‘Canada Post does not provide free shipping,’ corporation says of closed Amazon loophole
Previously Northerners could input southern postal code for online orders, see mail redirected for free
Iqaluit residents are being reminded to update their mailing address with Service Canada. Canada Post is temporarily redirecting mail sent to the wrong address, following the opening of a new post office last year, but that service ends Oct. 31. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Following criticisms last week from MLAs, Canada Post is reminding Nunavut residents to make sure they are using the correct mailing address when shipping parcels north.
Some MLAs spoke in the legislative assembly about how Canada Post’s recent closure of a loophole — where residents could get free or cheaper shipping from retailers such as Amazon by inputting an incorrect postal code on their order — has been impacting constituents.
In a member’s statement, Quttiktuq MLA David Akeeagok said the move has “negatively affected” his constituents in Grise Fiord, Resolute Bay and Arctic Bay.
He encouraged them to contact Canada Post and the federal government to call for cheaper shipping.
“I will do my part by writing letters also,” Akeeagok said May 27.
Finance Minister Lorne Kusugak, who represents Rankin Inlet South, also lambasted the mail carrier in his May 30 member’s statement, saying “truckloads” of parcels in Rankin Inlet, such as baby food and diapers, are being returned south.
“It’s time that Canada Post begin to take a look at what they are doing; they are hurting our people in Nunavut,” Kusugak said.
“I encourage Nunavummiut to write their member of Parliament, write the federal minister responsible, so that people can at least begin to afford some of the things we can’t buy in the North.”
Kusugak also asked that residents not take out their frustrations on local Canada Post staff.
“It’s not their fault, it’s the fault of the management of Canada Post down south,” he said.
Canada Post moves mail on close to 280 flights per week in northern and remote communities, said spokesperson Valérie Chartrand in an email.
She said that when mail is not properly addressed, employees are left to manually correct the shipping address, which slows down the process for everyone.
“A good delivery experience begins and ends with a correct address,” Chartrand said.
“We have asked customers in Nunavut to ensure they are using the correct address going forward or the items will be returned to [the] sender.”
She said it’s “longstanding” Canada Post policy to return parcels that have an incorrect address.
As for shipping costs, Chartrand said everybody who sends anything through Canada Post has to pay, and online retailers can decide what costs they will pass down to their customers.
“As a Crown corporation that must survive based on the revenues we generate, Canada Post does not provide free shipping to any customers,” Chartrand said.
Loophole should not have worked from the start. Canada Post fault for letting this go on for so long. Unfortunately too many in Nunavut got a taste of free shipping and now it’s been taken away. Was fun while it lasted I guess.
The funny thing is that Canada Post is still accepting these addresses and still sending the parcels to the nearest shipping center (i.e. in my case Winnipeg) before sending them back…
They are charging amazon for freight don’t let them fool you.
I suggest that everyone and their dog order a bunch of heavy stuff (i.e. pop) and let Canada post sort it. I’ll get a refund so doesn’t affect me. Yes I have a standing order of $100 in pop every week that gets sent and then returned lol (I get refunded). Canada Post wants to deny us well then they can figure out it on their end 🙂
Everyone should do this…..
Until Amazon.ca gets their act together and unifies free shipping for the north, here is another loophole that I have used with Amazon:
Shop on amazon.com, NOT amazon.ca. The Amazon.com site charges a flat rate shipping to Canada (it doesn’t matter where in Canada, it can be air staged or a southern city). The delivery logistics is handled by Landmark courier service, with final mile delivery by Canada Post. Meaning: Amazon pays Landmark to deliver the package, and Landmark pays Canada Post the shipping charge for the deliveries that Landmark can’t complete. Amazon.com also has a wider variety of things to shop for. Not everything can be shipped via .com, but it is almost always cheaper than shopping .ca. It’s not FREE shipping, but at least it’s considerably cheaper than paying the exorbitant fees that Amazon.ca is passing on to Nunavimiut
400 dollars of pop per month. It’s 6 bucks per 12 pack on amazon. That’s 800 cans of pop. Nunavut’s health issues summerized in a single post. Probably going to the kids with no teeth left.
Jeez maybe it’s good amazon stopped shipping here. We can attempt to curb the rampant diabetes in NU.
Lo freaked lol
867+, you should take a basic course in business. First, Amazon pays CanadaPost to deliver that pop to you. When you return it, Amazon pays CanadaPost to deliver it back. You aren’t ’sticking it’ to the man — Canada Post is getting paid … twice.
Also, Canada Post isn’t allowing people to use incorrect postal codes — Amazon is. Amazon hasn’t had any incentive to fix the problem because Canada Post fixes the errors then makes the deliveries. Well it now sounds like Canada Post wants Amazon to fix its system so only valid postal codes can be used. By refusing to deliver mis-addressed packages Canada Post is incentivizing Amazon to clean up its act.
It’s because the issue is actually on Amazon’s side, not Canada Post.
Amazon should be validating the address matches the postal code. It’s actually very trivial to do this and many online retailers do it as a matter of course.
Rest assured all of this is being billed back to Amazon by CP and they will fix the bug at some point.
You’re an idiot. Your stupidity is why Canada Post is losing millions of dollars.
Canada Post isn’t losing BILLIONS. Instead of making things more EFFICIENT and MODERN, they are blowing their wad on things that are unnecessary and on building a multimillion dollar facility THAT WASN’T NEEDED and then cry to the public they’re going broke. Us employees have been begging for YEARS for them to LISTEN TO IS, but nope, they want to drive it into the ground so it can go private. A fish rots from the head is all I have left to say.
Let Canada Post drown in the tears they’ve created! It’s a losing crown corporation that has a 1960s business model.
Kill the union greed and lock the doors on Canada Post and CBC. Then they will turn a profit.
The 1960s military type business model they used to use actually worked and made money. They are losing money now because they run it base on left-wing ideology. Which is to coddle, hold their hand and talk about feelings.
Under Section 91, 5 of the Canadian Constitution, the Federal Government is solely responsible for Postal Services. The SCC has ruled this means a universal service to all Canadians, and the Canada Post Act reflects both.
What a brilliant idea 867+. Yes let’s force an already teetering crown corporation to cut even more services so that you can get free stuff … moronic
Amazon does not provide free shipping, it’s the seller paying that shipping label.
Amazon no longer accepts X0A 3H0 as a valid postal code.
But they do accept X0A 0H0 as a valid postal code.
They seem to be using an old database…
Like Nunavut isn’t already living off tax payers and hand outs. More?
Want something? Work for it and pay. D-OH!!
Have you ever spent time in Nunavut???? They are living off tax payers money is an absolute uneducated statement. Many Inuit make minimum wage and have to pay a fortune for groceries, rent, gas, & clothing. Cellphone service is also outrageous. Depending on what community you live in if you want to buy alcohol you 1st have to buy a permit from Nunavut government then fax it to a liquor store in YK or Edmtn, pay the liquor store to deliver to the airport then pay the airline a fortune to ship it to your community. And of course the charge for the alcohol itself. I lived in Nu from 2007-2010. Can’t imagine the cost of living now.
$70 a month in rent is a fortune now ?
Yes, cheating the system with a loophole and costing Canada Post which is verging on bankruptcy is not right.
But the fact that it is almost impossible to get reasonably priced staples in Canada’s North due to very high shipping costs is also part of the problem. The level of food insecurity and lack of basic necessities in the northern territories is a huge problem that our government must find a better way to deal with.
Canada Post management are doing their best to keep the angry post office worker stereotype alive. I feel for the frontline workers. It’s not their fault. The management is the problem. They seem to enjoy making decisions that hurt people…How is paying for shipping via your purchase through Amazon or whatever is ‘free shipping’ on part of Canada Post?
Been waiting for an order for over a month now. Wouldn’t be surprised if someone kept it as its a lucrative free stuff bonanza for the postal workers.
Canda post has cameras in all it’s buildings to protect the mail..it’s a federal offense to steal mail..
I worked at the Prince Albert plant and there was no cameras in place, do some research before you post.
As local Northern Post Office outlets there are not cameras in their post office room.
Also local cargo facilities, at local airports where they handle the mail. there are no cameras,
in the locally contracted moving truck/van there are no cameras
Maybe it should now be required there are cameras all over the place where they handle mail
Can Canada Post explain why Amazon Prime Membership for $10 a month provides free shipping to Southern Canada yet we are penalized for living up north yet again?
You should direct this question to Amazon. They offer prime, not Canada Post. When you shop at Amazon.ca the free shipping is offered free delivery through their own delivery system. All non-sameday deliveries are done by CP.
So move. D-UH
what a great idea! so, when moving you need a place to stay until permanent lodgings can be found.
it sounds like you are offering to let us stay in your home. please post your address and we will all come live with you
Its obvious. There is a critical mass of people in the south that makes it cheaper to deliver to. Amazon has its own warehouses in the area. Costs are cheaper for them.
Its simple really, in yhe south, a plane isnt needed for deliveries.
Planes aren’t free or cheap.
Now, you could get off the internet and go build a road that connects south to north all year (good luck) but that would still cost a bunch since you’re a thousand miles away.
Suggesting building roads connecting communities in Nunavut to the south has to be one of the most ignorant comments ever. Most are on islands 20-100 km offshore and those on the mainland are not only prohibitively far away as you note, but over terrain that would make road maintenance impossible.
It is free to you. The retailer that sells their merchandise via Amazon is charged for the shipping cost.
Chartrand is right, CP does not provide free shipping, but Amazon and it’s retailers do.
But to suggest that an incorrect code slows the whole process down is B.S.
Yellowknife does not need the correct code to deliver beyond their city. In fact, it was their workers who provided the postal codes.
Clearly, she hasn’t been out of her golden office in Montreal or Toronto and doesn’t understand “rural” communities or the costs of living there.
I like my kicks that I got from temu. I like my solar powered lights. I’m happy with temu. Free shipping as long as the order is 150 or higher.
I don’t work for CanadaPost but I learned math in elementary school …. So I can explain. Moving stuff costs money. Moving a lot of stuff at the same time using less expensive shipping (like on a big boat or by rail) reduces the overall costs of the stuff. Moving a little bit of stuff by expensive things like airplanes means that stuff costs more to get. In a city where there is a giant Amazon warehouse at its edge, a train can unload lots of stuff at the same time — which costs less than if that stuff was delivered to the warehouse by plane. So, Amazon knows if they can give lots of people in a city free shipping with same day delivery they can make lots of money. So they try to keep costs low enough to get more people to buy more stuff. Unfortunately it still is expensive to fly stuff up north and Amazon doesn’t see much value in making lots of people in the cities pay more so a small group of people in the north can pay less. This, by the way, is called capitalism.
This should be the top comment. Simple economics dictate price.
Temu ships for free. And they’re based in China. Got that? CHINA! tell me how a country overseas is able to ship for free to my location in nunavut? And you guys are yapping about stupid amazon? They lost a lot of money. Amazon has competition now.
The Universal Postal Union set up a fee in the 60’s so richer countries would pay more to have their international mail delivered than countries with developing economies.
The central idea is that any citizen or business should be able to send mail packages through the Global Postal Network to any destination.
At the time, China was considered a country with a developing economy, meaning the country would be charged less for international mail than other countries. And that went unchanged for decades which gave them a huge advantage in this type of business.
FYI Canada Post lost $750 mill last year……… they won’t be dropping their prices anytime soon.
you can get free shiping on ebay too, set the seting in your search to: free shipping then all item will mostly be from china and take longer to arrive but worth the wait if you shop on ebaycom instead of ca ofthen theres a flat rate for far away customer that is way cheaper then average shipping cost, one should allways make search on both simultanisly to see… amazon and ebay
Maybe, and this might be a stretch, and please this DOES NOT GO FOR ALL, maybe stop buying drugs and booze from bootleggers.
From a person who lived on welfare, life can be hard. Stop blaming a company, that wants to stop loosing money.
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I wouldn’t feel so incensed at CP if they actually delivered their parcels. More than half the time in the south, they don’t even try delivering the items. They simply drop off a card and expect the customer to pick it up; even when the customer is home.
The post master is always a different hire. Maybe they’ve become so desperate for employees that they hire people without a license. Maybe communities in nuvaut are just plain small. Put two and two together. It’s not rocket science.
They deliver to super boxes & if it doesn’t fit or all compartment s full they bring it to a retail location for pick up. Seems reasonable to me,
“A good delivery experience begins and ends with a correct address,” Not when Amazon won’t accept the new postal code Canada Post gave residents.
Agreed, but that is entirely on Amazon.
Compounding the “free shipping” problem is the fact that Canada Post is not doing their job efficiently. The mail service was better FIFTY YEARS AGO (!) than it is today (yes, I’ve been here that long). Today the “service” is more expensive, much slower and less reliable than it used to be.
Speaking only in reference to my local post office; it’s closed completely on a regular basis (their employee is obviously incapable of doing his job), mail gets “lost” and the delays enroute are unconscionable.
No wonder Canada Post is going bankrupt! I imagine they will be increasing their shipping fees while the service continues to decline.
They should have just sent them to their destination rather sent them back to amazon . CONSIDER A WARNING send a notice to the recipients that free shipping is not available . WHAT A WASTE OF SENDING THEM BACK!
Do people want to risk going to jail for two years or facing a huge fine for free shipping? It’s fraud, people!
The truth is that every person who undertook to change their postal code to obtain free shipping was contravening section 380 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Fradulent transactions relating to contracts and trade is a criminal offence.
Section 380. (1) states: “Every one who, by deceit, falsehood or other fraudulent means, whether or not it is a false pretence within the meaning of this Act, defrauds the public or any person, whether ascertained or not, of any property, money or valuable security or any service,
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding fourteen years, where the subject-matter of the offence is a testamentary instrument or the value of the subject-matter of the offence exceeds five thousand dollars; or
(b) is guilty
(i) of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or
(ii) of an offence punishable on summary conviction,
where the value of the subject-matter of the offence does not exceed five thousand dollars.
Marginal note:Minimum punishment
(1.1) When a person is prosecuted on indictment and convicted of one or more offences referred to in subsection (1), the court that imposes the sentence shall impose a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of two years if the total value of the subject-matter of the offences exceeds one million dollars.”
Good to see our MLAs and Ministers focusing on the really important issues in the territory.
Entitlement rears its ugly head again. Why should you have to pay for your shipping when you can steal it? Lol Then your MLA gets on board. Lack of ethics seems rampant. Disgusting
Yes, but shipping to the Arctic should be subsidized to make life more affordable. The gov’t forced people into communities for Arctic sovereignty, so the least we could do as a country is better support Inuit in Nunangat with some of what the rest of Canadians enjoy.
Better support? Your practically given everything now, free food vouchers and free medication, free housing ($40 a month is free housing) taxi vouchers, free college, free free free free everything, now you want to add free shipping too. Come on, do something for yourself and stop waiting for more free handouts.
Vince, much like your comments on the previous Amazon article, you remain highly uneducated.
Rent is not free or the minimal amount you describe unless your prior year NOA is near nil. Rent scales with income in social housing up to several thousand dollars per month.
Do you honestly think its the people on social security, that have zero access to credit, including credit cards that are the ones consuming on Amazon? Your comment makes it seem like that’s the case which lacks any logic.
The individuals likely purchasing on amazon are those who ARE working and earning income, and have access to credit and thus pay rent. Many of these individuals use Amazon to provide cheaper goods to their extended family who may not be working, this can range from elders to those who are capable but sitting on social security (which I don’t agree with but changes things none the less).
I also don’t think you grasp the cost of living in NU. I don’t think you know anything about NU at all frankly since your last comment thought NU only had 8K total people in it and you didn’t even know Iqaluit had free shipping already via an Amazon Hub. The minimal amount of Food Vouchers, lets take the Kitikmeot for example of a few hundred dollars per year amounts to a single week of groceries, taxi vouchers is limited to elders (65+), and university while yes paid for, is only to an extent, no living costs, etc and frankly that makes perfect sense given the Gov’t is trying to reduce social security pumped into Nunavut in the future and that requires kids going to school. Much like Quebec offering nearly free daycare, because the net tax dollars gained in the future by having the mother also working and paying in tax offsets the total tax dollars and more spent on subsidizing daycare. Its an investment in future tax return.
While you are certainly able to comment on anything you want, perhaps even just a little digging first would do you wonders.
Rent is practically free to many here in Iqaluit, I said 8000 people because I was talking about Iqaluit, there is 40,000 people in Nunavut which is a drop in the bucket compared to cities in the south. CP & Amazon are big businesses and they couldn’t care less about people getting anything in remote communities. There isn’t enough money to be made by delivering for free.
Kids go to college here for free and free housing for going to school, a lot of their parents live with them as well. My kids have student loans to pay back.
They got free shipping illegally and now they are whining about it. It gets tiring listening to all the whining about not getting free stuff and how everyone should be giving giving giving to them all the time. You can’t even walk into a grocery store without someone asking for free stuff. This is probably the only place in the world where people got paid to get their covid vaccine, that should tell you something.
PS. I don’t need to dig, I live and read about all this everyday on Nunatsiaq.
Rent is practically free to many here in Iqaluit, I said 8000 people because I was talking about Iqaluit, there is 40,000 people in Nunavut which is a drop in the bucket compared to cities in the south. CP & Amazon are big businesses and they couldn’t care less about people getting anything in remote communities. There isn’t enough money to be made by delivering for free.
Kids go to college here for free and free housing for going to school, a lot of their parents live with them as well. My kids have student loans to pay back.
They got free shipping illegally and now they are whining about it. It gets tiring listening to all the whining about not getting free stuff and how everyone should be giving giving giving to them all the time. You can’t even walk into a grocery store without someone asking for free stuff. This is probably the only place in the world where people got paid to get their covid vaccine, that should tell you something.
PS. I don’t need to dig, I live it here in Iqaluit everyday.
You’re joking right? The extreme privilege under which Nunavut Inuit operate makes your comments incredible. Reflect on what you have and check your privilege.
No one is stopping anyone from leaving their hamlet and living on the land.
Yep, and all of those people in Nunavut are free to leave and seek greener pastures. Get out of the past, live in the present.
So let me get this straight….
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Canada Post does not ship for free.
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Canada Post was paid by Amazon to send parcels to Nunavut.
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Canada Post turned them around and presumably did not refund Amazon.
.
Who lost money on this?
.
My take on this is that CP cannot handle increased package demands outside of Iqaluit (staff, space etc.), they barely handle it in Iqaluit.
Best comment on here Chuck.
Three words for you … “economies of scale”. Temu produces billions of products in factories in China that pay workers slave wages to produce worthless garbage. But hey go ahead and support Temu, if that’s what you want just don’t complain when your $10 cordless drill breaks after a couple of months and you throw it into the landfill and buy another low value poorly made piece of junk.
When it comes to power tools , i buy MAKITA .
This has been happening at Canada Post for years, but the issue is the exorbitant cost of anything in the North. The Government and Canada Post need to come to terms with the fact that living in the North is expensive, and this should be a cost of maintaining a universal service (USO). Canada Post is suffering from declining mail and revenues, but for rural/remote areas, they are an essential service. It is time the government supports the North if they want a population to exist there.