Canada Postal Strike

Strike this Thursday - Shipping alternatives

[Demaestro]

Just a heads up for anyone using Canada Post for shipping.

My Friend who was a featured etsy seller last week has a few thousand orders to fulfill just in time for the Postal strike.

Lucky she is only an hours drive from the border and her plan is to drive into the USA and use their postal service.

I am sure this isn't going to work for a lot of distributors.

Any advise on alternative shipping?

[dpd1]

Yeah, I've already had some people there bail on purchases because of it. I can't see it lasting long. But honestly, I don't know how you're going to do it for anywhere near the same cost. Everything else is a lot more expensive. I'm sure the US border stations will be inundated.

[bakedjake]

I don't know how you're going to do it for anywhere near the same cost.

You're not. Some of CP's other services subsidize their parcel services so they're the price leader.

One thing that irritates me is that the media seems to be focusing on the lettermail part of the story, and has virtually ignored the parcel side of things.

Hope they get it sorted out quickly, but we have to be realistic. It's been going on for 7 months.

Consumers have yet to discover how this strike will impact them, but when they do, I suspect they will be upset.

[Demaestro]

I am also surprised that the media isn't focusing on the impact of businesses who ship parcels.

When the CND dollar comes close to USD parody all the news can talk about is how it affects exporters and the there are "poor helpless businesses" pieces all over the news.

When the post office goes on strike there is almost no mention of the effect on businesses and I haven't seen one "poor helpless businesses" piece.

Last night the Post Office rejected pretty much everything the union offered up. I don't see this ending quickly.

[dpd1]

The media is going to go with the stories about grandma not getting her checks and stuff like that. Frankly, that's part of the problem... Most of the general public looks at the postal services as some joke of a dinosaur that only old people still use. There's people in the US that actually say ours should be dismantled and all this other insanity. If a stamp goes up 5 cents, they act like the world is ending. People are clueless. I don't blame the PO people for being ticked... While I do think there's a lot of PO workers that aren't the greatest... They do get treated like the red-headed step children of the delivery world.

[bakedjake]

There's people in the US that actually say ours should be dismantled and all this other insanity.

CP and USPS are vastly different animals and the problems that face them are very different.

CP's labor issues stem from the fact that their modernization efforts have been very effective and have replaced a fair bit of the workforce with automation and privatization on the retail side. CP is profitable.

USPS refuses to modernize, and the government subsidizes cheap postage. USPS is bleeding money.

Again, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with the assertion, just pointing out that the two systems face different issues.

The media is going to go with the stories about grandma not getting her checks and stuff like that. Frankly, that's part of the problem... Most of the general public looks at the postal services as some joke of a dinosaur that only old people still use.

Like I said, I suspect most people in Canada don't understand the impact the strike will have, as the media focus has been on lettermail and not parcels.

I did hear on CFRB today that if CP strikes tonight, it will start in Winnipeg at midnight, and be rolling 24 hour strikes, with each 24 hour strike being in a different locale. So it doesn't sound like a total disruption of service, for now.

[Demaestro]

I did hear on CFRB today that if CP strikes tonight, it will start in Winnipeg at midnight, and be rolling 24 hour strikes, with each 24 hour strike being in a different locale. So it doesn't sound like a total disruption of service, for now.

That is good info, I hadn't heard that.

I remember one CP strike maybe 20 years ago where they were being barred from striking so instead of a strike they released a statement that read something like this.

"All CP workers will be on the job as ordered and mail will be delivered but we may forget to check for stamps/postage paid"

I admit I sent my grandma a card with no stamp during that time period and she received it.

[dpd1]

USPS refuses to modernize, and the government subsidizes cheap postage. USPS is bleeding money.

I can't argue with that. I was teasing them about their scanners one time. They look like something from the 50's.

The problem in the US is that people are cheap a**es. In the public's minds, the PO ranks up there with Amtrak and NASA. They think it's all a giant waste of money and somehow they're all getting ripped off by it. When in reality, there's far far worse things. So that's why they never improve. But what can you do... Most people are ignorant. It's still well under a buck to send a decent amount of papers anywhere within a US territory. That seems like a pretty good deal to me, but apparently it's not to a lot of people. I really wouldn't want it to privatize, because if it did, they would probably double the package rates, to cover the regular mail cheap rates... Because average Joe public doesn't care about the package rates... they just care about the mail. So people like us would probably be paying $5-10 more, so that old cranky people could still get their cheap stamps.

[buckworks]

media isn't focusing on the impact of businesses who ship parcels

The TV news from Winnipeg just had a feature on a company that is already facing serious repercussions just from the threat of the strike. They're a garden seed company, and their sales have taken a nosedive over the last few days, just when they should be at the peak of their season. Ugh.

[bakedjake]

It has begun.

(not so) funny enough, canadapost.ca appears to be on strike this morning as well. ;-)

So no label printing for us at the moment.

[votrechien]

They're rolling strikes as we speak so it won't be catastrophic delays for a large number of internet retailers.

For those planning on driving their orders south of the border and fulfilling them there be advised you may run into problems if you're trying to do this on a large number of orders (one or two that you conceal as personal items they may turn a blind eye to). The most obvious being that you will have to commercially clear the items through customs which can be daunting for first time importers. The less obvious may be that if you're delivering your items for a business you are technically working in the U.S. which is a no-no without a work visa.

The worst they will likely do is turn you around or hassle you at the border for an extended period of time but keep it in mind!

[lgn1]

We ship by Fed Ex, but the strike is impacting our sales.

It's a perception thing. People associate the post office with parcel delivery, and the number of orders are dropping.

I guess its time to plaster our site with we ship Fed Ex on every page.

[bakedjake]

OK, the big one starts today. Good luck everyone. We're shipping via Purolator for most of our orders now.

[Demaestro]

The rolling strikes have turned into a Lockout by the Post Office.

[wheel]

The rolling strikes have turned into a Lockout by the Post Office.

So it's official that they're not working? Unlike before, where it wasn't official?

[Demaestro]

Unlike before, where it wasn't official?

Not quite, before they were doing rolling strikes, so Edmonton wouldn't have postal service but everywhere else would... then Vancouver wouldn't have service but everywhere else would.... now they are all locked out.

They showed up for work in cities that weren't striking that day and were sent home.

I think the Postal Service is trying to take back control and this could force a resolution sooner even though it shuts down the service nationwide.

[globaltvcalgary.com...]

[wheel]

so Edmonton wouldn't have postal service but everywhere else would

You have a different perception of what's going on in the postal system than I do. i.e. you seem to think the mail was getting through before and during the rotating strikes.

[dpd1]

I finally got bit by this. Murphy's law... Somebody ordered an item and ignored the notice that shipping is calculated for US only. So I told them we would send them a new request with the right amount. For some reason the guy thought we were still shipping it and ignored the request and also the refund notice for the first order. I just happen to contact him today to see why he never put it through. He thought it was on it's way. So I go to send it and realize they've locked out all mail from the US side. Global Express won't take the package size. So we're now out of luck on shipments to CA until they work this out. Might have to refund on this sale as well. I'm surprised it has lasted this long.

[HRoth]

I didn't realize how long it has lasted either. I have orders just sitting here. I emailed the customers to let them know.

[Swanny007]

I'm still buying stuff, the places I've ordered from have used Canpar, UPS, and FedEx. There are options out there... Unfortunately I know I have one four-figure cheque that's stuck in the mail and I can't do anything about it. Hopefully they get this all resolved soon, I have no sympathy for the C.P. Employees.

[bakedjake]

Mail delivery starts again tomorrow, with sorters going back tonight. Back to work legislation officially kicks in at 8:30 PM eastern.

[SevenCubed]

Ahhh nuts, I had my bookie place it on the nose for Wednesday when I "predicted" it last week. I missed it by a day.

[dpd1]

Yay... Didn't loose my sale.