Our Fantastic, Reliable Postal Service

Spoiler alert—That title is just sarcasm. I'm actually quite ticked off with Canada Post and their lousy service lately. And so begins our tale...

A couple months ago, I had redeemed some Airmiles for an iTunes card in preparation for purchasing fall TV shows. It finally arrived, a month after I made my request. But to be fair, I have no idea when my order was actually shipped, just that previous redemptions usually showed up in a couple weeks. For all I know, it may have been finally shipped only a couple days earlier and it was delivered really fast.

Next up came an online Best Buy order. It showed up two full weeks after being shipped. That's twice as long as it should have. It only should have taken two weeks if it had been shipped from a small town in Newfoundland.

Then came an Amazon order. I have all my Amazon orders shipped to my work, as they frequently use UPS. That way, someone will always be available to sign for the package, and in the event that Canada Post was used for that order it'll just end up in our mailbox instead. Since I always just use their “Free Super-Saver Shipping” option I have no way to predict what shipping method they'll use. This order was shipped using Canada Post. When tracking it one day, it showed that it was forwarded, and delivered, to our office's alternate PO box downtown rather than the one down the street. Not something that should have happened, but it wasn't that big a deal. Until I went to the post office after work and found the parcel was not actually there.

The next morning, however, tracking it again had a new line saying a card had just been put in the box for me to get the parcel from the counter. I went back again that afternoon, and found that contrary to what the tracking notes said, there was no card and the parcel itself was actually in the mailbox. But at least I got my parcel, and didn't have to wait in the long lineup for the counter. I still had to make two trips to the post office though, since they previously said it was delivered but it wasn't. Actually, I wouldn't have even needed to make the second trip if they didn't say it was carded. I only went because they usually ask for ID when picking up parcels at the counter and as such one of my co-workers likely wouldn't have been able to get it.

A week or so later my next order was shipped from Amazon, something I had preordered a couple months prior. About the time it would be delivered, I tracked it and noticed it was out for delivery. A few hours later I tracked it again to confirm delivery, and was shocked to see the line, “Recipient not located at address provided. Item being returned to sender.” I have no idea how the Canada Post employee in question went about determining that I apparently no longer worked there. The timeframe between the two notes was too short for it to have been delivered to the wrong person and for them have taken it back to the post office. I doubt any of my coworkers placed a note in our box saying, “Mike doesn't work here anymore.” At least once the parcel gets received by Amazon they'll give a full refund on it. But not until they get it back, and Canada Post is taking their time getting it back to them.

Then came the big one. My Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray set that I preordered eight months ago, the very moment I learned that the Star Wars Blu-rays were available for preorder. I was hopeful that it would be shipped using UPS, as my Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray set, which is about the same physical size, came via UPS. When I got my shipping confirmation email last Friday, I immediately scrolled down to the part in the email where they say how it was shipped. I saw it said Canada Post, and the first thought that came to my mind was, “Oh crap, I hope I actually get it.” But, I was also thinking that Canada Post's service couldn't be that poor that they'd make the same mistake twice.

I was wrong. When tracking it this morning, I saw the same notification that it, too, was being returned to Amazon. The weird thing is the time stamps. At 5:59 AM it said “Out for delivery” and at 6:00 AM, “Recipient not located at this address.” Obviously, they didn't even attempt delivery. And last weekend, when the set was released, retail stores were selling it for the same price I was getting from Amazon, so the thought did cross my mind that maybe I should buy a second copy just in case, and if/when I get my order in the mail I can just return this one. Too bad I didn't, since everyone's prices have gone back up.

Maybe it's just bad luck that I had two parcels in a row that never got to me. But I do see how frequently it happens at work where I ship something to someone and it gets returned with a sticker stating that the recipient had moved, but we did have the correct address and were able to confirm with them that they still do indeed live there. The really sad thing about this is that it'll hurt online retailers like Amazon more than Canada Post. I'll be less likely to order things online now, because I'll be worried that my parcel will be shipped using Canada Post and I'll end up not even receiving it. If it weren't for the fact that nobody else can come close to matching Canada Post's prices, I'd be seriously looking into switching from them for the parcels I ship at work now.

But I guess I should look on the bright side. At least these parcels were all just for movies and TV shows, not important medication or other things vital to my survival.