USPS Suspends Australia deliveries. Chitchats as well.

[byto253]

Notice from Chitchats:

"We have temporarily disabled ALL international services for shipments to Australia both Asendia and USPS. This is in response to the recently announced suspensions from USPS."

This will likely affect anyone that uses services like Chitchats and Stallion to route international through USPS. 

[femmefan1946]

Not just Australia.
I wonder if some of those countries are refusing shipments from the USA since COVID is surging there?

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

As of August 27, 2021 all is good for Oz with CP.

Delivery service disruptions | Our company | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

Limited countries for suspended (6). USA states expect delays. as we put safety first.

BC/MB - Wildfire issues

-Lotz

[byto253]

Yes, there has been an ongoing list, Australia is new and bit surprising.

[ypdc_dennis]

USPS has not suspended service to Australia.  The USPS list only mentions service disruptions and delays for Australia. It does not say that all service has been suspended.

https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/

[byto253]

I assumed that chitchats would be in the know and didn't check the USPS site.  At first they were just not offering USPS but  Asendia was still on offer, then about 35 minutes later there was another email that neither was shipping there.  

As a shipping partner for USPS I wonder if they have a heads up before USPS puts in on their site.  I can't see chitchats cutting off their business without a reason.  Very strange to see these contradictory messages.

[pjcdn2005]

According to eBay usps is actually suspending services to Australia.  Perhaps the service alerts on the usps site haven't  been updated yet.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/USPS-to-suspend-package-services-to-Australia-effective/...

[byto253]

Chitchats is now shipping to Australia with Asendia , 

"Asendia Priority Tracked has been enabled for service to Australia. USPS service is still temporarily unavailable"

[ypdc_dennis]

As of today (Sept 3) USPS has now added Australia to the list of countries with suspended service -- but only for some services. https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/

Australia Post:  https://auspost.com.au/service-updates/current-updates/domestic-service-updates

-;-

[ypdc_dennis]

Canada Post has this to say (Sept 23):

Border closures imposed by Australian authorities to combat the Covid19 pandemic have severely restricted flight capacity to Australia and New Zealand, creating delays for our customers. Some items may be delivered 20 to 30 days beyond published delivery standards. Consumers and business shippers should consider the additional delivery time when making commitments to recipients in Australia and New Zealand.

www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/service-alerts.page

[dinomitesales]

Note that they have the same warning for shipments to China. Anything heading to China right now is seeing MASSIVE delays.

[byto253]

Interesting as I have had a couple of things come from there and the shipping time was pretty quick for China.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@byto253 wrote:

Chitchats is now shipping to Australia with Asendia , 

"Asendia Priority Tracked has been enabled for service to Australia. USPS service is still temporarily unavailable"

---

Update for CP Australia and NZ -Date posted: September 23, 2021

Yellow alert: We will attempt delivery to these communities and regions.

Border closures imposed by Australian authorities to combat the Covid19 pandemic have severely restricted flight capacity to Australia and New Zealand, creating delays for our customers. Some items may be delivered 20 to 30 days beyond published delivery standards. Consumers and business shippers should consider the additional delivery time when making commitments to recipients in Australia and New Zealand. Please know our people are working hard to maintain service and keep the mail moving. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding. Our on-time delivery guarantee remains suspended for USA and International services including Xpresspost™– International and Priority™ Worldwide.

See attached for additional areas affected.

Delivery service disruptions | Our company | Canada Post (canadapost-postescanada.ca)

-Lotz

[femmefan1946]

There is a story in the Sept 28/21 Globe and Mail Report on Business about containers.

Apparently the Port of Vancouver is sending unusually high numbers of containers back to China empty.

Normally, empty containers are refilled with export goods before return.

But imports from China are so high that shipping companies are paying to return the empties, rather than wait for the Canada-side containers to fill.

• The Two Michaels? Possibly.

Since Canada Post would be one of those exporters that would mean fewer containers available for shipments.

Takeaways?

Don't ship Surface.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@ypdc_dennis wrote:

Canada Post has this to say (Sept 23):

Border closures imposed by Australian authorities to combat the Covid19 pandemic have severely restricted flight capacity to Australia and New Zealand, creating delays for our customers. Some items may be delivered 20 to 30 days beyond published delivery standards. Consumers and business shippers should consider the additional delivery time when making commitments to recipients in Australia and New Zealand.

www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/service-alerts.page

---

tyler@ebay 

Hopefully eBay is being reactive to these ongoing updates? CP/USPS etc.

-Lotz

[darak10]

the suspension was lifted quickly, within a couple days.  The reason was situation specific and just needed to be resolved before being lifted anyways.  Chitchats suspended as a knee jerk response to USPS but were back online to Oz within a day or two.  

Ive had quite a few Oz customers in the last two months and from my end anecdotally I am hearing of no delays in shipments, in fact the opposite, Aussies happy they are getting their items quickly.  

Still cant say the same for the UK unfortunately.  

[darak10]

no, the reason why they are doing that is due to backlogs at various Chinese ports and a shortage of seacans due to chronic supply chain issues - yes, its affecting even the availability of seacans - they are paying to turn them around and send them back because they cant get stuff out fast enough with the Xmas rush approaching, and one port just coming back open a few weeks ago after a COVID shutdown.   Their economy depends on keeping the ports going.   Nothing to do with the Michaels, its a purely a bottom line economic decision.