Culture

Post Office Woes at Christmas

by timbarton | December 22, 2008 at 12:26 pm

448 views | 15 Recommendations | 7 comments

Throughout the year, no one has any real complaints about the Post Office, but come Christmas time, its another story. Being a UK expat in Canada, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two country's Post Office services.

UK Post Office: It a week or two before Christmas. I get back from work and find a note saying the postman/ woman tried to deliver a parcel but I wasn't in and please would I collect it from the Post Office. Unfortunately the Post Office closes at 5pm every day so there's no way I can get it after work. Plus the post office where its been taken is actually the sorting office, not my local post office, so its too far to go in the morning before work as well. So, I wait until Saturday. I wake up at 7am when my alarm goes off as I know if I don't get there early, I won't get my parcel. This is because even though it's Saturday, it closes at midday. And also because there are masses of other people in exactly the same situation and so when I get to the sorting office at 9am, the queue is out the door and half way down the street. I nervously stand in line with everyone else, looking at my watch, hoping I get to the front of the queue before they unceremoneously pull down the blinds at 12pm and refuse to serve anyone else. If I miss it now I'll have to wait until next Saturday as it's not open on Sundays. At 5 minutes to closing, I eventually get to the front of the queue and get my parcel.

Canadian Post Office: It is a week or two before Christmas. I get back from work and find a note saying the postman/ woman tried to deliver a parcel but I wasn't in and please would I collect it from the Post Office. I check my watch. It's 6pm. That's fine I think. I have time for dinner before I got out because the post office is open until 8pm every night. It's a nice crisp December evening, so after dinner I walk down the road for 5 minutes to my local post office and pick up parcel. End of story.

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Rachel Nixon

at 14:35 on December 22nd, 2008

Thanks for the interesting and timely comparison.

It might also be nice to look at other factors to compare, such as cost, and provision of information.

I'm a Brit in Canada and of course send quite a few things back to the UK for friends and relatives, especially at this time of year. Last week I found myself open-mouthed at the Post Office, when wanting to send a parcel air mail to the UK that ended up costing me $116! - almost as much as the cost of what was inside.

Another anecdote: I head to the local Post Office over Thanksgiving to mail a letter. The Canada Post website indicates it is open. When I get there, it is closed. I e-mail Canada Post to suggest they make sure their website is up to date - no response.

I'm not suggesting that the UK Post Office is any better than Canada Post (in fact I can give you lengthy horror stories about stolen mail, etc) but my own experience with the Canadian service has not been that great either.

It would be good to hear other people's experiences, too.

timbarton

at 14:43 on December 22nd, 2008

Rachel, thanks for your comments. Costs are definitely a big deal. We sent several packages back to the UK and the cost was enough to make me choke. We did notice however, that if we had planned ahead far enough so as to be able to use surface mail, it would have been a LOT cheaper. However, it means sending Christmas presents off in September and I'm afraid we're not that organized!

Rachel Nixon

at 14:48 on December 22nd, 2008

Yes - I did also ask the cost of surface mail but that would have taken 6-8 weeks. Like you - I don't plan that far ahead!

carola (not verified)

at 13:46 on January 31st, 2009

i have been searching the web trying to find out about parcels sent to the uk (surface mail)as i mailed one to my son on november 22nd (from bc) and it has not arrived yet. i am hoping that it was not stolen and will still show up (although they've now moved and it will depend on uk forwarding).

poor oligarch (not verified)

at 14:44 on December 22nd, 2008

Queueing times at Emma St, London E2 sorting office were up to about 90 minutes back in September '08. (Sorry, I can't give more up-to-date info. After that fantastic experience I made other arrangements!)

Jordan Yerman

at 14:55 on December 22nd, 2008

I find Canada Post to be horrid, though Toronto seems more capable of handling mail than Vancouver, where about 1/3 f letters sent from California would fail to arrive in my mailbox. Also, the vast distances combined with a tiny population means that the prices per parcel are quite high.