Internet Shopping & High Loonie Causing Parcel Backlog

[soundwaveCA]

Get that Internet shopping done early this year folks.

http://canadianpress.google.com/arti...qgD6RpjRrvQHxg

EDMONTON - A surge in Internet cross-border shopping by Canadians trying to cash in on the soaring loonie is creating headaches for consumers, border service agents and Canada Post.

There are already complaints of delivery delays as mail-sorting centres try to dig out from heaps of Canadian Internet order parcels from the U.S. - and the holiday shopping season is barely underway.

Officials say the volume of parcels has choked three main international mail-sorting centres operated by Canada Post and the Canada Border Service Agency in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

"The delays are being caused by the surge in online purchases," said Chris Williams, a Canadian Border Services Agency spokesman in Ottawa.

"It is not a security issue. It is due in large part to the surge in the Canadian dollar. This has led to making our mail centres very, very busy."

There are reports from consumers of parcels from the United States languishing for days and even weeks at the mail centres before being released for delivery.

Parcel and mail volumes were already up 18 per cent compared with last year, but that was before the Canadian dollar closed above the value of the greenback on Sept. 28.

Since then, Canadian Internet orders to U.S. retailers have spiked as consumers fed up with price differences in the two countries have booted up their computers to shop. Retail experts predict that trend will continue through the holidays.

The Canadian dollar closed Tuesday at $104.92 US.

Firms such as IFR Monitoring, a global researcher that specializes in price monitoring, have reported that advertised prices for popular consumer electronics such as digital cameras and notebook computers have shown few signs of going down in Canada, despite the loonie's growing strength.

Book stores are also dealing with grumpy consumers who need only scan the backs of bestsellers to realize they are paying much more than Americans for the same title.

Canada Post and the border agency are caught in the middle of shifting economic circumstances. More staff are to be hired and more shifts added to deal with the Internet parcel surge, said Canada Post spokesman Francois Legault.

"The sizable volume increase has presented challenges," Legault said from Ottawa on Tuesday.

"Both CBSA and Canada Post are collaborating to deal with the additional volumes in a timely manner so we can respect our standards. We are doing everything we can to get back on track."

Bruce Cran of the Consumers' Association of Canada said he is getting plenty of complaints about delivery delays.

He said some people even believe the federal government is deliberately slowing down delivery of parcels from the U.S. to encourage Canadians to shop at home - allegations that Canada Post flatly denies.

Cran said the cross-border shopping phenomenon won't drop off until Canadian retailers lower prices.

"With the retailers in Canada showing an immense reluctance to pass on any value of the dollar, I think there is going to be more and more stuff ordered across the line," Cran said.

"This isn't going to go away. It is going to get worse."

Some retailers are trying to fight online cross-border shopping by selling their wares at U.S. prices over the crucial holiday shopping season - even if it means eating the losses.

Sharon Budnarchuk, co-owner of the independent Audrey's Books in Edmonton, said she is selling U.S. books at the lower American rate until Dec. 31. She hopes the move will help Audrey's keep its customers.

"We were starting to worry because of what was going on at the store where our customers were looking at every price and leaving it saying, 'We are going to look around.' We know exactly what that meant. They were going online," she said.

"They tell us, 'This is not fair. Our dollar is worth more.' Consumers have had enough."

Budnarchuk hopes the new stock of books from the United States next year will be more competitively priced.

In the meantime, Canada Post and the border agency are advising Canadians who plan to online shop for holiday gifts to place their orders as early as possible. Even then, there's no guarantee that a special parcel will make it under the Christmas tree in time.

[Team Jetfire]

So this is why my MP megatron has taken so very long to get to me...

[Phy]

The Canadian dollar closed Tuesday at $104.92 US.

Either a typo, or the greenback is doing worse than I thought...

[Team Jetfire]

closed at 105.25 today.

[Dark Rage]

That might explain why I received my 2nd package of the 2 orders from the same retailer...maybe not.

[CobraCommander]

Wow did you know the all time record for the cdn dollar is 106.14, it's only a matter of days when that will break

[Dark Rage]

As a note to those purchasing south of the border:

Purchasing w/ a Credit card will typically be at the nominal conversion rate minus 2-2.5%, depending on each CC company.

Purchasing directly though your debit card will be at around 4% less than the conversation rate. Cashback out of the country will be another ~$5 out of your bank account.

Best bet is actually your credit card. If there are other better alternatives, *shrugs* please share.

[jourdo]

So basically this is saying I should start my Christmas shopping now if I don't want to give IOU's as gifts.

[Vagabond Elf]

Originally Posted by dark_rage

Best bet is actually your credit card. If there are other better alternatives, *shrugs* please share.

Paypal does the conversion before it charges you, I think, and offers a fairly competitive exchange rate. It's at least comparable to the credit cards'.

[Mumps]

Crap... that huge anime figure I ordered from japan will take longer than I thought, haha.