CANADA POST STRIKE DILEMMA | Selling | eBay Canada EN

CANADA POST STRIKE DILEMMA | Selling | eBay Canada EN

Buying & Selling

CANADA POST STRIKE DILEMMA

Summary: silverpinups has a dilemma due to a Canada Post strike affecting their ability to ship an item sold on eBay. Despite advising the buyer to delay payment, the buyer paid due to eBay reminders, risking late shipping penalties if the strike continues. fergua3 suggests waiting for the strike to end and recommending buyers not indicate late delivery in feedback, while others recommend using UPS. ilikehockeyjerseys provides UPS shipping tips, noting cost considerations. Different participants share their experiences with alternative couriers, and some choose to cancel orders while others communicate delays to buyers. silverpinups updates that negotiations are on hold, impacting their sales. Eventually, silverpinups resolves the situation by coordinating shipping after the strike, and the buyer makes additional purchases.

I have a Canada Post Strike dilemma. I sold a item last Thursday, Nov.14/24. I messaged the buyer to hold off paying until I knew what kind of strike action CUPW was going to take on Friday morning.

On Friday morning I messaged the buyer to hold off on paying until I messaged him back. I let him know that it could be 7 to 10 days before any resolution was found. The buyer agreed and all was well until he paid on Sunday, Nov.17/24. Now I have to ship by Nov.22/24 (I have 5 days handling time).

I messaged him back on Sunday and asked why he paid when I asked him to hold off until he heard back from me. He said eBay keep sending him reminders to pay and he was getting nervous about it.

My dilemma is what if the strike is still going still on Friday, Nov.22/24? I don't want to use a different shipping method as I have solely used Canada Post for 18 years.

Can I just mark the item as shipped on Friday then mail it out at a future date? If I don't ship until Canada Post is up and running and I get a late shipping defect, will I be able to have it removed because of the strike?

If the buyer just waited to pay when I messaged him all would be well.

silverpinups

2824 View listings

Posted 1 year ago·Last reply 1 year ago

140 comments

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

Well, the saga ends... I contacted the buyer on Monday to let him know that the Canada Post strike was over and his package would be mailed out on Thursday or Friday. He was very happy to hear from me and actually purchased two more items yesterday.

His package was mailed out Thursday morning. There was nobody at the Post Office so I was in and out in 5 minutes. I guess the Christmas rush is long over. I reminded him to mark the Nov. 15/24 purchase as "arrived on time" if he leaves feedback.

It's nice to be selling again....

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@silverpinups wrote:

His package was mailed out Thursday morning. There was nobody at the Post Office so I was in and out in 5 minutes. I guess the Christmas rush is long over. I reminded him to mark the Nov. 15/24 purchase as "arrived on time" if he leaves feedback.

I guess the big question is when the buyer will be receiving the package. I see that CP is in a rush to receive and send packages rightaway, but the backlog of already sent packages right before or during the strike is not moving an inch. The tracking of the 5 orders I have due from the US are frozen in ice. Haven't moved at all since the start of the week.

marnotom!

·1 year ago

@john_koenig99 wrote

I see that CP is in a rush to receive and send packages rightaway, but the backlog of already sent packages right before or during the strike is not moving an inch. The tracking of the 5 orders I have due from the US are frozen in ice. Haven't moved at all since the start of the week.

Tracking shows you where an item has been, not where it is. It's not real-time.

Could there be the possibility that these packages in the US are on the move but there just aren't any scans on them yet?

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@marnotom! wrote:

Could there be the possibility that these packages in the US are on the move but there just aren't any scans on them yet?

I guess that's possible. USPS has not even updated their alert page about the CP strike since 29 Nov.

Those packages are probably at the bottom of their priorities. I just hope I'll get mine, eventually. I deal with collectible items, so it would be sad to lose them.

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

I guess the big question is when the buyer will be receiving the package.

I sent the package Xpresspost-USA so we'll see how long it takes.... also remember it just has to cross the border. Packages coming into Canada or being delivered in Canada will take much longer than those packages going out of Canada.

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

Well to conclude, my package was sent using Xpresspost-USA on Thursday, Dec.19/24 and it was delivered on Friday, Dec.27/24. Not bad considering a month long postal strike and postal closures at Christmas time.

The buyer was very happy.....

tryubik-useonlyasdirected

·1 year ago

I'm not sure if it's been mentioned and it is certainly a fact that doesn't get much press but the workers did offer to do rolling strikes as they knew that this time of year would be the most effective (it is a strike action there is a lot of precident for this) but also that they valued the public who they serve and understood that it is most effective when recognizing this. CUPW went on a full strike because the company threatened to lock them out and then started to lay them off... they were given no choice. I for one am extremely thankful for the existence of maternity leave.

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@tryubik-useonlyasdirected wrote:
I'm not sure if it's been mentioned and it is certainly a fact that doesn't get much press but the workers did offer to do rolling strikes as they knew that this time of year would be the most effective (it is a strike action there is a lot of precident for this) but also that they valued the public who they serve and understood that it is most effective when recognizing this. CUPW went on a full strike because the company threatened to lock them out and then started to lay them off... they were given no choice. I for one am extremely thankful for the existence of maternity leave.

Well, those benefits (like maternity leave) are great and have been in place for decades now. But all is well as long as there is a way to pay for them. When a company like Canada Post is bleeding money the way it is, there's no way to sustain the benefits.

hansatrade

·1 year ago

https://www.facebook.com/reel/895894576075752

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@silverpinups wrote:
I have a Canada Post Strike dilemma. I sold a item last Thursday, Nov.14/24. I messaged the buyer to hold off paying until I knew what kind of strike action CUPW was going to take on Friday morning.

On Friday morning I messaged the buyer to hold off on paying until I messaged him back. I let him know that it could be 7 to 10 days before any resolution was found. The buyer agreed and all was well until he paid on Sunday, Nov.17/24. Now I have to ship by Nov.22/24 (I have 5 days handling time).

I messaged him back on Sunday and asked why he paid when I asked him to hold off until he heard back from me. He said eBay keep sending him reminders to pay and he was getting nervous about it.

My dilemma is what if the strike is still going still on Friday, Nov.22/24? I don't want to use a different shipping method as I have solely used Canada Post for 18 years.

Can I just mark the item as shipped on Friday then mail it out at a future date? If I don't ship until Canada Post is up and running and I get a late shipping defect, will I be able to have it removed because of the strike?

If the buyer just waited to pay when I messaged him all would be well.

@silverpinups

@devon@ebay

Curious to know what will happen to all the sellers that have made arrangements for shipping with their buyers when strike is over. Whatever the handling time attached to the sold listing will be the handling that is in play. Only alternative solution as others have mentioned would be cancel/refund and repurchase when strike is over. Possibly easier said than done.

a) Anything untracked - Mark as shipped. Then should be fine to hold on to and send when strike is resolved.

b) Anything tracked - Process when strike is resolved. If you mark shipped and then process later system will consider it as a late. If you add the tracking when you actually ship will in most cases make it late that would be eBay's determination for assigning a ship date.

Only reason I am aware of this glitch is that in the past I had a situation where I manually correct the tracking number several days later (After my handling time). eBay scored it as a late. eBay is aware of this deficiency in their system but it does not appear to be on their radar to correct. At their discretion (ebay) can fix if you reach out to them. If a seller has many of those over the course of who knows how long they could add up fast.

Disclaimer. Reason some sellers may want to hold trackable orders.

1) Seller has items that have expedited lite attached for shipping. Shipping with UPS or Fedex would be substantially more. Seller does not want to write off difference. Buyer does not want to pay more but still wants the item and is willing to wait.

2) Item is destined for a PO box.

fergua3

·1 year ago

the Minister of Labor just woke up. No indication of forcing an end to the strike however.

“The parties are still very far apart, and that is in my view, among other things, highly disrespectful of Canadians who are suffering through this work stoppage, small businesses, people in rural and remote communities who rely on Canada Post's services and these parties have to knuckle down and get the work done.”

Boy that's tellin' 'em. I'm sure they'll hammer out a deal now. 🙄

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
@silverpinups wrote:
I have a Canada Post Strike dilemma. I sold a item last Thursday, Nov.14/24. I messaged the buyer to hold off paying until I knew what kind of strike action CUPW was going to take on Friday morning.

On Friday morning I messaged the buyer to hold off on paying until I messaged him back. I let him know that it could be 7 to 10 days before any resolution was found. The buyer agreed and all was well until he paid on Sunday, Nov.17/24. Now I have to ship by Nov.22/24 (I have 5 days handling time).

I messaged him back on Sunday and asked why he paid when I asked him to hold off until he heard back from me. He said eBay keep sending him reminders to pay and he was getting nervous about it.

My dilemma is what if the strike is still going still on Friday, Nov.22/24? I don't want to use a different shipping method as I have solely used Canada Post for 18 years.

Can I just mark the item as shipped on Friday then mail it out at a future date? If I don't ship until Canada Post is up and running and I get a late shipping defect, will I be able to have it removed because of the strike?

If the buyer just waited to pay when I messaged him all would be well.
@silverpinups
@devon@ebay

Curious to know what will happen to all the sellers that have made arrangements for shipping with their buyers when strike is over. Whatever the handling time attached to the sold listing will be the handling that is in play. Only alternative solution as others have mentioned would be cancel/refund and repurchase when strike is over. Possibly easier said than done.

a) Anything untracked - Mark as shipped. Then should be fine to hold on to and send when strike is resolved.
b) Anything tracked - Process when strike is resolved. If you mark shipped and then process later system will consider it as a late. If you add the tracking when you actually ship will in most cases make it late that would be eBay's determination for assigning a ship date.

Only reason I am aware of this glitch is that in the past I had a situation where I manually correct the tracking number several days later (After my handling time). eBay scored it as a late. eBay is aware of this deficiency in their system but it does not appear to be on their radar to correct. At their discretion (ebay) can fix if you reach out to them. If a seller has many of those over the course of who knows how long they could add up fast.

Disclaimer. Reason some sellers may want to hold trackable orders.
1) Seller has items that have expedited lite attached for shipping. Shipping with UPS or Fedex would be substantially more. Seller does not want to write off difference. Buyer does not want to pay more but still wants the item and is willing to wait.

2) Item is destined for a PO box.

In doing some further checking, I had an item sell to Spain on Nov 14. Item was shipped Nov 14. According to transaction detail Estimated delivery date shown to buyer: Nov 20, 2024 - Nov 27, 2024 according to eBay. Strike officially began Nov 15. At that point everything dropped off got put on on hold. Tracking will not see any updates until the strike is resolved and things start to get back to normal. @devon@ebay How are these types of situations going to be addressed? Are sellers under the gun to refund even though it is out of the sellers control once a package has been dropped off in good faith? There appears to only extentions added to current listings. Not listings that were in play when the strike started.

-Lotzofuniquegoodies.

devon@ebay

eBay Staff

Admin1 year ago

Community AdvisorView listings

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:

@silverpinups wrote:

I have a Canada Post Strike dilemma. I sold a item last Thursday, Nov.14/24. I messaged the buyer to hold off paying until I knew what kind of strike action CUPW was going to take on Friday morning.

On Friday morning I messaged the buyer to hold off on paying until I messaged him back. I let him know that it could be 7 to 10 days before any resolution was found. The buyer agreed and all was well until he paid on Sunday, Nov.17/24. Now I have to ship by Nov.22/24 (I have 5 days handling time).

I messaged him back on Sunday and asked why he paid when I asked him to hold off until he heard back from me. He said eBay keep sending him reminders to pay and he was getting nervous about it.

My dilemma is what if the strike is still going still on Friday, Nov.22/24? I don't want to use a different shipping method as I have solely used Canada Post for 18 years.

Can I just mark the item as shipped on Friday then mail it out at a future date? If I don't ship until Canada Post is up and running and I get a late shipping defect, will I be able to have it removed because of the strike?

If the buyer just waited to pay when I messaged him all would be well.

@silverpinups

@devon@ebay

Curious to know what will happen to all the sellers that have made arrangements for shipping with their buyers when strike is over. Whatever the handling time attached to the sold listing will be the handling that is in play. Only alternative solution as others have mentioned would be cancel/refund and repurchase when strike is over. Possibly easier said than done.

a) Anything untracked - Mark as shipped. Then should be fine to hold on to and send when strike is resolved.

b) Anything tracked - Process when strike is resolved. If you mark shipped and then process later system will consider it as a late. If you add the tracking when you actually ship will in most cases make it late that would be eBay's determination for assigning a ship date.

Only reason I am aware of this glitch is that in the past I had a situation where I manually correct the tracking number several days later (After my handling time). eBay scored it as a late. eBay is aware of this deficiency in their system but it does not appear to be on their radar to correct. At their discretion (ebay) can fix if you reach out to them. If a seller has many of those over the course of who knows how long they could add up fast.

Disclaimer. Reason some sellers may want to hold trackable orders.

1) Seller has items that have expedited lite attached for shipping. Shipping with UPS or Fedex would be substantially more. Seller does not want to write off difference. Buyer does not want to pay more but still wants the item and is willing to wait.

2) Item is destined for a PO box.

In doing some further checking, I had an item sell to Spain on Nov 14. Item was shipped Nov 14. According to transaction detail Estimated delivery date shown to buyer: Nov 20, 2024 - Nov 27, 2024 according to eBay. Strike officially began Nov 15. At that point everything dropped off got put on on hold. Tracking will not see any updates until the strike is resolved and things start to get back to normal. @devon@ebay How are these types of situations going to be addressed? Are sellers under the gun to refund even though it is out of the sellers control once a package has been dropped off in good faith? There appears to only extentions added to current listings. Not listings that were in play when the strike started.

-Lotzofuniquegoodies.

Hi @lotzofuniquegoodies! This is a fluid situation and we are pushing out updates as we get them and will do our best to keep everyone informed and up to date as we get new information.

fergua3

·1 year ago

Apparently UPS and Purolator are pausing shipments as they are overwhelmed by orders due to the CP strike, which i assume means they are not accepting new business and may not be until after the Christmas rush.

Over 185,000 passports being help up due to the strike.

Thousands of rural communities are completely cut off from mail, packages and even drug orders due to CP strike, as nobody else delivers there.

Recent survey indicated over 24% of Canadians say they are being heavily impacted by the CP strike....that's MILLIONS of Canadians.

And.....crickets out of Ottawa. Maybe the Labour Minister will issue another scolding late next week at some point.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:
Apparently UPS and Purolator are pausing shipments as they are overwhelmed by orders due to the CP strike, which i assume means they are not accepting new business and may not be until after the Christmas rush.

Over 185,000 passports being help up due to the strike.

Thousands of rural communities are completely cut off from mail, packages and even drug orders due to CP strike, as nobody else delivers there.

Recent survey indicated over 24% of Canadians say they are being heavily impacted by the CP strike....that's MILLIONS of Canadians.

And.....crickets out of Ottawa. Maybe the Labour Minister will issue another scolding late next week at some point.

@fergua3

Hopefully anything already in the system is being delivered instead of being left in limbo?

mrdutch1001

·1 year ago

My only 2 shipments via Purolator (shipped to the USA earlier this week) are already in the USA and now in transit with UPS to their destinations.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@mrdutch1001

@devon@ebay

It's being referred to as a pause.

Amid an influx of packages that would normally be sent through Canada Post, Purolator and UPS have paused shipments from some courier companies in order to catch up.

Purolator said in an email that severe weather and a surge in package volumes prompted it to freeze service for some partners, citing the need to "prioritize critical shipments."

Amid an influx of packages that would normally be sent through Canada Post, Purolator and UPS have paused shipments from some courier companies in order to catch up. Purolator said in an email that severe weather and a surge in package volumes prompted it to freeze service for some partners, citing the need to "prioritize critical shipments."

In a notice sent to clients on Thursday and obtained by CBC News, eShipper stated that "no shipments will be processed or moved by these carriers" for 48 hours, starting Wednesday. The update came after eShipper informed clients on Wednesday that Purolator was considering a daily limit of 1,500 shipments.

Strangely my testing and last check eBay labels does not provide services for UPS outside of the USA. Only a Fedex option. UPS ships to 220 countries worldwide.

I just tested for a older order (to Spain) to create new label and now it ONLY shows the CP possible options but all are marked temporarily unavailable. Greyed out. No UPS or FEDEX options. When I created the label originally Fedex Deferred was an available option.

For an older US order it shows Canadian options unavailable with CP, Fedex Intl Economy, UPS Standard and Fedex Ground active. No Fedex Air service displays.

Canada CP is temporarily unavailable, UPS Standard + Fedex Ground/Fedex Ecomomy active.

recped

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:

And.....crickets out of Ottawa. Maybe the Labour Minister will issue another scolding late next week at some point.

Maybe if Poilieve gave his now almost 3 month blockage of Parliament a rest the Libs could actually consider back to work legislation. As it currently is nothing has been passed since early September.

His non-stop attempts at getting a non-confidence motion to the voting stage pretty much prevents any action by the Liberals on the CP issue or anything else.

fergua3

·1 year ago

no, the Labour Minister could just do what he did for the docks strike and order arbitration. No new legislation needed for that. Legislation would be pointless now, it would be tied up for weeks by NDP fillabuster.

Ordering binding arbitration would have CP back working by Monday.

But it won't happen. Latest news is talks may start again on Monday.....talks that will of course go nowhere for weeks.

So Christmas season is toast for everyone except Amazon.....who are laughing all the way to the bank. Extra big bonus cheques for their execs. And sleepless nights for the owners and employees of tens of thousands of small businesses across Canada, frustration for holiday travellers who can't get passports and continued isolation for rural communities.

For shame Liberals, for shame.

recped

·1 year ago

To force Postal workers to end the strike requires parlimentary approval, can't happen unless the Conservatives allow a vote.

Binding Arbitration requires the approval of boith the feds AND CUPW, that's not likely ever going to happen.

It's pretty obvious you are a Lib hater but the inability to end the strike in this case lies with Poilieve.

fergua3

·1 year ago

This is not an offer.

That is CUPW's latest response to CP's attempts to restart talks. Same old same old. CUPW does not negotiate at all. Negoitating is give and take. Compromise. CUPW does not ever compromise nor do they give. It's just take, take, take. Which is why every strike ends the same....they get forced back to work by the gov't of the day. If they didn't have a gov't protected postal monopoly they could be on strike til the cows come home and nobody would care. Companies with monopolies cannot be allowed to strike. Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him?

At what point is the gov't going to grow a pair and end this nonsense?

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@fergua3 wrote:
This is not an offer.

That is CUPW's latest response to CP's attempts to restart talks. Same old same old. CUPW does not negotiate at all. Negoitating is give and take. Compromise. CUPW does not ever compromise nor do they give. It's just take, take, take. Which is why every strike ends the same....they get forced back to work by the gov't of the day. If they didn't have a gov't protected postal monopoly they could be on strike til the cows come home and nobody would care. Companies with monopolies cannot be allowed to strike. Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him?

At what point is the gov't going to grow a pair and end this nonsense?

I think the Liberals are going to continue losing votes if they don't put an end to the strike... Not that they are likely to get elected anyway... their failure to get involved is to appease the NDP so there's no election to get them out of office faster.

I like the $250 bribe... I'll take the $250 (if it actually passes), but I'm not giving them my vote.

C.

john_koenig99

·1 year ago

@sin-n-dex wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
This is not an offer.

That is CUPW's latest response to CP's attempts to restart talks. Same old same old. CUPW does not negotiate at all. Negoitating is give and take. Compromise. CUPW does not ever compromise nor do they give. It's just take, take, take. Which is why every strike ends the same....they get forced back to work by the gov't of the day. If they didn't have a gov't protected postal monopoly they could be on strike til the cows come home and nobody would care. Companies with monopolies cannot be allowed to strike. Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him?

At what point is the gov't going to grow a pair and end this nonsense?
I think the Liberals are going to continue losing votes if they don't put an end to the strike... Not that they are likely to get elected anyway... their failure to get involved is to appease the NDP so there's no election to get them out of office faster.

I like the $250 bribe... I'll take the $250 (if it actually passes), but I'm not giving them my vote.

C.

^^THIS^^

They have an almost nil chance of getting reelected, but by dancing at the NDP's tune, and not acting fast to end the strike, they will be getting close to lose party status at the next election.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@john_koenig99 wrote:
@sin-n-dex wrote:
@fergua3 wrote:
This is not an offer.

That is CUPW's latest response to CP's attempts to restart talks. Same old same old. CUPW does not negotiate at all. Negoitating is give and take. Compromise. CUPW does not ever compromise nor do they give. It's just take, take, take. Which is why every strike ends the same....they get forced back to work by the gov't of the day. If they didn't have a gov't protected postal monopoly they could be on strike til the cows come home and nobody would care. Companies with monopolies cannot be allowed to strike. Where is Ronald Reagan when we need him?

At what point is the gov't going to grow a pair and end this nonsense?
I think the Liberals are going to continue losing votes if they don't put an end to the strike... Not that they are likely to get elected anyway... their failure to get involved is to appease the NDP so there's no election to get them out of office faster.

I like the $250 bribe... I'll take the $250 (if it actually passes), but I'm not giving them my vote.

C.
^^THIS^^
They have an almost nil chance of getting reelected, but by dancing at the NDP's tune, and not acting fast to end the strike, they will be getting close to lose party status at the next election.

I'm middle class, so I get shafted all the time by governments. (Make too much to get any kind of benefits, but don't make enough to live comfortably).

It's a struggle to do regular things like qualify for a mortgage, eat healthy food, buy a car without a huge car payment. Landlords are begging to rent 2K a month apartments to me even though I can't really afford that, but banks don't want my business on a 1K monthly mortgage (because I came up with enough of a downpayment to negotiate that low).

My vote goes to whoever I think will best represent the middle class.

C.

reallynicestamps

·1 year ago

And the union's side-- which it is unlikely you will read in Report on Business or the National Post.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:7f9ba09a-85f6-4f63-b625-18a6d948f5f3?fbclid=IwY2xjawG4RzZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHXOkLUK0FhiAAMs3zz5Ww2ibun5klXe09NIgfnGaby7Yqm27RqePtTa4aA_aem_5HJ0P2KIdE6Jr4ntQMFLfg

Did you realize that it was management that walked away and stopped talking on November 26th?

And during the strike, the union executive are not getting paid either. The management team is, even if they had locked out the workers, the managers would be paid.

ricarmic

·1 year ago

As I recall from the previous strikes, I'm again at the point where I don't believe either side. I suspect the real truth is somewhere between what CUPW and CP Management are presenting.

I do think that this time around though both will suffer at the end. As my family continues to purchase online purchases from retail sites, they've almost all found other ways to ship (with a very small % that haven't). I strongly suspect a good percentage will not come back to CP especially since I read or saw or heard somewhere that there's the potential for another strike from the other union months from now.

So with lettermail dropping and poor handling of the parcel business opportunity, less work means less "profits" for the corp and less "staff" needed to handle it.

I'm actually more worried about what happens when the strike is over, I seem to remember delivery problems post strike(s) in the past as a result of disgruntled folks. The more nasty the end to this one the worse that will be too.

I'm going to have a tough reopening decision to make depending on how long the strike lasts. Christmas is always a high worry time with slow deliveries in a normal year. This year it'll be recovery time, although I think there's a lot of stuff that's been diverted from CP. It will be interesting to see how that turns out. I've got several folks now awaiting the reopening of my store, I don't want to make them wait too long, but if its mid December before the strike is done, I might just wait till January to reopen.

Sigh.....

chicweb

·1 year ago

If we had more promo tools on ebay.ca, I would switch completely to UPS/FedEx even after the strike.

There's way to attract buyers even with higher shipping with creative promotions. (Free shipping on x amount with specific carriers/provinces, buy x get x free, promo codes).

If combined shipping would be promoted better also.

But we dont have the tools to offer it on our platforms.

We might switch to selling lots only, still dont know... but I prefer that the customers build their own lot with combined shipping.

tuckhouse2021

·1 year ago

It has nothing to do with eBay tools or promos. You can add whatever shipping discounts you like in your descriptions/settings but you will still have to pay to move your product.

Couriers simply don't provide good enough service to all.

Lots of us do not have the options of UPS/FedEx/purulator/chitchats/stalion etc.. and need a lettermail option.

Couriers are not the solution to the problem unless you could force them all to do what Canada Post does in all the regions of Canada for a reasonable cost.

I am very rural with only Canada Post to pickup and to deliver. Courieres are very unreliable and do not wish to service us becasue they can't make any profit doing so. That is nothing that an eBay tool will fix.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·1 year ago

@tuckhouse2021 wrote:

It has nothing to do with eBay tools or promos. You can add whatever shipping discounts you like in your descriptions/settings but you will still have to pay to move your product.
Couriers simply don't provide good enough service to all.
Lots of us do not have the options of UPS/FedEx/purulator/chitchats/stalion etc.. and need a lettermail option.
Couriers are not the solution to the problem unless you could force them all to do what Canada Post does in all the regions of Canada for a reasonable cost.
I am very rural with only Canada Post to pickup and to deliver. Courieres are very unreliable and do not wish to service us becasue they can't make any profit doing so. That is nothing that an eBay tool will fix.

@tuckhouse2021

@chicweb

Secondary alternate shipping options for ALL sellers would be nice but that is not going to happen. What is a bigger problem is the fact that Canadian do NOT have access to ALL the features US sellers have. Like offering coupons. It's suggested it is there from the dropdown on ca but when you test we only have access to creating a sale. There are others. The complete list just gives me a major headache when it runs through my mind. If we had access to the same features we would have a chance at being somewhat competitive to US sellers but that appears to be incredibly low on ebay's to do list.

-Lotz

chicweb

·1 year ago

It would even help sales for canadian customers at this moment.

At least, they would have options... Right now, as a buyer.... it's ugly on eBay.

They have to browse items separately. Check the Carrier... And it's not clear at all (lettermail, economy shipping, etc)... They have to contact the sellers. Right at this point, we lost a lot of customers that don't want to have to write to sellers each time.

It's so complicated at the moment buying on eBay that people just stopped, waiting. When there's solutions possible.

chicweb

·1 year ago

That's true for regions not having good lalternative carriers in place.

eBay cannot do much about it, tho. We are 100% dependent on Canada Post for those regions.

reallynicestamps

·1 year ago

A few quotes from an article in the Globe and Mail (Nov 23)

"Purolator is a profitable entity of Canada Post. In 2023, it recorded a profit of $293million that offset Canada Post's losses."

"....excluding Purolator.....In 2023, the company generated $6.9 billion in revenue, thecost of labour and... benefits that year was $4.9billion..."
"...Canada Post has an employee base of almost 60,000 people , with roughly 20 percent of them hired as temporary workers without a pension or benefits."

marnotom!

·1 year ago

This is not top-down dictated job action. Remember that there was a vote with over 95% of those casting a ballot voting in favour of striking.

marnotom!

·1 year ago

Geez, I remember Christmastime postal strikes and lockouts from when I was a kid in the 70s. These are nothing new. CUPW going on strike any other time of the year would have a similar effect as teachers going on strike during the summer: nobody would care.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cupw-postal-strikes

regs43

·1 year ago

@marnotom! wrote:
Geez, I remember Christmastime postal strikes and lockouts from when I was a kid in the 70s. These are nothing new. CUPW going on strike any other time of the year would have a similar effect as teachers going on strike during the summer: nobody would care.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cupw-postal-strikes

Alot of people don't care now though, becasue they have Amazon and or only recieve "junk flyers" so are not affected by the strike as it doesnt inconvenience them in anyway. The ones hurting are Rural communities where no one else delivers or its stupid expensive for alternatives.I don't think CUPW is getting the kinda support they were hoping for from the public, I sure am not on their side on this one. I'm a bit more on the Canada Post side, they seem to want to try and find a way to fix the issues, with what seems to me like reasonable options from what I have heard/read.

Of course all of us selling on ebay are affected and it sucks, I'm still getting sales (1/10th normal volume for this time of year at best) and have the ability thankfully to use Chit Chats but is for sure an inconvenience.

fergua3

·1 year ago

i still believe that most of the union workers don't really want to be on strike. But unions are like dictatorships......a few decide for the many. And nobody wants to speak out for fear of reprisal.

So the union bosses run the show, still getting their union pay cheques by the way, telling the workers to hold the line, while the workers make nothing but a little bit of stirke pay, if they picket, and that pay probably all gets burned up on coffee and food trying to stay warm, and beers after picketing. They probably pocket nothing.

And the slight concessions they will eventually get will not even come close to making up for the lost pay.

Rent is due tomorrow and a whole new set of bills will be coming in for everyone.....it's going to be a lean Christmas for the postal workers too, not just all the hurting Canadian businesses.

A pointless self destructive exercise if there ever was one.

msau4301

·1 year ago

"i still believe that most of the union workers don't really want to be on strike. But unions are like dictatorships......a few decide for the many. And nobody wants to speak out for fear of reprisal."

Yes I agree most of the union workers don't want to be on strike at all. I read article (Toronto Star) from a woman who both her and her husband were Canada Post workers so they were really struggling now (two times the lost wages) and they would love to be back at work. I've even read some workers were trying to find alternate ways for the thousands of kids who send a letter to Santa at North Pole to get their letters through. I've known a number of people over the years who worked for Canada Post and never heard one of them say any negatives, they love(d) their jobs. It's out of (most) of their hands. Just like when the teachers have striked here including just after the kids had gone back to school after Covid (I have many relatives, friends who are teachers) they didn't want to do it.

On a side note I've heard people talk about ChitChats often as an alternate method to ship to the US and have never dealt with them before, but yesterday I received a package from a US seller (not eBay purchase, the other guys) and when I saw it was coming by mail I thought it would be lost in limbo for a while. Tracking showed it was coming from US linked to a Canada Post tracking number (left while strike was already on). When I checked tracking on Canada Post site it showed movement through the US then stopped of course when it hit Canada. But two days later it was on my porch showing delivery from ChitChats. I had not seen that before.

ilikehockeyjerseys

·1 year ago

I don't understand why they don't go back and at least deliver any outstanding mail or packages with a soft strike where they do not take new mail but only deliver what is left in the system.

It seems like that would be a win for everybody. It would get the employees paid for a short period of time. It would relieve the system of the current backup of parcels so that when the strike is over, it's an easier transition.

marnotom!

·1 year ago

@ilikehockeyjerseys wrote:

I don't understand why they don't go back and at least deliver any outstanding mail or packages with a soft strike where they do not take new mail but only deliver what is left in the system.

Seeing as Canada Post has been laying off striking workers, that could be one possible reason why.

fergua3

·1 year ago

no, the reason why is that CUPW is trying to put the screws on as tight as possible while they can. If they wanted to be helpful to Canadians they could have called a temporary pause to the strike, for the Christmas season. But they didn't. They just upped their defiant rhetoric.

In the 2018 Christmas strike, CUPW at least pretended to be concerned about Canadians....that was the rationelle for their rotating strikes, so as not to disrupt service to the public or at least minimize it. This time, they dropped the pretense all together and just went on full blown strike from day one.

CUPW is probably on a bit of a time limit. Their strike fund is not bottomless and they know the workers have been going without pay for over 2 weeks now and will be getting antsy. They have Chrstimas coming for them too and they were probably looking forward to all the juicy extra money they can make with over time during the Christmas season. Each day that passes, more money is lost. Tick, tick tick..

marnotom!

·1 year ago

It’s hard to go back to work when you’re laid off, and even if you’re not laid off, your workload may increase or become more difficult if your co-workers aren’t able to work.

There’s a lot of head-scratching over why Canada Post management has chosen to layoff workers when the workers aren’t getting paid right now in the first place. My hypothesis is that this is as close to a lockout as Canada Post management can get without calling their actions a lockout.

Negotiations must have been getting very challenging if the union felt it had to launch a full-out strike right away. From its perspective, Canada Post has been pouring money into improving systems and infrastructure but is unwilling to work with the union on making the HR adjustments that these improvements necessitate. Sounds a bit to me like the conflict Royal Mail Canada had with workers in the 1970s when automation was becoming more of a thing.

musicyouneed

·1 year ago

Well I put my ID's on vacation for 30 days. I am not hopeful that this will end before Christmas. I am so mad right now at the postal union. I don't blame the government as the PO is losing money and the PO needs to change the way they do business and the union doesn't want that.

I have been ordering a bunch of stuff from Amazon and it is like next day delivery and with a prime membership I don't pay for shipping. You can't beat that.

What I have decided to do with my time is to do an inventory check. Might not seem like a big deal for most, but I have close to 3,000 listings so that should take me a while.

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

I've now extended my time away to Dec.7/24. I'm taking it a week at a time. I'm also **bleep** at CUPW for going on strike. I don't see an end to this strike anytime soon.

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@musicyouneed wrote:
Well I put my ID's on vacation for 30 days. I am not hopeful that this will end before Christmas. I am so mad right now at the postal union. I don't blame the government as the PO is losing money and the PO needs to change the way they do business and the union doesn't want that.

I have been ordering a bunch of stuff from Amazon and it is like next day delivery and with a prime membership I don't pay for shipping. You can't beat that.

What I have decided to do with my time is to do an inventory check. Might not seem like a big deal for most, but I have close to 3,000 listings so that should take me a while.

I ordered my holiday gifts on Amazon last week also.

Now if I can only find a cost effective way of getting it to my loved ones before Christmas.

C.

mrdutch1001

·1 year ago

fortunately all Christmas gift items I have ordered from Amazon will be hand delivered for Christmas, so no forward mailing required. Others though may get $ e-transfers ...No it's not same as an acutal gift but sometimes you gotta change things and do what you gotta do...

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@mrdutch1001 wrote:
fortunately all Christmas gift items I have ordered from Amazon will be hand delivered for Christmas, so no forward mailing required. Others though may get $ e-transfers ...No it's not same as an acutal gift but sometimes you gotta change things and do what you gotta do...

I bought a DVD gift set for my exHusband who lives around 500 km away. So I have to ship it if I'm not driving up there. I'd like to give it to him for Christmas.

I don't have many plans to give other gifts, so it's not a big crisis. I don't give cash as gifts.

C.

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

Looks like the Canada Post strike finally got some attention on the eBay.com boards.....

Canada's Postal Mail service is on Strike - The eBay Community

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@silverpinups wrote:
Looks like the Canada Post strike finally got some attention on the eBay.com boards.....

Canada's Postal Mail service is on Strike - The eBay Community

I started a thread over there (where I normally participate) as soon as the notice was given.

I came over here because of the strike since on the dot com board it's not big news.

C.

musicyouneed

·1 year ago

Well Canadians are still purchasing items from me and because of that I am putting myself on vacation for 30 days. I don't have any sympathy or support for CUPW. IMO, they have just gone to far this time.

pj-007

·1 year ago

Hi
I had the same issue last week
I just canceld the order and refunded him
I clicked on item out of stock
I also send the buyer a explaination
Just a situation now
Hope that helps you

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

Contract negotiations on hold between Canada Post and CUPW.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-negotiations-talks-break-down-1.7394535

poppyseeds123

·1 year ago

Just popping in to say thanks for making this thread. I took some advice myself from the replies to your question. I just sold a small item for about $10 + shipping and uyer had chosen Canada Post for delivery.

Here is the message I sent to my buyer;

"Thank you for your purchase! I am writing you to let you know that our postal service Canada Post is currently on strike! Sorry for the delay in message, I was hoping they would be back to work now. They may be back to work later this week or next week. I am not able to ship your item at this time. I am not able to ship your item with another carrier, because the cost to ship this item with UPS or Fed-EX or Purolator is much higher than the Canada Post shipping method that you chose.Would you like me to hold your item until the strike is over? Expect longer than usual wait time once it is mailed.Would you like m to cancel the order and you can purchase it with a different shipping method?You may also cancel your order all together. I believe you should ask me to cancel it since I still have one more day to ship under contract."

My buyer replied immediatly to lt me know they would wait.

silverpinups

OP1 year ago

Seller/buyer communication will be key until the strike is over. I just hope the strike ends this week.

musicyouneed

·1 year ago

I used your email note with a few changes, thank you. I currently have 2 CD's that were just purchased in the past 2 days. I am on time away until Dec 9. This is what I sent to them and the response I got from one of them. I can ship out the mail to the US as I use Chit Chats. I hate being held hostage by Canada Post. This would be my busiest time, like for most of us.

"Thank you for your purchase! I am so sorry, but as you are aware our postal service Canada Post is currently on strike! It doesn’t even look close to being over. I am not able to ship your item at this time, as they are not even accepting mail. Would you like me to hold your item until the strike is over? Or, would you like me to cancel the order?"

"Hi! Yes, I understand! I don't mind waiting, so if you could hold it for me until the strike has resolved, and then ship it out, I'd be grateful.

Thanks!"

sin-n-dex

·1 year ago

@poppyseeds123 wrote:
Just popping in to say thanks for making this thread. I took some advice myself from the replies to your question. I just sold a small item for about $10 + shipping and uyer had chosen Canada Post for delivery.
Here is the message I sent to my buyer;
"Thank you for your purchase! I am writing you to let you know that our postal service Canada Post is currently on strike! Sorry for the delay in message, I was hoping they would be back to work now. They may be back to work later this week or next week. I am not able to ship your item at this time. I am not able to ship your item with another carrier, because the cost to ship this item with UPS or Fed-EX or Purolator is much higher than the Canada Post shipping method that you chose.Would you like me to hold your item until the strike is over? Expect longer than usual wait time once it is mailed.Would you like m to cancel the order and you can purchase it with a different shipping method?You may also cancel your order all together. I believe you should ask me to cancel it since I still have one more day to ship under contract."

My buyer replied immediatly to lt me know they would wait.

Congrats on having a reasonable buyer. My four buyers (whose items are in limbo since I already mailed them a few days before the strike started, and before they gave notice for three of them), have not complained about not getting their items, done INRs or anything else to make things more difficult for me as a seller. But I do feel bad they have to wait.

I have some sympathy for workers who aren't getting their needs met with their contract, but the strike was done at Christmas on purpose to upset everyone in Canada, and that's the part that makes me angry. If they did it some other time of the year (like January), then a lot fewer people would be affected by it since most of us get Christmas sales to make it until Christmas again next year (not quite for me since I don't sell many Christmas presents, but my friends run online stores where a lot of gifts are being purchased and this strike is hurting them big time).

I might have some more sympathy for postal workers if they striked in January... but doing it mid-November was deliberate and infuriating.

BTW, I'm not paying any bills that come by mail until the strike is over. They can pound sand. I got lots of emails from people telling me that I owe them money by the deadline even if they can't send me a bill. Pound sand, you'll get your money when the mail resumes just like everyone else.

C.