{"id":153,"date":"2024-02-05T20:31:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T04:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/?p=153"},"modified":"2024-02-05T20:37:17","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T04:37:17","slug":"canada-post-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/archives\/153","title":{"rendered":"Canada Post and Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lately, because I have bee away from home for extended periods, I have used Canada Post’s online tools to set up mail forwarding to may folk’s place until we come back. The first few times I could do it without having to visit the post office at all. The second last time they had asked me to drop by a post office branch to verify my identity with a bar code of the transaction I made online. Ok, that was a bit annoying but I am ok with it. However now…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now for step five they added some online tool for added security. Enter “Bluink.ca” eID-Me. Oh what a cluster this is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try number 1. I get to step 5 and I get a message that Canada Post is now using Bluink for added security. Press continue when done… Ok… What? The web site is now dead. I cannot finish the transaction. The web site just has at most two paragraphs that explain nothing. I thought there was an issue. So I…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try number 2. I get to step 5 and again same result. This is madness. I read very carefully the instructions. I am pretty tech savy, being a programmer and all. And I am stumped here. I expect maybe the page will update itself or present a popup with Bluink to temporarily take over and get beyond this point. Nope. It just sits there in perpetuity. Maybe my ad-blocker is causing a problem. Turn it off and…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try number 3. I get to step 5 and same result. Ok this is messed up. Maybe I have to manually make an account with Bluink. The instructions or lack there of do not say anything about that. There is no clear steps a client should take or anything. So go to the Bluink web site on my desktop and try to create an account… Nope! Has to be done using a iOS or Android App and there is absolutely no web based option for the desktop which I was using to do all this work. So now I need two devices to get something done. This is starting to get me very annoyed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set up my account with Bluink and put in my drivers license. Tried to include my passport but that failed. You do need a modern phone with a chip reader but it seemed to have issues reading my Canadian Passport. At any rate, got one of 2 things working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try number 4! I get to step 5 and FINALLY it works! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many fail points here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Canada Post does not mention at all before you go through all this crap that a Bluink registration will be needed. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Bluink does not have a method to fill out a registration via the web site from a desktop. So you HAVE to download their useless app which will only ever be used by one corporation ever.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Step 5 is utterly broken with the anemic instructions\/directions. I am a native English speaker. I write software for a living. This step in the process is a fail beyond belief.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. I am teck savy and I have serious problems. I cannot fathom someone who is maybe any less savy going through this mess of a system. They will not be able to complete it at all. Not to mention anyone who does not have a smart phone or a smart phone that can be used with Bluink app. I do not know how new a phone you need for the app. Thankfully mine is not that ancient so it worked. But let’s put this in perspective. My parents have a computer. They are just savy enough to maybe attempt this. They will utterly fail because they do not have a smart phone. They still live with only a land line. I really hope Canada Post still has the ability to set this up in person at a post office location. Because if not they will have alienated a good population of the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The HUGE issue I have is that step 5 is AFTER you paid for the service. So I found out after the fact, checking my VISA, that Canada Post has 4 transactions from my visa card where only 1 is valid. I am keeping an eye on it and I fully expect them to catch their mistake or I am going to instruct VISA to charge back those $100 transactions. How do you take someone’s money before you VERIFY everything is in order. That is a HUGE fail!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. The kicker. I still need to go to the post office with a bar code to ‘verify’ my identity. THEN WHAT WAS ALL THE NONSENCE WITH BLUINK FOR IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO TRUST THEM!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Canada Post! Did you even test this system? This is garbage! Who let this fly?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lately, because I have bee away from home for extended periods, I have used Canada Post’s online tools to set up mail forwarding to may folk’s place until we come back. The first few times I could do it without having to visit the post office at all. The second last time they had asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153\/revisions\/156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zekaric.com\/bw1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}