher than domestic US rates and Global Priority rates can be as low as $4 for a typical small package. The insurance issue is trickier. The indemnity on Registered mail was lowered to something strange like $44.86 this year, which is really nothing, but I still think that's the way to go on expensive cards because of the security.

One can fully issure Express/overnight USPS packages but there's a separate customs form for that service level, which doesn't let one skirt the duty issue. If you insure for an Express package for a grand, the recipient's going to be on the hook for that amount. Registered can be slow but it uses the standard green slip that lets one, uh, withhold the truth.

I'm not sure about private carriers like FedEx or UPS but I've found that their customer service blows and never use them to ship items.