Evidence of meeting #38 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Penny Walsh McGuire  Executive Director, Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce
Katharine MacDonald  Owner, Milk & Amber
John Barrett  Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.
Scott Gaudet  Vice-President, Local 129, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Marcia Carroll  Executive Director, The PEI Council of People with Disabilities

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Tom Lukiwski

Thank you very much.

Mr. McCauley, I believe you're up for seven minutes.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Gentlemen, thank you for being with us today. It's a beautiful city, and I'm very happy to be here.

Mr. Barrett, thank you for your comments. I'm looking at your website right now, and I've already forwarded it on to my wife. She's an avid gardener. I unfortunately have the black thumb of death when it comes to gardening, so unfortunately I think a lot of this stuff would be going to waste.

You mentioned that 90% of your parcels go through Canada Post. Is that including Purolator or is it pure postal service?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

It's Canada Post.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Who does the other 10% go through?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

There a number of items that we sell and they're rather large and heavy.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Oh, so they just can't...?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

We use FedEx Ground, or whatever it may be. It might even be Purolator Ground. There are a number of items that have to be shipped that way.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

I assume you have 90% going through Canada Post because that has the best pricing?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

Canada Post does offer a system of discounts to its corporate customers. We're very fortunate being located here for two reasons. One is that our volume is relatively high, so that helps toward establishing our discounts. Also, we're shipping stuff from here west. My understanding is that Canada Post trucks are not as full going from the east to the west as they going from the west to the east. If I were based in Mississauga, my rate might not be as good as my rate is now. So we do use Canada Post because of the rate, but, while we have UPS and everybody else knocking on our door every few months, we're also very happy with the service.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Right.

How much do you ship down to the U.S.?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

We ship some things from here to the U.S., but then we have a distribution facility in the U.S. for the bulk of things that are shipped.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

You mentioned the FedEx service. I'm looking at it. It looks fantastic.

We've heard one thing over the last few days about the U.S. offering three different bags for parcels. There's one parcel for up to this weight and there's another one for this weight, and there's one that's a flat rate throughout the country. I think Australia just has a pre-bought bag that will fit up to x number of pounds anywhere.

Would something like that help you or is the way it is currently set up right for your business now?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

We have done some shipping on behalf of some U.S. partners and we've taken advantage of a program similar to the one-pound flat fee and also the “cram as much stuff as you want inside this parcel for a flat fee” thing. For our core business, each box is a different size and a different weight. We're not like a publisher's clearing house that sends out 100,000 of the same item. Those sorts of programs are a little more efficient for that kind of thing.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Okay. That's interesting, because you are such a large customer of theirs, but it wouldn't be a great option here?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

No, it's just not a fit.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Do you do a lot of catalogues and stuff?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Where do you ship your catalogues? Obviously, it's on the island, but...?

11:15 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

No, primarily we're operating with two major printers, Lowe-Martin in Ottawa and St. Joseph in Toronto or Concord. When the bulk of the catalogues are printed, maybe 50,000 to 60,000 are sent to our mailing house in Halifax for daily request fulfillment, but the bulk of them go straight into cases. They go straight to the gateway postal facility in Toronto and are inducted into the system right there, so they never come here.

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

But it all goes out through Canada Post.

11:20 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

John Barrett

There is no other choice.

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

Are you happy with the service you're getting for that?

11:20 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.

11:20 a.m.

Conservative

Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB

To touch briefly on what they do in Australia, you mentioned the FedEx system. Is there anything else that you see Canada Post doing that would help you greatly, or help other businesses that are similar to what you're doing—

11:20 a.m.

Director of Sales, Marketing and Development, Vesey's Seeds Ltd.