URGENT: Canada Post is on Strike (Sept 25, 2025)
Summary: In a thread discussing the Canada Post strike that began on September 25, 2025, dinomitesales shares initial reports from union members and advises those dependent on Canada Post to put their stores on vacation. videotimeplus expresses concern about the strike's adverse timing, while easoss confirms the strike from personal contacts. Many participants discuss how they're adjusting their business practices to cope with the strike, like using alternative shipping services such as Stallion Express or UPS. The discussion highlights differing impacts on personal and business mail, with some like mrdutch1001 feeling unaffected, whereas others express anxiety over potential losses and operational disruptions. There's also criticism of government actions leading to the strike, with participants like spot1970 noting that government-announced changes without consultation angered Canada Post workers. aviatorsparadise argues the reforms are necessary to prevent bankruptcy, while others stress the lack of sufficient dialogue. The strike's potential duration and the hope for a quick resolution or government intervention are recurring themes.
No public announcement yet, but reports rapidly coming in from union members, as reported on the Canada Post Corporation subreddit. Here was the notice sent out to them just moments ago.
Expect a formal public announcement from the union shortly.
If you rely on Canada Post for your business put your store on vacation ASAP.
needsmorerobots
·10 months agoYeah, Canada Post is done.
It's time for me to look at options or get out of this business altogether before yearly account renewal.
Between the Canada Post strikes, the US tariffs and Ebay's introduction of Priority promotion, my sales on Ebay Canada plummeted this year.
September is going to be the first month with no sales.
marnotom!
·10 months agoI’m pretty sure that even the Kaplan Report takes Canada Post to task for squandering opportunities to raise its rates.
ricarmic
·10 months agoUggghhh. So of course was out of town yesterday afternoon, didn't bother to check emails etc when got home, had a couple items sell (to Hungary) overnight, they overpaid the shipping so I refunded the overpaid shipping this morning THEN I noticed updates from CP etc and discovered the strike.
Shut the store down with no further sales, sent a note to the buyer from Hungary asking them what they'd like to do (I complicated things because I partially refunded one of the items so not sure if that stops me from cancelling it or not).
I have a few items in transit, will send notes to the ones I'm sure are stuck asking for extra patience while things work out.
Just another day in "sighland".... 😞
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI printed two Canada Post labels on eBay about half an hour before the strike announcement... I told the buyers I'll hold their package until next week and reevaluate when we have more information. I would try shipping another way (if it's inexpensive enough and possible), but now that I bought Canada Post labels, I'm kind of stuck. I've heard reports of people not getting refunds from Canada Post (for eBay labels).
C.
flipistics
·10 months agoTheoretically I don't think you should be charged for the Canada Post labels until there's a scan. You can also try just cancelling the labels. If it's to a major center in Canada, UPS will probably be almost the same price. To other places, Sendle is often pretty good. Once in a while there's a place that Canada Post doesn't consider remote and the other couriers do. Those you just have to grunt in an annoyed fashion and eat. If it's to a PO Box, there are no other options except to ask the buyer for a physical address. If it's to the USA, that's a little more difficult right now.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI think they charge within a couple of days, but I should keep an eye out to see if these ones get charged. One of my shipments is Fort McMurray, not exactly a cheap place to ship to. The customers of these three orders are OK with waiting a few days to see what happens. At the time I contacted everyone yesterday I had very little information to go on.
Good news though, a few wrote back yesterday to tell me their item has already arrived. So there's a few I won't have to worry about, which is always helpful. The US letters (untracked) may have left Canada by yesterday as well and those customers might receive their stuff. I will keep an eye out for feedback. I sent a warning about the strike because it's untracked, so I don't know. High scam items don't ship untracked, I generally don't have problems with my stamp and postcard customers.
C.
dinomitesales
OP10 months agoBack in June Canada Post switched to an "event-based billing system".
If those labels you purchased on eBay are never inducted at Canada Post then you shouldn't ever get charged for them.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoThat would be great, but one kind of silly question... I packed the orders up (there's two with labels) and put the label on the package. If I can't drop it off anywhere and just hold it until the strike is over, will the post office still accept it in a few weeks?
C.
dinomitesales
OP10 months agoYes, they should be accepted just fine. There's typically a time-frame limit on printing the label, but once it's been printed you can drop it off whenever.
devon@ebay
Hi @dinomitesales! eBay is watching the Canada Post strike closely and will continue to provide updates as we gather more information. Here is the latest announcement that can be found on the Announcements page:
https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Canada-Post-strike-actions/ba-p/529325
videotimeplus
·10 months agoThe most frustrating part is that UPS shows a ridiculously high price for shipping compared to Canada Post so it's likely that no sales will happen until the strike ends.
aviatorsparadise
·10 months agoI really don't understand the couple comments upset at the government for pushing reforms at Canada Post... without those reforms Canada Post would be bankrupt by Christmas and then there would be no post option at all!
Now with this strike it seems all the more likely that Canada Post is heading for Bankruptcy.
The union is not living in the real world and is going to be costing all of its members their jobs.
marnotom!
·10 months agoI'm not sure if my comment is one of those that you don't understand, but to clarify, my beef is with how the reforms were presented, with no consultation with the union prior to their announcement and mere days after it was announced that a mandate review lasting several months would be launched.
There should have been an extensive period of public consultation years ago to give the Kaplan Commission more weight. At the very least, the government should have given Canada Post the green light to use the Kaplan Commission findings as a starting point in negotiations.
Given that Canada Post executives couldn't even figure out how to do something as simple as a lettermail postage price increase to help its revenues, I'm not sure why CUPW is getting all the flack here.
widgetc
·10 months agoRaising postal rates is not currently a simple process. To raise postal rates in Canada, Canada Post proposes rate increases and submits them for regulatory approval under the Canada Post Corporation Act. Plus one must also consider that raising the rate may also result in a further decline in users.
regs43
·10 months agoCanada Post had to get apporval from the government for any lettermail hikes, that was lifted or modified yesterday, so not so easy to just say lets crank the prices willy nilly every year. Its also a declining stream of mail.
raanana
·10 months agoReally,do we need another increase ? Last one 25% hike was just in January .CP is pretty expensive comparable to many countries,price of international registered is outrageous $26.15 + postage and only 60Cad insurance.
marnotom!
·10 months agoDo you want Canada Post to survive? If yes, then you'll probably have to hold your nose and put up with lettermail price increases. In 1981, when Canada Post underwent a significant transformation and became a Crown Corporation in the process, it hiked the price of a domestic stamp from 17 cents to 30 cents, a 70% increase.
Compare Canada Post's current price for a domestic stamp to Australia, which is similar to Canada in that its population is largely clustered in a small area (the coast) but still has remote and rural locations to serve. Australia Post's domestic stamp price is AU$1.50, or about C$1.37 at current exchange rates. Countries with lower domestic stamp prices are smaller than Canada and/or have larger populations that can support a lower rate.
International Registered Mail is a letter/document service and not really intended for shipping goods, which is why it has the amount of insurance on it that it has. You'll probably find that carriers such as FedEx charge more for sending documents internationally, but they'll likely deliver it faster, as well.
raanana
·10 months agoYou can make it 10$ for regular mail and hundred for registered, eliminate insurance,I doubt it would help It's never be enough.
It is open market and CP must to adapt and be competitive, keeping prices up will just help other delivery companies to win the competition. As for prices,how it might be correctly priced when tracked package to Guam (USA) is much cheaper of registered mail to my neighbor.
There where offered good solutions in today's reality,but nope,strike is the answer and now they keep all Canadians hostages.
And by the way,I'm self employed, have zero benefits,it's is really bad situation with less customers and huge competition, but hey ,I would rise prices to attract more customers 😀
edubb101
·10 months agoHello,
This is frusterating for sure. Do what works best for your piece of mind. I have no problem staying open and messaging customers about the delays in their orders. I did this last holiday period. I got around 50 sales with only 2 cancellations. All deliveries were made without issue once the strike ended. As mentioned by someone else most people are understanding of the situation.
Sadly my selling days will be numbered here come February which means I'll be inheriting a lot of cool stuff from my inventory and the stuff I do not want will go to donation like Salvation Army for example.
Wishing everyone all the best.
silverpinups
·10 months agoCanada Post responds to the strike action taken by CUPW.
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/negotiations/2025-09-25-cupw-has-launched-a-national-strike-that-will-cause-postal-delays
rdemaree
·10 months agoCarney should pass out some binkys and sign them all back to work ASAP.
They need to learn to put country first during this tense commerce climate.
fergua3
·10 months agoSeems CUPW wants Canadian tax payers to keep funding a business model that is 30 years out of date.
There is a difference between this and the Air Canada strike. That back to order was from a controversial use of current laws and regulations. Any back to work order for CUPW will be new legislation. Conservatives are certain to vote for it. And that will certainly be enforced.
I highly doubt that this strike will last long; a couple of weeks or so probably. More lost money for the workers CUPW management pretends to care about.
marnotom!
·10 months agoOn the other hand, there are some who think that the CUPW executive isn't pushing hard enough and is actually on the side of management. Found this while looking for information on the strike before the media got hold of it:
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/09/17/tisk-s17.html
regs43
·10 months agoI put my store on 15 days time away and extended handling to 30 days as well. Had 6 orders since doing that. Just messaged all the people, one has gotten back to me asking I do not cancel and they will wait. I will keep in contact with them and they can cancel at any time until I mail (not a probelm). Rather save a sale when possible. Iwill also likely upgrade a few of the $40+ orders I normally ship just lettermail to expedited lite when I am able to ship and eat a bit doing so to save a few possible INR's that may happen.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months ago@regs43
@fergua3
@rdemaree
My guess is eBay has not been looped in on the sudden strike or follows the Canadian board very closely. eBay labels for CP is still in the ON position. Means buyers are still able to select the CP option even though it is basically DOA until there is a resolution.
For several recent orders eBay Labels has automagically defaulted to UPS for some reason. Always important to double check EXACTLY what buyer has requested by viewing order details. UPS has never been an option I have offered due to being inconvenient.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·10 months agoeBay should look into making the eIS hub also a hub for domestic fulfillment.
They would need to integrate batch shipping for it to make any sense (you can throw 20 labelled bubble mailers into one box and ship it to them for example).
Even if eBay was just printing a label for the most efficient Stallion or Chit Chats service and passing large shipments on to them, it would standardize things. I also think that sellers would be willing to use it on the basis that eBay handles returns upon an item being successfully delivered to the hub, even if they had to pay a small surcharge per order for this.
marnotom!
·10 months agoAre you familiar with Simple Delivery, recently launched on eBay UK?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/posting-items/setting-postage-options/simple-delivery?id=5575
It doesn't seem to have a lot of fans right now, though, or if it does, they're being very quiet about it.
flipistics
·10 months agoThey might not even have to do much to integrate it. Purolator and ICS both offer multi box shipments for very little to nothing extra per box (aside from the extra size and weight). No consolidation necessary. The cost to ship two items to the same address with them is usually only a tiny bit more than one item.
vintageandglamor
·10 months agoWhat happens to INR claims when packages are stuck in limbo from a strike? I was not shipping in Q4 2024 so I dont have the answer.
phc64
·10 months agoBuyers tend to be very understanding. I have already sent messages to all my buyers with a purchase stuck in the mail stream apologizing for the delay they will be experiencing.
nostalgicaftertaste
·10 months agoHope this helps: https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Announcements/Canada-Post-Strike-Update/ba-p/513894
33nhl
·10 months agoGot an email from Chitchats that all there Canada post lables options are being suspened until further notice. So feel will get nasty this time around with strike, only option goverment will legislate back like it did AirCanada workers. Have feeling wont be a good xmas this year.
flipistics
·10 months agoAnd Air Canada's union defied the order and don't appear to have been penalized for it since the resolution was pretty quick. I feel it's extremely likely CUPE will feel emboldened enough to do the same, but there won't be any quick resolution this time.
vintageandglamor
·10 months agoGet your orders out before UPS adds their surcharges.
easoss
·10 months agoWhat orders? I've had 6 sales in September.
widgetc
·10 months agoTo me it was obvious at this point that the government would direct a major restructuring. With the cuts that are coming to various departments in government there was no way Carney would agree to fund huge losses forever and a strike is not going to change that. The Kaplin report was not going to be shelved. The smart course of action would have been to accept the offered wage increase and to negotiate how any reduction in work force is to occur so as to ease the process for its members by emphasizing attrition and voluntary retirement inducements. The only question now is how long back to work legislation will take. I personally don’t think it will take as long as last time. I guess we will see.
spot1970
·10 months agoI'm reading a lot of people slamming Canadapost but it was the Goverments announcements today that triggered this strike, out of the blue they announce No door to door delivery, slower mail times (if it could get any slower) and closing of 100's of Canadapost Offices (thousands of job losses accross Canada), with no notice just an announcemnt in Parliment today, this is not the way to do things....well I am not a huge fan of Canadapost or Unions, this was not a way to do things. I am about done with selling, with the tarriffs, new no-dimminmus, all the postal disruptions it just dosen't seem worth it anymore.
naturelover55
·10 months agoWell said. Very unprofessional from the government and shows a total disprespect for people who rely on Canada Post!
mrdutch1001
·10 months agothe "unprofessional" is NOT the government and "a total disrespect for people who rely on Canada Post!" is NOT the Government>>That is the stupidity of the Canada Post union leaders. The CP union leaders have no respect for anyone..
marnotom!
·10 months agoAgree that this whole ball of wax has been handled sloppily by government. I don't know if the Kaplan Commission was hamstrung, but I think only four public hearings were held and I doubt any of them were in rural or remote communities. And now it's being announced that its recommendations are being implemented just days after an announcement that a mandate review lasting several months is going to take place. This is all being done ass-backwards. There really needed to be more public consultation, at the very least, for these recommendations to be meaningful.
katlover1952
·10 months agoI hear you. Pretty discouraging when things beyond your control keep screwing up your business.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months ago@katlover1952
Topper on the cake this morning get that delightful message Top Seller Status. Cut off was 24th. Several orders just after but I guess don't count in eBay's scheme of things.
Unfortunately, your account no longer meets one or more of the Top Rated Seller requirements based on Global seller performance standards. This doesn't apply to your performance in US; UK and Ireland; and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland regions.
Visit your seller standards dashboard to find out which areas need attention.
Like as a seller I have control over what sells to where/the dollar value and when there are disruptions like unreliable mail service for Canada and customs shenanigans to the good old USA totally out of my control. Guess if and when eIS Canada kicks in sellers will likely have to use MORE expensive methods to ship to this confangled non central hub if they want to continue doing ANY business.
Well and good to just say, just ship to other markets. Very difficult when shipping costs to those markets make it unfeasible/unrealistic.
katlover1952
·10 months agoI may face that soon too as my sales have tanked since I stopped shipping to US. Had 1 sales so far this month & another one last night that I now cannot ship. Sad state of affairs over which I have absolutely no control. As I live 50 miles from the nearest UPS outlet store that is not even an option if the buyer wanted to pay the higher shipping. Seriously thinking I may have to get out of this business.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI have tons of inventory (9000 items on the other store)... this strike and all the problems that come with it giving me a migraine. It was a very long anxious day at work thinking about coming home and organizing inventory... the silver price has risen a whole lot to the point it's not profitable to sell silver coins, so I'm pulling them to return to the B&M store.
C.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·10 months agoMaybe I can convince the UPS store to take my P stamps.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months agoRight now missing the olden days....Before mergers...When we had competition...Businesses with motto we can be better than the other guys...Having customer service--Where if you asked a question, they got you the answer....Price wars--Where prices went down not up....Adding features vs taking them away. The list goes on but ya gets the idea!!!! And the beat goes on!!!
ericsells75
·10 months agoAwesome. Store back on time away.... I literally can't give away my stuff at this point in my efforts to liquidate my store. And now the weathers too **bleep**py to have a garage sale but maybe i'll risk it and try it anyway.
I absolutley give up.
easoss
·10 months agoI'm expecting my local marketplace to be even hotter than it already is. I'm using this weekend to think about ending my store subscription early. It's no longer viable. To think how much the world of online selling has been decimated in 2 months.
john_koenig99
·10 months agoIndeed. Double whammy of Trump and CUPE.
vintagenorth
·10 months agoAnd here I finally got my new Win 11 computer set up! My stores have been on time away for the last 30 days and just getting ready to begin selling again and now we have the strike to deal with! I'm getting too old for this now. Actually, I was hoping they would hold off striking until December (sorry fellow sellers), then I would have an excuse to just send e transfers for Christmas gifts and I wouldn't have to go to the mall and shop for gifts.
silverpinups
·10 months agoIt's very frustrating... CUPW should have accepted Canada Post's final offer. Now CUPW will be striking their way into joblessness.
flipistics
·10 months agoWhen the dust settles, whatever deal they get probably isn't going to be as good as the one they turned down. Hopefully this will be the end of the Union's leadership team.
silverpinups
·10 months ago"When the dust settles, whatever deal they get probably isn't going to be as good as the one they turned down. Hopefully this will be the end of the Union's leadership team".
The postal workers lost so much money because of their last strike that they will never recover it. Going on strike now is the final nail in the coffin for them. When the smoke clears they will be working for less wages and job security now that the government has stepped in.
katlover1952
·10 months agoAgree. The writing has been on the wall for sometime now but the Union is like the proverbial ostrich. They will be wishing they had signed & got that nice little sign up bonus. I do not have a lot of sympathy because they have been screwing up my business for some time. It is because of their continued threat of & strikes that people sought & found alternative methods. Now they pay the price for their actions.
33nhl
·10 months agoLOL Same here had to get new pc cause what i had was still good but cause mr. microsoft saying different on no more support was forced to buy new pc, but i will write off lol if it comes to it lol and now strike and tariffs well cant get any worse can it ??? lol
33nhl
·10 months agoI only have lousy subscription cause during covid with all the 100k free listings per month it drawed me into get monthly subscription once it ended insted of paying 40 cents per extra listing after the 200 free listing although now ist 250 free listing month, listing 1000 cards at $1 to 5$ and then paying 40 cents for each to list per month better off burning the cards then paying listing fees and then paying 14% in selling fees, just not worth it any more if really sat down and did math work
junkwax_heroes
·10 months agoGood Thing I switched to UPS last strike, eBay Labels offers great pricing with UPS
joels-retrocade
·10 months agochicweb
·10 months agoGod...
It's just the worse timing to even think about a strike. They will make a LOT of people/businesses angry at them.
Bad, bad, bad idea.
lud-4367
·10 months agoWhere have you been it's been this for years. 😂
This news is shocking for me since I was quiet sure they will do another holiday season strike.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoThat's what I was thinking as well.
C.
mrdutch1001
·10 months agoBring it on!...Let the fun begin!...I'm Ready for it! ...We all have had months to prepare for this and we know what we need to do based on the last strike......
Just maybe them workers will get their fill of it this time & get it out of their systems before legislation back to work and/or the holiday season(whichever comes first!)...
marnotom!
·10 months agowidgetc
·10 months ago"Not sure now whether to hold back or try and get them in the system."
Items in the system might well just sit there until this is over.
shoppergurl08
·10 months agoLovely. I was just about to drop off about 10 packages in one of the Red boxes (all oversized lettermail untracked with stamps). Not sure now whether to hold back or try and get them in the system.
dinomitesales
OP10 months agoDo not put them in the mailbox. They will sit in there until the strike is over or the government legislates them back to work. No one is emptying those mailboxes as of approximately an hour ago.
I would also advise against bringing them to the post office directly. While they will still accept them (this is still early, no instructions have been sent to post offices), they can't give them back to you. They're stuck in the back of the post office. Wait until tomorrow, see what Canada Post says. Then wait until Monday and if this is still going on then maybe reach out to your buyers and explain the situation and offer to cancel the orders.
ilikehockeyjerseys
·10 months agoHold them. eBay won't cover you without a scan. Buyers might say that they will wait, but many people had to refund batches of lettermail last time around because buyers who will wait usually get cold feet after a certain period of time.
Your only real option is to ship Expedited Lite and get a scan.
If you have lettermail set up with Economy Shipping, that gives you roughly 30 days, I would write a form letter to customers letting them know that there might be delays and give them the option to cancel anytime before Canada Post goes back to work. Hold them in case there is a back to work mandate. If there is a back to work mandate next week and you toss them in a box, you are probably good if you have the economy shipping or if eBay adds extensions to shipping deadlines with Canada Post services and you have lettermail selected.
timerovertreasures
·10 months agoI was about to do the same. I just ended 37 lettermail items I had for sale. Too scared to have them sell with no option to ship.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI turned all "lettermail" type items to package shipping (I use Stallion Express). I have several eligible for offer, not going to be doing an offer because they'll balk at 7.50 for shipping. Canada is blocked on my US store (on the Canada store, this store, I put it on time away, but I have about 75 auctions ending Sunday... fingers crossed). For the auctions, one US guy wins 90% of them anyway, hopefully if anyone wins anything else they want it badly enough to wait out the strike (I'll just hold on to the package for now).
C.
recped
·10 months agoSome info posted here:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/livestory/postal-workers-back-on-strike-over-canada-post-changes-union-says-9.6916329
Hopefully this will result in a back to work being passed by Parliment (early) next week.
dinomitesales
OP10 months agoMedia is starting to pick it up:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-strike-government-reforms-1.7644025
There is a banner on the CUPW website now:
john_koenig99
·10 months agoHopefully Carney will Legislate them back to work order faster than they can organize any picket lines.
mrdutch1001
·10 months agoFor my online selling, makes no difference...have nothing listed on eBay, and for my other selling site I can deal with shipping by other means if/when necessary, and for my personal household mail delivery =I/we could care less, as we don't get enough mail aside of junk mail/flyers/admail to warrant a concern if there is any sort of CP mail disruption...
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI'm blocking Canada and going to use Stallion (if any of my cheap to ship items are a must have). This isn't great because most of my sales go with Canada Post (in Canada) now.
This strike though affects lots of people. Not everyone will be so unconcerned about this news.
C.
lotzofuniquegoodies
·10 months agoProblem being it still is a major PITA for anyone that does not have access to alternate methods, seniors who still get bills/gov cheques by snail mail and small businesses that depend on it. I'm a perfect 3 for 3 on the above.
sapphyres-designer-jewellery
·10 months agoI just put the Canadian store on time away (there are no outstanding orders, everything is shipped). but I do have auctions ending on Sunday. There is one US buyer who will win 85-90% of the auctions, and I can ship his package with Stallion.
The US store is not on holidays yet, I'm waiting for one of my colleagues to finish work and call me to discuss what we can do. I suspect what we'll do on the US store is block Canada, and change shipping so items can be shipped with Stallion. That would keep us alive a little bit until this blows over. I'm hoping they react swiftly to send them back to work.
C.
videotimeplus
·10 months agoI hope this is not true, this is the last thing we need right now.
easoss
·10 months agoIt's true. My cousin is a postal carrier in Alberta and just texted me they are on strike.
flipistics
·10 months agoBetter now than one or two months from now.