Ever since I began selling on line, about 10 years I have used the Post Office at 772 Dovercourt Road. Chosen as it was a short drive, parking often available and was a sorting office too.
The staff ,for the most part, have always been friendly, unknowable and helpful . Cathy (below, who is retiring) once repacked a quilt that was just over the 2k, going to Australia. She found garbage bags to wrap it in, rolled, taped and readdressed...not the prettiest parcel but it arrived just fine. This was much to the amusement of the other customers, some of whom lent a hand.
Now Canada Post, in its wisdom, has consolidated sorting sites and is selling much of its prime, extraordinarily expensive Toronto real estate.
New sites will be franchised to Shoppers Drug Mart, a rather nasty drug store chain. The Shoppers poorly paid staff will, of course, not be unionized. If they are not at the desk they can be found stacking shelves or flogging Elizabeth Arden. But my pet peeve is that they a forced to wear ghastly promotional T shirts " triple Shoppers points this week" or " try Shoppers saving plan"...not that you get triple points at the PO desk, of course.
As a small (very small) business it is not much fun having to struggle to the back of Shoppers aisles, with 5 or 6 parcels, knocking over the toothpaste and bumping into the Bourjois cosmetic Christmas display.
Yesterday was the last day for Dovercourt,the shelves are bare,
So long,guys. It was good to know you.
Oh....and what is Canada Post going to do with its new found millions and savings......why? put the rates up,of course.
I'm with you on not so great service at the drugstore. I've found that the knowledge the clerks have about shipping rates is uneven at best. One SDM clerk told me that my little scraps of fabric in letter envelopes had to go package because they weren't paper. I went to another drugstore chain postal outlet and they charged letter rates. my friend with an etsy shop has a weigh scale at home and uses the CP website to print off postage, bypassing those outlets all together. good luck!
ReplyDeleteKnow just how you feel, here in the UK the small (important) post offices have been closing to 'save money' to the detriment of the local communities - and yes, of course the postage rates have soared as well. First class mail was, once upon a time next day delivery - now it's up to three days, and second class, which was two to three days get's here goodness knows when!
ReplyDeleteOh dear Jan! I feel for you. Luckily, my local post offices here in France are still in action and I now have the staff 'tamed' and used to my international doings. However, we also have a 'depot' nearby and sometimes I like to print my stamps off at home and just drop the packages off there. Could you cope with printing off your own postage at home? It would be worth trying I think. Good luck anyway.
ReplyDeleteOh Jan, what is the world coming to? Walking into our post office is like going into a supermarket, they have so much 'stuff' on shelves that is completely unrelated to the business of sending and receiving mail! There have been ominous rumours about changes to the postal service here, but Australians can protest pretty loudly when things don't go the way we want, so most of the time the majority rules and those who would change the old way have to back off.
ReplyDeleteand they call it progress.....it's the same here. Goodbye local, friendly service...it's pants.
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