Ontario Transfer Wait Times?

I bought two HG from two different retailers a day apart.

The first one i have received after 10 days but I am still waiting for the second one....

Explain that one to me ???

Staff member A and staff member B print off their piles of transfers to stamp


Staff member A picks sheets from the bottom of the pile, staff member B picks them from the top of the pile

then staff members A & B go have coffee and the computers go down and the weather is bad and and and and and

Don't strain yourself thinking about it too much, it's a headache for everyone and as predictable as the weather in Southern Ontario
 
Staff member A and staff member B print off their piles of transfers to stamp


Staff member A picks sheets from the bottom of the pile, staff member B picks them from the top of the pile

then staff members A & B go have coffee and the computers go down and the weather is bad and and and and and

Don't strain yourself thinking about it too much, it's a headache for everyone and as predictable as the weather in Southern Ontario

LMAO! That's awesome!
 
Yeah they're SLOW and there is NO particular order. Monday April 24 I ordered an M&P 45 and a S&W 629 from Durham Outdoors and a S&W SD9VE from Bullseye London. I got the SD9VE yesterday but there is still no word on the other 2 from Durham Ourdoors. Since then I bought a GSG 1911-22 from my range (Target Sports Canada) and on May 10 I bought a 500 S&W magnum from Durham Ourdoors. Hopefully I'll have my 44 and 45 by the end of this week.
Mike C.
 
Staff member A and staff member B print off their piles of transfers to stamp


Staff member A picks sheets from the bottom of the pile, staff member B picks them from the top of the pile

then staff members A & B go have coffee and the computers go down and the weather is bad and and and and and

Don't strain yourself thinking about it too much, it's a headache for everyone and as predictable as the weather in Southern Ontario

If you must ponder than this is about as good an explanation as your going to get. Two weeks is pretty good...
 
Ontario transfer times suck balls... For EE sales I've passed over buyers from ON to sell to AB or BC recently as it's next day transfer. Sorry guys :(
 
Pretty sure calling to ask the status is only going to accomplish two things.

1. Nothing.
2. Take up valuable time that could be spend processing transfers.

I have had paperwork sit on a desk for weeks at a time. When I called about it someone went and found it and shuffled it along the line, so calling is not always fruitless.


What actually happens in a CFO office when a transfer request comes in? Anyone know? Check the recipient: valid RPAL (ok), done! What else? Should all be done electronically and cut out the 5 - 7 days in the mail issue.

I had a thread about this a couple months back after a private sale to an Ontario buyer took 3 weeks to be completed. With current common technology a transfer should take seconds at most, while you are still on the phone with the CFC completing the buyer's portion of the hoop jumping exercise. This is nothing but a make work project and an excuse to harass gun owners.


Anyone know if it's faster to get the buyer notification by email?

I can't say for certain, but the other option is to wait on snail mail for the notification. Even if they don't email at the same time, losing the mail transit time is a big improvement.


It took exactly 2 weeks for me to get an email notification. WTF, right? With Continuous Eligibility screening in effect, what does the CFO really do?

Absolutely nothing useful.


If you must ponder than this is about as good an explanation as your going to get. Two weeks is pretty good...

Only for Ontario. In Alberta if a transfer takes more than 48 hours something has gone horribly wrong.


Mark
 
Its a chicken and egg scenario. Which came first? The backlog caused by the calls or the calls caused by the backlog?

Transfer times are what they are directly because of how the process is run and staffed.

First
The reality is that in Ontario from at least the late 90s is there is no such thing staffing to need vs staffing to budget. Budget is set to optimistic work volume at about 80-85% of reality with no cushion or surplus.
That means existing staff are made to work to make up other staff sick time, materinity leaves, vacations etc in addition to regular duties with the predictable result on output and delays.
Floaters, spare staff etc are a fairy tale from the long gone past.

Second
The delay must recieve some sort of excuse with what ever comes to mind. 'We are behind because management is not staffing us
properly' is not going to be something they are going to say unless they are really letting their guard down or are completely stress out or want
to be looking for new opportunites.
Occasionally you will get some comments closer to reality and the truth due to stress or trust when one of the staff speaks to callers in categories
like retail, enforcement or government.

Third
The only job duty that management sees to and insists (read threatens dire consequences if not performed) is that phones are answered.
Phones going to voice mail stirs management up on their hind legs and out from hibernation. It does not matter how they are answered
but they must be answered. So high call volumes generally will slow non phone/enquiry driven regular duties to a crawl or full stop.


Friend recently got his retailer purchase transfer after waiting from April 23rd.
Store told him that when they were calling in new transfers they were told that there are;
Four staff members doing transfers
They are 1500 behind.
Expect 3-4 weeks.

So 1500 over 4 staff over 3 weeks is about 25 transfers a day. Well below what could be done but they just don't do transfers they have to deal with other things.
The big thing is phone calls. Phones must be answered if at all possible.
Yes when they get behind the calls coming in become a postive feedback loop slowing everything down but that is how the beast is designed.
 
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Its a chicken and egg scenario. Which came first? The backlog caused by the calls or the calls caused by the backlog?

Transfer times are what they are directly because of how the process is run and staffed.

First
The reality is that in Ontario from at least the late 90s is there is no such thing staffing to need vs staffing to budget. Budget is set to optimistic work volume at about 80-85% of reality with no cushion or surplus.
That means existing staff are made to work to make up other staff sick time, materinity leaves, vacations etc in addition to regular duties with the predictable result on output and delays.
Floaters, spare staff etc are a fairy tale from the long gone past.

Second
The delay must recieve some sort of excuse with what ever comes to mind. 'We are behind because management is not staffing us
properly' is not going to be something they are going to say unless they are really letting their guard down or are completely stress out or want
to be looking for new opportunites.
Occasionally you will get some comments closer to reality and the truth due to stress or trust when one of the staff speaks to callers in categories
like retail, enforcement or government.

Third
The only job duty that management sees to and insists (read threatens dire consequences if not performed) is that phones are answered.
Phones going to voice mail stirs management up on their hind legs and out from hibernation. It does not matter how they are answered
but they must be answered. So high call volumes generally will slow non phone/enquiry driven regular duties to a crawl or full stop.


Friend recently got his retailer purchase transfer after waiting from April 23rd.
Store told him that when they were calling in new transfers they were told that there are;
Four staff members doing transfers
They are 1500 behind.
Expect 3-4 weeks.

So 1500 over 4 staff over 3 weeks is about 25 transfers a day. Well below what could be done but they just don't do transfers they have to deal with other things.
The big thing is phone calls. Phones must be answered if at all possible.
Yes when they get behind the calls coming in become a postive feedback loop slowing everything down but that is how the beast is designed.

Clearly you're a government employee.

Most government employees forget how fortunate they are and how good they have it. More than half would crumble in a non-government work environment. You want to see quick transfer times? Privatize the CFO's office.
 
Clearly you're a government employee.

Sorry to disappoint as that is not an observation from one on the teat. :)

But no offence taken as I understand completely.

You are spot on regarding the accuracy as I had a chance for direct observation of the smoke and mirror approach of post mid 90s government work model.

Most government employees forget how fortunate they are and how good they have it. More than half would crumble in a non-government work environment. You want to see quick transfer times? Privatize the CFO's office.

The best thing privatization can do is gut the fat from the part of the government that is simply a 'life support unit' for various types of patronage, nepotism and cronyism that has crept in.

The bulk of present management lives a detached life like some kind of aristrocracy and they bring along creatures that parachute into the parts of the government that try to do the real work
and live a party lifestyle while the less well connected regular employees look on, lose morale and pick up their slack and clean up their messes on top of their other duties.

However you want to do it, simply firing existing management then placing actual performance employees in management positions and cutting the sick day/extra coffee break/socialist crowd will work wonders! ;)
 
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Well, I had a reasonably quick transfer time at end of March, 10 days or so. However getting actual registration certificate is now about to hit week 7.
 
Hopefully it isn't too long... my last one took 15 days, I have 2 right now and 1 going to be started on Monday all going into my name so hopefully it doesn't take too too long lol
 
What is continuous eligibility screening? How is it implemented?

This is from the RCMP website:
Continuous-eligibility screening is one of the most innovative features of the CFP. Rather than just doing background checks at the time of licensing and renewal (as was done under previous legislation), the CFRS is dynamic and continuously updated as new information comes to the attention of the police and courts concerning the behaviour of licence holders. All current holders of firearms licences, POL (Possession Only) and PAL (Possession and Acquisition of further firearms), are recorded in the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS). CFIS automatically checks with the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) every day to determine whether a licence holder has been the subject of an incident report in CPIC. All matches generate a report entitled Firearms Interest Police (FIP) that is automatically forwarded to the CFO in the relevant province for follow-up. Some of these reports require no further action, but others may lead to review of the individual's licence and may result in its revocation. Continuous-eligibility screening reduces the likelihood that an individual who has shown they are a risk to public safety will be permitted to retain possession of firearms.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to find out if all the province CFO offices have the same number of people working in it doing restricted firearms transfers. Just in Ontario, having the highest population in Canada of about 40% of Canada's population, have a much higher number of restricted firearm purchases daily with the added callers asking why their transfers aren't done yet or stupid people called to enquire about stupid @#$% that waists everyone's time. Ontario probably even has more gun stores that sell handguns than BC. Lots of BC gun stores don't sell restricted firearms. BC's CFO is super fast. I've seen transfers done the same day they were started but they're generally 24hr wait times or a 5 business day wait time for first time restricted firearm purchases. However BC has a population of 4.6 million. Ontario is 13.8 million. Just about 10 million more people.
 
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