Beepster
Canada Post is NOTORIOUS for having packages from the US or elsewhere simply disappear for weeks/months and sometimes YEARS (yes I had that last one happen a couple times).

Happened to you too, uh? I remember having to contact my lawyer and ask why I still hadn't received the document their firm was supposed to send weeks earlier. She told me it had been sent but mailed a second copy, which I received a few days later. 
 
I had forgotten all about that incident when the original document showed up in our mailbox a few months later... Transporter malfunction? Subspace anomaly? Canada Post, ladies and gentlemen.
 
USPS is the greatest thing since sliced bread by comparison. In my experience, their tracking is even better than Fedex or USPS. For instance, Sweetwater shipped new knobs for my SG yesterday morning and as soon as I was notified, I could track my package.
 
Last order I had shipped through Fedex, I had to wait for 24 hours before I could retrieve anything w/ the tracking number, then had no updates for 3 or 4 days, that is, until the very day when the package was due to arrive. Pretty useless. Same for UPS.
 
 

Wow man, if USPS is the "greatest thing since sliced bread" compared to something than that something must be truly, truly awful. You have my deepest sympathies. Last time they delivered some strings to me, they put a card into my mailbox - which is 2 times the height of the string package - saying they couldn't deliver it. Not only that but they stamped the wrong post office on the card so I waited 30 minutes in line only to be told by some nasty, surly individual that I had to go across town. And then after hauling across town and waiting another 30 minutes they said they couldn't find it and to come back tomorrow. When I eventually got the package and noticed how small it was, I asked the clerk why in the hell the delivery guy didn't just put it into my mailbox instead of putting a card in there. "Sir. He obviously had good reason. NEXT IN LINE!"

A few of my clients pay me via their bank's bill payment system. The banks mail me the checks. I've lost count of how many of those checks just haven't arrived, many of them between $500 - $1000 in value. The client contacts the bank to be told that they have a record of the checks having been mailed. USPS just fails to deliver them all the time. And when you call to complain, you're put through to some disinterested slob of an employee who sounds like she's doing her nails and can't wait to get you off the phone. Last time I called, she told me "I don't have to listen to this sh--" and hung up.

Sounds like you're a real trouble maker there Sharke! 

sharke
Wow man, if USPS is the "greatest thing since sliced bread" compared to something than that something must be truly, truly awful. You have my deepest sympathies. Last time they delivered some strings to me, they put a card into my mailbox - which is 2 times the height of the string package - saying they couldn't deliver it. Not only that but they stamped the wrong post office on the card so I waited 30 minutes in line only to be told by some nasty, surly individual that I had to go across town. And then after hauling across town and waiting another 30 minutes they said they couldn't find it and to come back tomorrow. When I eventually got the package and noticed how small it was, I asked the clerk why in the hell the delivery guy didn't just put it into my mailbox instead of putting a card in there. "Sir. He obviously had good reason. NEXT IN LINE!"

A few of my clients pay me via their bank's bill payment system. The banks mail me the checks. I've lost count of how many of those checks just haven't arrived, many of them between $500 - $1000 in value. The client contacts the bank to be told that they have a record of the checks having been mailed. USPS just fails to deliver them all the time. And when you call to complain, you're put through to some disinterested slob of an employee who sounds like she's doing her nails and can't wait to get you off the phone. Last time I called, she told me "I don't have to listen to this sh--" and hung up.

Ok, that sounds as bad as Canada Post...
 
 

Don't get me wrong. I saw a lot stupidness from USPS as well but it was far more consistent of a machine than CP.
 
Now, sharke... I gotta laugh a bit there because you had to deal with the Royal Post which by all accounts is even CRAZIER than Canucker snail mail.
 
On the other side of the coin these are very complex services and it's amazing that they even function at all (especially in the vast barren wasteland that is the majority of Canada) but there are a lot of dunderheads amongst their ranks. There is a lot of push to privatize these institutions to make them more efficient, and I get that, BUT really what for profit company is going to send a letter up to Nanook of the North for a buck and a half?
 
None company. That's who.
 
Also, Rain... I learned a looooong time ago that if I ever want Canada Post to get an important document somewhere that I'd better just pony up the ten bucks or so for a tracking number... even if it is in the same city.
 
Even then I've had some problems BUT at least I can get my ten bucks back if they screw up royally and/or there is a paper trail I can point to saying "HEY!!! SEE!!! I SENT THAT THING ON TIME!!! You no make bad things happen to me, kay?!" if someone ever got litigious over it or whatnot.

Most Amazon shipping is either free or 3.95
 
Even UPS cannot break a tee shirt. YMMV
 
J
 
 

jbow
Most Amazon shipping is either free or 3.95
 
Even UPS cannot break a tee shirt. YMMV
 
J
 
 

I've heard amazon takes a hit on some of the cheap/free shipping stuff but make up for it because it solidifies their customer base.
 
Us Canadians do not get such an amazing deal from amazon though. Our version kind of sucks actually.
 
And as far as Canadian shipping... just because I'm thinking about it... a good compromise between the Small Packet (no tracking but kind of inexpensive) and Expresspost (tracking/guaranteed delivery within a few days but REALLY freaking expensive... like almost courier rates) is Expedited Parcel. You get a tracking number, it's WAY less expensive than Expresspost (but still pricier than regular packages) but it can take a couple weeks. Also the package has to be over a certain size to qualify.
 
Kind of weird how that all works actually.
 
They may have changed it all. It's been a long time.

$15 postage for a T-Shirt?! that's £9 UK money. I could send a T-shirt from here to Australia for less than that...

Looks like I only needed to praise them in order to jinx it...
 

 
 
Only, it has NOT been delivered. Funny because I was glad to see they were a few days ahead of the original estimated delivery time.
 
So either their tracking sucks, either they delivered my stuff at a wrong address.
 
Insert derogatory remark here.