Canada Post Reopens Tomorrow, But Won't Accept New Parcels Until Thursday | Selling | eBay Canada EN

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Canada Post Reopens Tomorrow, But Won't Accept New Parcels Until Thursday | Selling | eBay Canada EN

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Canada Post Reopens Tomorrow, But Won't Accept New Parcels Until Thursday

Summary: The discussion revolves around Canada Post's announcements of resuming operations after a strike and not accepting new parcels until December 19. ecgt shared the update, impacting eBay sellers who are hopeful for eased shipping conditions. reallynicestamps and daisydaisy999 discuss the effects on their ecommerce activities, with some opting to wait due to high courier prices. Others like john_koenig99 express distrust in using Canada Post. Confusion about the acceptance of packages is clarified through shared experiences from different participants. By December 17, some services were back online, with mixed expectations for mail processing times and operational capacity.

The company just posted an update on their website. The most important part for eBay sellers is where they claim they "will not receive or pick up new product until Thursday, December 19."

Link:

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/negotiations/2024-12-16-cupw-negotiations-postal-operations-to-resume-on-tuesday-december-17-following-cirb-ruling

ecgt

7664 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

34 comments

dinomitesales

·1 year ago

Surprisingly, it was not very busy today at the post office I work at. It was business as usual for us - we were able to do everything we could do before the strike including accepting any parcels. No line-ups, people coming in and out at a manageable rate where we didn't really need two tills open all day.

I'm thinking that either people thought we weren't accepting anything until Thursday based on Canada Post's statements (which were, admittedly, ambiguous), or it's just too late in the season and no one wants to mail anything. I guess we'll see if it picks up on Thursday.

fergua3

·1 year ago

I went to my Post Office today. Only a handful of customers were there. Little waiting. There ARE pick ups today from Canada Post, like normal. I was very surprised to hear that......the lady at the counter told me that the 'not accepting packages until Thursday' was misleading as it only applied to 'commercial operators'...not sure what she meant but Canada Post was definitely picking up today, at least at my Shoppers DM in the GTA.

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:
I went to my Post Office today. Only a handful of customers were there. Little waiting. There ARE pick ups today from Canada Post, like normal. I was very surprised to hear that......the lady at the counter told me that the 'not accepting packages until Thursday' was misleading as it only applied to 'commercial operators'...not sure what she meant but Canada Post was definitely picking up today, at least at my Shoppers DM in the GTA.

Yes, picking up but zero backlogged deliveries, so far.

I saw the van earlier today, with the CP guy opening all the mailboxes in one of the community boxes in my neighborhood, so that gave me hope! Later, I checked my box and there were just a couple of junk leaflets inside...Bummer. I know, patience is not a virtue of mine. LOL.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@dinomitesales wrote:
Surprisingly, it was not very busy today at the post office I work at. It was business as usual for us - we were able to do everything we could do before the strike including accepting any parcels. No line-ups, people coming in and out at a manageable rate where we didn't really need two tills open all day.

I'm thinking that either people thought we weren't accepting anything until Thursday based on Canada Post's statements (which were, admittedly, ambiguous), or it's just too late in the season and no one wants to mail anything. I guess we'll see if it picks up on Thursday.

At my post office (which was in a 7-Eleven, worked there from 2003 to 2007), I found the one week before Christmas it was pretty dead and there was lots of incoming packages that were carded for people to pick up, but not so many outgoing packages. I found most people mailed the outgoing stuff 2-3 weeks before Christmas.

C.

fergua3

·1 year ago

All the packages i took to the PO yesterday were not only picked up but processed and are 'in transit'. So anyone debating whether to use Canada Post i see no problem with doing so.

Alternatively, i have some packages coming to me from europe that were caught in the strike and they have not budged yet. Parcelsapp says they have all arrived in Canada weeks ago.....so i imagine there is a giant backlog that they are working through.

recped

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:
All the packages i took to the PO yesterday were not only picked up but processed and are 'in transit'. So anyone debating whether to use Canada Post i see no problem with doing so.

Alternatively, i have some packages coming to me from europe that were caught in the strike and they have not budged yet. Parcelsapp says they have all arrived in Canada weeks ago.....so i imagine there is a giant backlog that they are working through.

The major problems if there are any will be starting tomorrow. The alleged bad on accepting mail untiul today seems to apply only to bulk mailer that direct enter their mailing as postal facilities rather than at local Post Offices.

For example, credit card companies, ultilities, banks etc will be dumping two months of billings into the system as of today (Thursday). This type of mail makes the mail handed over at local post offices a minor issue.

All my utility bills etc. that would have been delivered from Nov 15 - 19 arrived in my mailbox today. My credit card statement which is usually the last one to arrive did not show up but I expect that it didn't actually get sent before the strike.

If you are wondering.....for no particular reason I have not gone with any electronic billing for this type of stuff (although my payments are all done elctronically).

hansatrade

·1 year ago

What a mess ... 🙄

Resuming operations: Important information for customers

Canada Post will restart operations on Tuesday, December 17 and begin the process of safely ramping up and stabilizing operations across the country. With our large, integrated network of processing plants, depots and post offices, stabilizing operations will take time and we ask for your patience as we do this safely.

We will start by working through the mail and parcels trapped in the system since the strike began on November 15. New commercial volumes will not be accepted into the network until Thursday, December 19. This means we will not pick up or accept mail or parcels at our plants or depots for the first 48 hours. These first 2 days will give us the time we need to safely reopen facilities, restart machines and vehicles that have been idle for weeks and begin working through the volumes in our network.

As new volumes are accepted, mail and parcels will be secured and delivered on a first-in, first-out basis. Customers should expect delivery delays through the remainder of 2024 and into January 2025.

What this means for your business

To help your business better plan and prepare, here is some information on what you can expect in the days ahead:

Parcels

•	Customers should expect delays and restrictions as we stabilize our operations, including for pickups, drop-offs and delivery.

•

Scheduled pickups will start on December 19, but it will take several days to process items. We will make a best effort to collect all items at the time of the pickup; if that is not possible due to volumes or equipment availability, we will return to pick up the remaining items either the same day or next day.

•	On-demand pickups will not be available until Monday, December 23.

On-time service guarantees

•	Service guarantees are suspended as the company ramps up operations.

•	Once the network is stabilized, we will notify you when on-time service guarantees are reinstated.

Return labels and call-for items

•	All return labels created on or after November 15 will remain valid for up to 45 days until our operations stabilize.

•	We will also restart the clock on all items currently held for customer pickup at post offices, regardless of whether the office was open or closed during the strike.

•	Beginning December 17, your customers will have 15 days to pick up their parcel before it is returned to the sender.

Package Redirection

•	If you leveraged Package Redirection during the strike, we will do our best to locate and redirect your parcel. However, our ability to fulfill Package Redirection requests will be limited until operations stabilize.

International mail and parcels

•	Canada Post will work to process a significant accumulation of international mail and parcels currently queued up to enter the postal system.

•	Customers should expect delays into 2025.

•	The postal system will start accepting new international mail on Monday, December 23.

Neighbourhood Mail

•	Date-specific Neighbourhood MailTM is not currently available. The service will resume once our operations and volumes have stabilized.

•	We will notify you as soon as we are able to resume date-specific Neighbourhood Mail.

•	All other Neighbourhood Mail in our system will be delivered as upon receipt.

Transaction Mail

•	Service standards for Transaction Mail will be affected in the short term.

•	Transaction Mail trapped in the network by the strike will be processed and delivered on a first-in, first-out basis.

•	We will work to move new volume as quickly as possible.

•	We will notify you when service standards return to normal.

silverpinups

·1 year ago

The postal system will start accepting new international mail on Monday, December 23.

Does that mean I can't ship my package to the USA until Monday, Dec.23/24?

fergua3

·1 year ago

No it means anyone outside of Canada will not be able to ship to Canada using the postal system until Dec 23. They can ship to Canada using couriers of course.

As of this Thursday Canada Post will start processing packages being shipped abroad, same as everything else.

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@hansatrade wrote:

• Customers should expect delays into 2025.

^^THIS^^ Simply put, stay away of CP like the plague. Bye, Bye, Canada Post.

dinomitesales

·1 year ago

FWIW there was basically zero communication to Authorized Dealer outlets today regarding what exactly is happening at 8 am on Dec 17.

The notice put out by Canada Post indicated that no new parcels would be accepted until Thursday, but there was no communication regarding the implementation of that at post offices. It's going to be a sh!t-show tomorrow - we had people calling all day asking questions that we didn't have the answer to. Some people said they planned on showing up 30-60 minutes before the store even opened to be one of the first in line. But I have no idea if we'll even be able to accept these people's parcels/mail.

The buttons on the computer system that allow us to print postage have been disabled for almost a month now - if they're still disabled tomorrow then these people that show up aren't going to be happy. If they show up with pre-paid items I imagine we'll just take them regardless to avoid the wrath of the people.

msau4301

·1 year ago

Some people said they planned on showing up 30-60 minutes before the store even opened to be one of the first in line. But I have no idea if we'll even be able to accept these people's parcels/mail.

Yikes, that's what I imagined, I have to go to Shoppers today and the one near me is a small one, if there were lines they'd probably reach out into the mall. I know the poor girl had to be there at that post office all the closed weeks regardless (many people don't realize they are not Canada Post employees), but at least she got her hours and can bounce in and out doing some store re-stocking too. I'll go check in on her today, I imagine there will be a sign on the desk, but no one will read it.

I'm not sending anything out myself for some time but my daughter has a few presents in the mail (she likes to buy from small artists/sellers) so I hope at least one of them makes it through (the one she got for me! just kidding).

reallynicestamps

·1 year ago

Most of my shipments are lettermail or Tracked Package USA and letter sized.

I dropped a dozen shipments I had Held in the postbox when I was grocery shopping today and have another dozen to mail out.

Meanwhile I am slowly rolling out the PL, About to Close, and other listings I pulled down during the labour problems.

@daisydaisy999

You can make labels on the SnapShip page (Canada Post) but the price is a little higher.

EBay did some sharp bargaining to get the 53% discount from counter price for Tracked Packet USA.

daisydaisy999

·1 year ago

Thanks but the price is a LOT higher, I'll wait for my sweet eBay discount!

lud-4367

·1 year ago

Will they accept oversized lettermail?

chicweb

·1 year ago

You cannot buy lettermail on eBay. Only tracked packages.

ilikehockeyjerseys

·1 year ago

Nothing moving until Thursday likely means that even if your packages are accepted they will sit around until Thursday or Friday.

I probably wouldn't drop anything in a red mail box because who knows what is living in there. Oversized lettermail has no tracking so you could just drop it off Thursday before the cutoff.

teenytrinkets

·1 year ago

Haha, good advice because a lot of the red boxes were not sealed and need to be cleaned out. They'll probably have staff doing this on Thursday/Friday. I'd wait until after Christmas for any lettermail. I'm personally waiting until the New Year...

arcocollection

·1 year ago

Curious if places like Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall will still accept and scan new packages. They may accept them into the system but they won't be picked up until December 19.

ilikehockeyjerseys

·1 year ago

Your best bet is to probably call your local outlet and ask if they will take pre-labeled packages or oversized lettermail.

With that said, I don't think it's worth hassling them unless you have obligations that would make it impossible for you to drop off on Thursday.

I feel bad for them because they are going to get multiple customers losing their minds about Christmas and thinking that Shoppers employees are either the CEO of Canada Post, or one step below the head of the union. So I'd probably just keep it simple and wait until Thursday.

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

Let's see how long they take to distribute the thousands of backlogged parcels due for delivery. Out of those thousands, ten are mine. Lol.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@john_koenig99 wrote:
Let's see how long they take to distribute the thousands of backlogged parcels due for delivery. Out of those thousands, ten are mine. Lol.

I've got four stuck in the system (one is actually sitting in the mailroom at my work, it was dropped off the day before the strike, but not picked up because I was late dropping it off).

We've got 7000 letters to mail out at work... it dawned on me that none of these letters have postage on them. Our mail room is going to be busy!

C.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@john_koenig99 wrote:
Let's see how long they take to distribute the thousands of backlogged parcels due for delivery. Out of those thousands, ten are mine. Lol.
I've got four stuck in the system (one is actually sitting in the mailroom at my work, it was dropped off the day before the strike, but not picked up because I was late dropping it off).

We've got 7000 letters to mail out at work... it dawned on me that none of these letters have postage on them. Our mail room is going to be busy!

C.

@sin-n-dex

fergua3

·1 year ago

well that makes my decision easier.....i'll take my packages over on Thursday, once i dust them off and get rid of the cobwebs. I doubt by then there will be much of a crush of people mailing cards and packages.......totally obviously zero chance of getting to where it's going by Christmas.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:
well that makes my decision easier.....i'll take my packages over on Thursday, once i dust them off and get rid of the cobwebs. I doubt by then there will be much of a crush of people mailing cards and packages.......totally obviously zero chance of getting to where it's going by Christmas.

@john_koenig99

@fergua3

@daisydaisy999

To anyone who had parcels in the system just as the strike began it might be an idea to monitor items with tracking so we can get an idea how things are progressing.....meaning.....are moving. It will be interesting until that backlog has been tackled and cleaned up. For anyone that had items without tracking.....Fingers and toes crossed for you!!

teenytrinkets

·1 year ago

I've have two packages sitting at the Sephora warehouse in Ontario for a month, waiting to get picked up. I'll be curious to see when I get a pickup scan on those! I'll share here!

reallynicestamps

·1 year ago

At issue in the strike is not only money—workers argue they need more due to inflation, and management argues it is losing too much—but also the conditions of the work.

That includes internal sorting processes, the physical demands of routes, temporary disability pay, weekend work, and use of temporary vs. full-time employees.

daisydaisy999

·1 year ago

I hope the option to make Canada Post labels opens back up again on eBay soon so I can at least get the labels created - I have a few packages that are supposed to be shipped by tomorrow but since I knew CP was coming back and the surge pricing for couriers for these locations was stupid-high I decided to wait. Unfortuate about Thursday but under the circustances, hopefully eBay will give a break on late shipping!

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@daisydaisy999 wrote:
I hope the option to make Canada Post labels opens back up again on eBay soon so I can at least get the labels created - I have a few packages that are supposed to be shipped by tomorrow but since I knew CP was coming back and the surge pricing for couriers for these locations was stupid-high I decided to wait. Unfortuate about Thursday but under the circustances, hopefully eBay will give a break on late shipping!

I don't. I'll keep shipping ABCP (anybody but Canada Post).

arcocollection

·1 year ago

Same here. According to Ebay, the ability to purchase labels should be back tomorrow, December 17th!

daisydaisy999

·1 year ago

Just an update to anyone who was curious - eBay labels did open the CP option back up today and I dropped by the Shoppers Drug Mart CP counter on my way home this morning hoping there would at least be a sign letting me know what is going on - and my regular person was there, thrilled to see anyone because she looked bored out of her mind - she said no problem taking my packages, so I went back a bit later with a pile of them and the corner of my kitchen looks so empty now! 🙂

hansatrade

·1 year ago

Indeed! It's now open, again. However, I will use ChitChats until the end of this year ("just in case") or maybe even longer.

ilikehockeyjerseys

·1 year ago

I would be a bit cautious about using lettermail because Canada Post is only protecting sellers with tracking, but purely from a seller protection standpoint, I would be confident using Expedited Lite. They have extended delivery windows and added seller protection.

I do think if you're already using Chit Chats or Stallion and shipping domestically for a similar price to Expedited Lite, it's a good idea from a marketing POV to keep using them and only use Expedited Lite for Rural or PO Boxes. Or, to give buyers a choice at checkout. Some buyer might avoid Canada Post listings in fear of delays, whether that fear is warranted or not.

daisydaisy999

·1 year ago

and an update to my update - not only could I drop off yesterday they must have been picking up from the SDM as well, two of my local Poshmark packages were delivered today and everything else is showing up as moving through the system!