Shipping twilight zone

[Pioneer]

Just received a shipment from China I had given up on long ago. A cheap chain I ordered OVER 5 MONTHS AGO just arrived today. Must be a new record, it is at least for me. What's the deal with this? It's actually postmarked Chinapost 2016/12/06, and I have seen their tracking show parcels are on a plane to Vancouver in about a week.
So, what happens when it get into the hands of Canada post? Does it go into a bin marked "ultra-low priority" because it does not have a Canadian tracking number on it? Or do they re-rout it around the world five times?

 

[Deleted member 149229]

Probably sat in customs on a low priority status until somebody decided it wasn't a threat to national security and let it go. Part that sucks will be if it lets go on it's trial cut, you did say China.

 

[alexcagle]

The search dogs had it in their cage, or it went through N.Korea.

 

[Little Al]

Canada customs are noted for VERY slow passage through their system I sent my Daughter a computer part that she was told was NLA. It sat in the customs for 4 months I used to make precision parts for model aircraft & boat IC motors & the Canada customs got so bad in the end I would not send there Their actions for whatever reasons cost me sales That was some 4 yrs back seems to have not changed /improved

 

[ReggieT]

Y-I-K-E-S!!!!!
Shades of ze Twilight Zone for sure!!

 

[ML12]

I experience this every time I order anything from china, estimated shipping is usually 3 weeks, actual arrival is normally closer to 3 months. Its messed up and really frustrating when you have a saw apart waiting for one stupid piece.

 

[Termite]

I don't order anything with a China location, anymore.

 

[torch]

So, what happens when it get into the hands of Canada post? Does it go into a bin marked "ultra-low priority" because it does not have a Canadian tracking number on it?

Basically, Yes.

There's an international reciprocity agreement between postal services. Basically, each country agrees to deliver mail originating from other countries for a nominal fee, which was set years ago and doesn't actually cover the cost of delivery over here. That was OK when people were primarily sending letters back and forth -- traffic was approximately equal in both directions and Canada Post could bury the shortfall in the profits from outgoing mail.

That was before the internet. Now ****-chat goes by e-mail and twitter and facebook, et. al. Parcels are now a much higher percentage, there's just not that many parcels heading from here to China, and the overseas countries benefiting from subsidized delivery aren't interested in renegotiating the rates. So Canada Post has been paring down the service to the bare minimum. In August of 2015, they stopped offering on-line tracking for incoming registered mail (they still track it internally though -- you can call or visit and a clerk can look it up for you if the seller provided a tracking number) .

Once they killed the tracking, things really started to slow down. CP does try to blame Customs, but EMS parcels (which are still tracked) do tend to arrive promptly. EMS is the international postal union's courier service. You pay more, but if the seller is willing to ship via EMS then you will get your parcel in a reasonable time. I've had stuff from China in 2 days by EMS.