I spend a *lot* of time at the post office. More than half of my business is done outside of Montreal, which means that, unless I'm making a trip to one of those areas, I'll be shipping the orders to my customers.
Canada Post has a Venture One program for entrepreneurs, which gives those who sign up a special rate on packages sent within Canada. It usually costs between $8-$10 to ship any size box within Canada via next-day service. Not a bad deal! However, the near-flat rate means that it's better to ship bigger boxes and it's better to ship everything at once.
My mom gave me a bunch of boxes last year when she came to Montreal, which I've been using to ship my orders. However, these boxes were too small for my most recent set of orders, destined for Toronto. And I did not want to ship in two boxes because it meant that I'd be charged approximately $8 for each one, when I could ship it all in the same, albeit bigger, box for a little more. I went to Canada Post to see what kind of boxes they had. They had a variety of box sizes, ranging in price from $4-$7. (Side note: I know a lot of people use Uline for their shipping supplies, but they are actually quite expensive in Canada.) I then went to Dollarama to see what kind of boxes they had (if they had any). While I was wandering down the aisle, my eye caught a pile of flattened shipping boxes. Yes, the boxes that other suppliers use to send their products to a store, the same boxes that are unpacked, flattened, and then left out on the street for recycling. I felt like I'd stumbled on a gold mine! What a happy accident!
So, I walked out of Dollarama with an unwanted box for free, filled it with my order, and mailed it at the post office the next day for $10.20, thus saving myself $8. Every little bit counts!
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