How come Hong Kong Shipping arrive so fast compare to Canada Post??

[sf1]

I was just wondering.
I have ordered parts from hong kong and they arrive to Canada in less than 5 business days, this is not the first time happening. (bubble envelope $3 HK dollar stamp, thats less than $1 canadian dollar for total shipping)

on the opposite, i send parts to US using canadapost expedit and it takes more than 14 business days to arrive and it cost me more than $12 Canadian dollar.

Why??

is it because the chinese work more efficiently or is it that most other post office including USPS work more efficiently than Canada post??

or is the customs more easy on goods coming from china than across the boarder?

Why the heck I pay so much on the shipping and I dont get half the efficiency most other post office offer? Are they not hiring enough people or something?

[IronMac]

It's the wonder of "air transport".

[aquariaguy]

Boat!

[sf1]

even if i used canada small packet air method it would have taken at least 1 and a half week.
you guys are saying boat costs more than air but yet slower?

[mrG]

i've noticed this too. i bought a lock off ebay from hong kong but i really needed it ASAP so i ordered one from the US too, thinking it would get here faster. well 3 days later the lock from HONG KONG arrived. and the US one is still not here. it's crazy how fast it goes.. almost as if it skips customs.

[Cacti]

i've noticed this too. i bought a lock off ebay from hong kong but i really needed it ASAP so i ordered one from the US too, thinking it would get here faster. well 3 days later the lock from HONG KONG arrived. and the US one is still not here. it's crazy how fast it goes.. almost as if it skips customs.

If you need a lock so badly why don't you get off your computer and go to a canadian tire and buy one..

[sf1]

If you need a lock so badly why don't you get off your computer and go to a canadian tire and buy one..

cuz ebay with shipping was cheaper than canadian tire everyday low price + tax?
or he couldnt find a specific model at local store

[Cacti]

cuz ebay with shipping was cheaper than canadian tire everyday low price + tax?
or he couldnt find a specific model at local store

What are you his lawyer?:lol:

[Siefer999]

ive noticed this too. i get stuff from hong kong that i order from ebay in a matter of days

[gilboman]

well its just a matter of geography and not efficiency.

hong kong is extremelly small, and the area covered by their postal service is small too. if you mail a package in hkg, it'll reach the sorting facility and port of exit within a day easily whereas canadapost is huge and it wont make any sense to have huge amount of sorting facilities and exit ports, they need to be aggregated first (e.g. to centralized regional sortation facility and then onwards to exit port facility). which adds to the time it takes to actually send it out.

to further suport this simple geography explanation, if it was only matter of efficiency of canada post vs HKG post, you would not recieve packages as quick as well since it is canada post that delievers the package/post to you once it enters canadian soil.

thus, the simple reason is HKG is size of a suburb in GTA and thats all the area the HKG is responsible for whereas canada post is much much much larger

[zoro69]

You can airmail with canadapost to europe and often have it get there within a week, quicker then to the USA.

[1madman1]

For me, packages from Australia, HK, UK, and Ukraine arrive in 1-2 weeks using standard lettermail or small packet air service. Stuff from the US on the other hand typically takes 2 weeks or more.

[fenrus]

unions...

[mr.wiz0rd]

I was just wondering.
I have ordered parts from hong kong and they arrive to Canada in less than 5 business days, this is not the first time happening. (bubble envelope $3 HK dollar stamp, thats less than $1 canadian dollar for total shipping)

on the opposite, i send parts to US using canadapost expedit and it takes more than 14 business days to arrive and it cost me more than $12 Canadian dollar.

Why??

is it because the chinese work more efficiently or is it that most other post office including USPS work more efficiently than Canada post??

or is the customs more easy on goods coming from china than across the boarder?

Why the heck I pay so much on the shipping and I dont get half the efficiency most other post office offer? Are they not hiring enough people or something?

In some parts of China (Shanghai and Beijing) they ship mail TWICE a day!! So that means you can drop off your mail in the afternoon and it will get delivered to the neighbourhood in the same day!!

[sf1]

the geographic explanation was good thanks, that explains why they are slow.
unions lol maybe

so what about the costs then? Why is Canada post regular so much more expensive than USPS, HK, China other parts of the world etc? they got unions in USPS too.

[dasaylay]

the geographic explanation was good thanks, that explains why they are slow.
unions lol maybe

so what about the costs then? Why is Canada post regular so much more expensive than USPS, HK, China other parts of the world etc? they got unions in USPS too.

It's probably cheaper for other countries because they deal with such a larger volume compared to Canada. It's like bulk orders, things can be done more efficiently by using one truck to transport 1 tonne of mail, vs Canada which may only fill half a tonne of mail in a truck. CP then has to cover their costs of the empty room so they dock you with the extra charges.

[gilboman]

the geographic explanation was good thanks, that explains why they are slow.
unions lol maybe

so what about the costs then? Why is Canada post regular so much more expensive than USPS, HK, China other parts of the world etc? they got unions in USPS too.

again geography and population density... look at the size of canada and say the US..and then population density. it costs a lot more to ship say from toronto to yellowknife than new york to utah eventhough the distance maybe similar since there is a lot more volume to spread the costs to.

same explanation for HKG, population/mail volume of GTA in area of scarborough. the costs are a lot lower since service area is so small.

[hyperion]

I think some third world countries have better mail service than Canada Post.

[gilboman]

I think some third world countries have better mail service than Canada Post.

i think you may need to look up which countries are considered third world

[hyperion]

i think you may need to look up which countries are considered third world

I think you may have taken my comment seriously.

[cywhiz]

Efficiency....When you take a look at the speed people in Hong Kong are walking (in downtown) compared to here, then you'll see what I mean...Also, check out people working in McDonalds and KFC as well...:)

As already mentioned, geographic factors play a role here, the demographics in Canada are widespread...not as closely packed as HK or US..

As for the cost, don't you realize that many things in Canada (except housing) are much more expensive than other countries? Compared to HK and US, there are less people working here and demand more salary...thus customers have to pay more...

[d_jedi]

I think it's because, under the leadership of Ted Stevens, all of the USPS facilities have been converted for greater efficiency.

I'll let him explain it in his own words:
And again, the USPS is not something you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.

:D

[kwokinator]

Question I've been wondering for a while now. Did you actually get hit with any tax and customs fee for buying the item from Hong Kong?

That's the main thing keeping me from ordering anything from over there.

I never know what stuff from what countries get taxed and what don't (like, I know USPS charges a flat rate brokerage fee but I don't know if they charge it for really cheap items, sometimes I buy stuff that ends less than a dollar so I didn't want to risk it and get a brokerage fee more expensive than the item), so I mainly just bought stuff from Canada when there's cheaper stuff elsewhere.

[sf1]

Question I've been wondering for a while now. Did you actually get hit with any tax and customs fee for buying the item from Hong Kong?

That's the main thing keeping me from ordering anything from over there.

I never know what stuff from what countries get taxed and what don't (like, I know USPS charges a flat rate brokerage fee but I don't know if they charge it for really cheap items, sometimes I buy stuff that ends less than a dollar so I didn't want to risk it and get a brokerage fee more expensive than the item), so I mainly just bought stuff from Canada when there's cheaper stuff elsewhere.

everything i have purchased so far from HK are less than $20/each. chinese people are smart enuff to declare $10ish HK dollar so you usually dont get hit with customs. Most HK sellers i see on ebay.ca owns a store and they have been doing that.

to answer ur question, I think anything coming from USPS with declared value above $50 you will be hit with taxes and customs.

I dont think custom is calculated by distance? because that would be insane i get charge $15 to $20 buying from US most of the time, and US is suppose to be our neighbour.

[mrG]

If you need a lock so badly why don't you get off your computer and go to a canadian tire and buy one..

Wow. Thanks man. Way to derail the thread and make me feel like a lazy piece of crap. What if I were disabled or something?

But really, it was a special computer lock. I couldn't find them in any local stores.