Shipping via Canada Post - Manifest Required?

[artofadornment]

I have printed Canada Post shipping labels through PayPal for years, and I just noticed today that not only has the format of the Light Packet labels changed (now vertical instead of horizontal), the text "manifest required" has suddenly appeared in the upper right-hand corner.

This HAS to be a mistake. I have searched and searched and cannot find ANY way to print a manifest. Previously, "no manifest required" was printed in the bottom left corner of the labels because obviously no manifest was actually required. Now we're suddenly supposed to provide them? This can't be right. Shipments that don't have tracking numbers (and therefore do not need to be scanned at any point) should NOT need a manifest. But because the text is printed on the labels, I'll bet the post office is going to freak out on me.

Can anyone confirm that this is either a total mistake, or if this is a new policy we're going to have to follow for CP labels?

[mandimon]

Were you able to drop off your light packets at the post office?  This "manifest required" thing caused some issues for me today.

For 2 years Canada Post have picked up my light packets with NO issues whatsoever.

Today I ran into issues with having my light packets (around 100 of them) picked up by Canada Post. The mailman said I should definitely have a manifest for those since the labels now say "Manifest Required"... but there is no way to print a manifest with paypal shipping!!!!!  If there were, I'd gladly print one and be done with it.  

Can someone from PayPal please look into this?  I'm extremely frustrated right now.  It is confusing Canada Post employees... and now my mailman said he won't pick up any more parcels because of this. T_T  Calling CP does not help since they are just as confused by this light packet issue.  I'm at a loss at what to do. 

[artofadornment]

Oh dear... well, I figured it was only a matter of time before this caused a problem and messed up someone's shipping. Sorry to hear it!  😞

I actually just dump my Light Packets in the street mailbox every day so I haven't encountered any problems with CP staff yet - I only drop parcels off at the P.O. that need to be scanned. But just to be on the safe side, I've already emailed Paypal (twice now actually) to warn them about exactly this scenario so trust me, at least one complaint is already in the works. Incidentally, since Light Packet is just a glorified stamp with a customs label attached to it (that's right, there's no tracking, no insurance, no nothing, just like a stamp!), requiring a manifest makes no sense at all.

Until this is fixed, maybe do what I've been doing as a workaround:

- make tiny stickers (I used small return address labels and then cut them up) that have "no manifest required" printed on them, and place them right over the "manifest required" text on the labels

- drop Light Packet parcels off in street mailboxes

This way at least your parcels wouldn't be getting rejected.  Because since August 8th when I started using the stickers, none of my Light Packets have come back to me RTS (there's probably been about 50 or so since then), and I seriously doubt any will.

[mandimon]

Thanks! Printing those no manifest required stickers is a good idea. Didn't think of that. I contacted paypal as well. But I'm not very optimistic since they usually give me the run around saying 'this is a CP issue not paypal". My mail carrier did end up taking the parcels (begrudgingly). But I still feel so stressed and it was just such an unpleasant interaction since he was upset and extremely annoyed with me (and possibly canada post). I had over 100 light packets and i just hope they don't all come back. I usually try to split up my shipments so I can fit them in the mailboxes, but every once in awhile I need a pickup due to a surge of orders. I guess future pickups are know out of the question since he said he won't pick these up anymore. UGH. I don't live near a post office and can't drive (due to medical condition) so I'm in a sticky situation here. I really hope PayPal takes our complaints seriously and passes them on to CP.

[mandimon]

Ok well contacting PayPal was a joke. I am so done with all of this. One person told me Canada Post told them to implement this manifest change. I asked if they are going to implement the functionality to print a manifest for PayPal shipments, to which they told me to speak to Canada Post. Whenever I contact Canada Post, I can't get someone who is well versed in PayPal shipping tools, They just tell me not to use it anymore???!!! If that is the case, the they should take the canada post/PayPal shipping tools offline. Ugh. Canada Post is idiotic. I'll call them again on Monday. But it's looking like the only solution is for me to become a commercial customer and use their own shipping tools, so I can print this holy manifest.

[dwstore]

We have the same problem, Canada Post is refusing our packages. We've contacted PayPal and Canada Post with no success... We've just contacted Pitney Bowes, as our last resort... If it doesn't work, we will have to use "No Manifest Required" stickers like artofadornment suggested.

By the way, we have a commercial contract with Canada Post, but the Light Packet service is only available through PayPal, there's no way to get this price ($3.79) shipping to the U.S. without using PayPal or without having the best rate with your Canada Post commercial contract (Rate 15).

I just can't believe that nobody will correct this situation, I'm sure PayPal is losing money right now, as we do.

[artofadornment]

The way I figure it, enough people contacting PayPal and complaining will eventually get this fixed, BUT we need to tell them the right things. When you speak to them they will almost surely say "talk to Canada Post" (which seems logical since ultimately the labels come from CP), but actually we should not.  You can tell the agent this is the reason why:

Technically speaking we aren't Canada Post's customers, PayPal itself is. CP is providing a service custom tailored to PayPal's platform, so PayPal's customers can use it. How do I know this? Because at no point do I leave the PayPal website to purchase or print labels. Therefore what I am using is a kind of  "plug-in" or "module" that CP built specifically for PayPal - it makes a behind-the-scenes call to Canada Post's server when a label is requested, and then sends CP my money when it's purchased. Having PayPal tell me to deal with CP over this is like Starbucks telling me to talk to the dairy association if the milk they put in my coffee is sour. PayPal provides the "milk" (shipping) to me as part of their service, so it's up to PayPal to make sure it hasn't gone bad. PayPal's tech team needs to call the CP developers and tell them that something with their integrated shipping module isn't working properly anymore because it has started displaying incorrect information on Light/Small Packet labels.

If you don't want to say all that, just tell them it's a technical problem and insist that it be reported to tech support. But I suspect you'll need that reason why before they will.

[dwstore]

Yes, PayPal is generating these labels, not Canada Post... But it's "Powered by Pitney Bowes", that's why we are not sure who made the mistake, PayPal or Pitney Bowes? Obviously, the problem is not that there's no manifest but the fact that the status is "Manifest Required" instead of "No Manifest Required", like it was in the past.