Canada Post shipping experience.

[Robatoy]

From my limited exposure to Robin's way of doing business, I'm pretty sure that even jimmy-the-possible-troll would be treated with respect.

I could be wrong. . . . . . . . . . . . .

[jimmy]

I was treated just fine. I was told that Canada Post was the only way I could get a package delivered. So I ceased being a customer. We both made decisions that were in our best interest.

[jimmy]

I'm not sure how my orders stack up to yours but I just checked my Lee Valley history.

16 orders at an average of about $150 maybe more, over a 2 1/2 year period ending about a year ago.

[Oleg Lego]

The D Smith entity posted thusly:

Well, my place is about 3 miles off the paved road, and I can get to-the-door-delivery by specifying "NW25-18-16-W2nd" as my shipping address. It's a land location, specified as quarter-section-township-range and whatever the hell 'west of the 2nd meridian' is. UPS will deliver to my land location, and will even leave the parcel on the back porch if I'm not there, and if the weather warrants.

They will deliver to places further (way further) off the beaten track, and will tell you that if you ask about it.

Dunno about Purolator, but DHL is the most useless so-called delivery service in existence. I have had the misfortune to have dealt with them on three occasions, and in each case, they screwed up, royally. The latest fiasco was when they delivered the package to the nearest post office, when the package was clearly marked "hold for pickup", they didn't call, and when I tried to track the parcel, they couldn't tell me anything more than "It's in Regina", which it wasn't. Caused me to have to run back home to get the parcel that should have been in their depot when I went to pick it up. Just an extra 50 miles or so. What a bunch of twits!

FedEx is great for speed and for following instructions, though I've never tried to get them to deliver to my home.

[Upscale]

Any way you want to look at it, unless you're in prison or the military, where you live is your choice. You want the country setting with all the advantages (and disadvantages) that come with such a location, then you're going to have to find a way to deal with it. So far, the *only* way you appear to handle things is to whine and whine and whine again. I'd tell you to deal with it except we already know how you cope.

[Ba r r y]

I had some Lee Valley shipping issues where one shipper damaged several packages in a row. One package was ripped open, bagged, and contained items Lee Valley dosen't even sell, like a hair brush and a can of spray silicone.

ONE short phone conversation with a very pleasant and professional CSR later, my packages were sent via other companies and the problem was solved.

Lee Valley also sent a call tag for the damaged packages so that they could take the issue to the shipper.

[Doug Payne]

It's because Canada Post wouldn't deliver his medication and he's too busy frothing at the mouth to figure out how to get it delivered to his bunker some other way.

[D Smith]

Perhaps, but the only courier that I know of that will deliver to a PO Box is Priority Post, which is Canada Post's internal courier service (as opposed to Purolator, which they own but runs as a mostly-independent business). The Purolator policy could be one that existed before Canada Post bought them, and is maintained as part of an arms-length business realtionship. Other couriers also won't deliver to PO boxes (although I'm sure theyd rather take the business than let it go to Priority Post), and I have no idea whether that is their policy, or because the Post Office usually won't accept delivery from them. I know of one Post Office that will accept delivery from other couriers if you send it to their street address, but that could be against policy...

[jimmy]

Nonsense. I stopped shopping at Lee Valley a year ago. That's a long time to wait to start whining. I'm just posting a simple set of facts and my solutions.

[D Smith]

Yep. You're on the northwest quarter section of the 18th township on the 16th range. Standard Canada Land Survey designation in the western provinces. There are several zones, each based on a meridian (line of longitude). The prime meridian in the system is somewhere in Manitoba, so there is a NW25-18-16 quarter section somewhere there, too. (As well as one in the zone that is west of the 3rd meridian, one in the zone east of the second, etc.) I should be able to find you pretty easily on the map...

I'll have to ask them - could be useful to know if they would deliver where I work. Out of curiosity, how much do they charge? Small courier services out of Regina seem to want about $50 to do a delivery to my work location.

They did manage to deliver one package to my work location, after trying to take it to the town the PO Box is located in. The Postmaster told them where we were... Now that they know, they just keep it at the depot and phone us to pick it up...

Pretty sure they won't, based on my experience, but things change...

[Robatoy]

...and it took you that long to come to the conclusion that Lee Valley has become so successful, that they bought Canada Post and are now imposing THEIR shipping methods. Wait till they buy the power company where you live and force you to have to convert all your tools to 321 Volt/4.5 phase. You think you're screwed now?

*diabolical laughter* BWHAHAHAAAHHAHAHAHA!!!!

r

[jimmy]

A Village idiot first class named Robatoy writes:

No I just got tired of carrying badly damaged boxes a block to my car. Canada Post must be the ONLY courier on the planet that hasn't got a dolly you can borrow for a couple minutes to lug your stuff to your vehicle.

I asked Lee Valley if I could get home delivery like I get from all my other suppliers and they said no. That was a year ago, and I haven't ordered since.

[Ba r r y]

The US post offices I know *can't* put something in a PO box without postage. For instance, I can't walk in and hand the clerk of the small office a letter, and ask him to put in a PO box 6 feet away, without postage.

I can't see how Canada would be different.

_Private_ mail boxes, like Mail Boxes Etc... (UPS Store) are a whole 'nuther nut, because they are really "PO Boxes", but actually a receiving service.

Barry

[Ba r r y]

I heard they're coming out with a Veritas low angle transformer, that places the bevel of the sine wave up...

[The Davenport's]

But he is so GOOD at being an ignorant wonder!

Mike

[Oleg Lego]

The D Smith entity posted thusly:

I figured the meridian thing was something like that, but had no idea where the boundaries were.

The land location is a pretty easy way of finding someone in a rural area. I responded to a fire call today, in which the place was referred to as the 'Bennet Farm" (not the real name), and by land location. Looking at the map, I saw it was the "Smith place". Turned out the Smith putting in the call was Bennet Smith. Without the land location, there would have been no way to find it.

Worse, all farms seem to be called by the name of whoever homesteaded it 50 years ago. I have been in my place for about 5 years, and I suspect they'll start calling it by my last name just after I die, if I manage to last more than 10 or 15 years from now.

No idea. I have received only stuff for work, paid for by my employer, and haven't noticed the shipping cost.

[George]

Twenty-five years here and someone came by last year who referred to it as the "J...." farm. Didn't feel so bad, though. They left in 1942, and the next family owned it longer than I have, a fact known to the questioner, who said "we always referred to it as the J.... farm when I was growing up."

Dispatchers have a tough job. Been both dispatcher and responder in my time, and getting worthwhile information out of someone in a panic is very difficult. Not only by 'phone, either!

[mac davis]

you have to admit that because Jimmy chooses to live in a remote area, that at least his village isn't missing it's idiot.. Mac

[Ken Muldrew]

Not much overlap there. I wonder if you weren't thinking of House of Tools rather than Lee Valley.

Ken Muldrew [e-mail] (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

[jimmy]

I just mentioned BossTools because I have spent a bundle with them lately. Much of the stuff I was buying from Lee Valley I get from either KMS tools or a local hardwood supply store.

Much of my Lee Valley purchases were purely impulse and not stuff I needed. Lot's of kitchen stuff, garden stuff, watches, cool flashlights, etc. For gifts mostly. I bought 3 boxes of veneer that I loved and haven't seen elsewhere so I will be ordering a couple more soon. I'm considering that Lee Valley vacuum press kit even though 72 bucks seems high for a plastic bag but I haven't seen anything else like it.

Has anyone ever used it?