Info for the looming Canada Post Strike

[roadrunners123]

So looking more and more that Canada Post will be going on strike, I did call E Bay and asked what would happen if parcels that were sent to Canada that wouldn't arrive until after the strike started, and the rep told me that they would refund the buyer back if the parcel didn't come by the scheduled time. Will be interesting to see how this will all play out with parcels coming from China, or anywhere overseas for that matter. So many questions will arise from this I'm sure. Will anyone in Canada change there selling tactics before July?, or just do the wait and see approach and deal with it on July 5th? 

[reallynicestamps]

.but other postal systems are not allowed, by law. 

Technically...... but basically all the couriers are doing exactly that. The only differences are that they charge higher rates to allow for greater profits, pay their workers less, and don't deliver everywhere. Couriers notoriously sub-contract shipping to remote or rural areas to..... Canada Post.

And the post office must , by law again, deliver everywhere. Actually that has been part of the argument about community mailboxes.

Just a word of caution: courier service is about three times as pricey as CPC for parcels, and doesn't do lettermail:

It may arrive in an envelope, and be handwritten on perfumed paper, but the courier will call it a parcel. Because, by law again, they are not allowed to compete on letter delivery.

It always interests me that Canada Post pays its carriers and plant workers less than the couriers, delivers to more locations,charges less than the couriers , and still makes a profit almost every year.

For 16 years up until 2011, Canada Post realized an annual profit.[45] In 2011 Canada Post posted a pretax loss of $253 million, due in part to a 25-day employee lockout, and a $150 million pay equity class action lawsuit.[45] In 2012 Canada Post rebounded to post a profit of $98 million before tax.[46] In 2013 Canada Post lost $37 million overall.[47] The Canada Post group's gross profit in 2014 was $269 million. [48] In 2015, the corporation continued to remain profitable, posting a $136 million profit before tax.[49]  -- Wikepedia

And we should also remember that those profits ($223million between 2011 and 2015) went into the Government's general coffers.

[tobyshitzu]

"And we should also remember that those profits ($223million between 2011 and 2015) went into the Government's general coffers."

None of it went to the government being they stopped sending anything to the governement years ago.  Also suspended payments toward making up the pension deificit

[tobyshitzu]

the "profit" is meaningless while they have a $6+billion pension deficit they can't deal with

http://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/06/22/the-unfunded/

[skinnyfarmhouse]

Nice to see at least someone on here understands 🙂  I appreciate your comments.  I have been a rural route driver since 1992 and definitely dont want to go on strike or get locked out.  I appreciate my customers and my job. The comments on here and elsewhere make my blood boil.

I also sell on here...so its kinda a double whammy for me... 😞  ...guess i'll be doing alot of getting listings ready!

Thanks for your support 🙂

Valeda

[momcqueen]

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@niknak-paddywhack wrote:

Nice to see at least someone on here understands 🙂  I appreciate your comments.  I have been a rural route driver since 1992 and definitely dont want to go on strike or get locked out.  I appreciate my customers and my job. The comments on here and elsewhere make my blood boil.

I also sell on here...so its kinda a double whammy for me... 😞  ...guess i'll be doing alot of getting listings ready!

Thanks for your support 🙂

Valeda

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You are right, we are looking at this only from our own limited point-of-view. Thank you for coming to the thread share your insight. We stand to be reminded this is a game played between bosses of union and management. 

[mr.elmwood]

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@niknak-paddywhack wrote:

Nice to see at least someone on here understands 🙂  I appreciate your comments.  I have been a rural route driver since 1992 and definitely dont want to go on strike or get locked out.  I appreciate my customers and my job. The comments on here and elsewhere make my blood boil.

I also sell on here...so its kinda a double whammy for me... 😞  ...guess i'll be doing alot of getting listings ready!

Thanks for your support 🙂

Valeda

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I am solidly behind the employees at my CP outlet. They are excellent people doing the best they can. Non-union management hides in the back. They never face the customers, never serve the customers, never get yelled at and abused. They never pick-up a mailbag and walk a route.

They ordinary folks just trying to get by.  They are real people whom I know. They are getting that deer in the headlights look. I feel sorry for them.

[rose-dee]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

"I guess there is no way to see them and block them from others."

When you "hide" your listings in your eBay store while "on vacation", they are not visible to anyone but yourself through your Selling Manager (or "my eBay").

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I've added listings to my store (on .ca only) during a previous postal strike when my store was shut down "on vacation" and listings were hidden, but do you happen to know whether it's possible to end listings on .ca and relist them as new listings on .com (I need to do some manual migration) under the same conditions?  

If you don't know for certain, I'll ask Raphael on Wednesday before it's too late and I'm left with the "trial and error" method of finding out.  

[pierrelebel]

" know whether it's possible to end listings on .ca and relist them as new listings on .com "

While your store is on vacation, ALL listings are hidden if you selected "hide listings" when you put your store on vacation.

Any new listings added - regardless of site selected (eBay.ca, eBay.com, eBay.uk, etc...) will be hidden

[dutchman48]

Postal workers and CP make my blood boil because all the game playing does, is hurt the end users. Neither side cares, but everyone else suffers and pays for it.

I spent 50 years in the work force, both union and non union.

My belief has always been, you know the job going in and unfortunately nothing ever remains the same. Jobs, companies, the environment, and economy are constantly changing, and not always for the better. Accept constant change instead of fighting it.

If you don't like your job. find another one you like better.

If you can't find a better one, maybe quit complaining about the one you have as you will only make yourself miserable and hurt the company you work for and everyone else around you.

[ricarmic]

I happen to live in a wee village with a wee post office, but both this time and last, I can say that:

All of the folks, across all the unions here, do care about customers, I see them going above and beyond regularly.

Both times, as far as I know, all of the folks in my wee office in all the unions here, are as upset and concerned about the situation as I am.

As far as I know some of them stand to have no pay cheque during a strike/lockout situation. So the world is just as bad for some of those folks, if not worse than it is for us.

Certainly the world is changing for them as it is for us, but I don't think it is fair to blame the front line people. Union/corporate management is perhaps another story.

[mr.elmwood]

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@ricarmic wrote:

I happen to live in a wee village with a wee post office, but both this time and last, I can say that:

All of the folks, across all the unions here, do care about customers, I see them going above and beyond regularly.

Both times, as far as I know, all of the folks in my wee office in all the unions here, are as upset and concerned about the situation as I am.

As far as I know some of them stand to have no pay cheque during a strike/lockout situation. So the world is just as bad for some of those folks, if not worse than it is for us.

Certainly the world is changing for them as it is for us, but I don't think it is fair to blame the front line people. Union/corporate management is perhaps another story.

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Our one horse town, the stress is showing on the employees. They take a lot of abuse from know-it-alls who are just chock full of helpful advice.

For all those heaving advice. Please reference to Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards: "...Some man's come he's trying to run my life
Don't know what he's askin'
When he tells me I better get in line
Can't hear what he's sayin'
When I grow up, I'm gonna make it mine
These ain't dues I been payin'

...

He can't even run his own life
I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

[recped]

Extra kudos for the Edwards reference!

I have one reserved for a particular type of poster on these boards (the type is not so common anymore on THIS board).

Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down

Well, I won't back down
No, I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No, I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down
Gonna stand my ground and I won't back down

(I won't back down)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
Hey, I will stand my ground and I won't back down

Well, I know what's right, I got just one life
In a world that keeps on pushin' me around
But I'll stand my ground and I won't back down

[momcqueen]

Is it my turn to sing? I like Touch of Grey by The Grateful Dead, it applies to any scenario.

Must be getting early, clocks are running late
Paint by number morning sky looks so phoney
Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle curse the glare
Draw the curtains I don't care 'cause it's alright

I will get by, I will get by
I will get by, I will survive

I see you've got your fist out, say your piece and get out
Yes I get the gist of it but it's alright
Sorry that you feel that way the only there is to say
Every silver lining's got a touch of grey

I will get by, I will get by, I will get by, I will survive

It's a lesson to me, the Ables and the Bakers and the C's
The ABC's we all must face and try to keep a little grace

It's a lesson to me the deltas and the east and the freeze
The ABC's we all think of try to win a little love

I know the rent is in arrears; the dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears but it's alright
Cow's giving kerosene, kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene but it's alright

I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive

The shoe is on the hand that fits, there's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit 'cause it's alright
Oh well a touch of grey kinda suits you anyway
And that was all I had to say and it's alright

I will get by I will get by I will get by I will survive

We will get by we will get by we will get by we will survive
We will get by we will get by we will get by we will survive

[dutchman48]

But union members have to vote in favor of a strike or is there so much apathy there as well.

If all workers were so concerned, they would in all likely hood not vote in favor of strike since it does require some form of majority, and we all know it they strike, they very seldom will ever regain what they lost during the strike.\

That is logic, yet the union still votes in favor of strikes, not the union president. He only guides them with his ridiculous pushing.

[momcqueen]

I just got a message from eBay with their official recommdation:

"In the event of a Canada Post labour disruption, eBay will remain open for business, and we’re asking you to do the same. There is no need to put your store on vacation hold, to end listings, or to zero out quantities on multi-quantity listings.

Should Canada Post service be disrupted, we recommend that sellers:

Continue to list and sell on eBay; and
Be considerate and accommodate buyers who may wish to cancel orders if they have not yet been shipped."

I assume all registered sellers will get the same as me.

[pierrelebel]

"Continue to list and sell on eBay; "

... so that eBay can continue to collect fees.

What the message does not tell you is that eBay will NOT remove neutral or negative feedback posted by unhappy buyers experiencing a delay caused by the strike.

[momcqueen]

They will simply have to. If a buyer has been warned about slow shipping, they can't leave not-positive feedback for slow shipping any more than someone can complain their Used item was used. 

The rest of the announcement is here: 

http://announcements.ebay.ca/2016/06/24/7805/

[amcdc79]

Yes pierre, my jaw dropped when I saw Raphael say, that a Negative does not affect a seller on ebay anymore. Baloney!!!!

No one ever wins in a work stoppage, I truly hope that cooler heads prevail.

Negotiations, when the company is making money, should not end up in a stoppage. Both parties need to understand that neither one will get everything they want, it is a give and take situation.

Yes, times have changed, (less letterpost, more parcels) may they find a middle-ground, they can both live with.

[eurobeads]

I don't get it...why is eBay telling us not to put our stores on vacation? What if the strike lasts 3 months, Buyers are expected to wait 3.5 months to receive their orders? And we just sell and give refunds and get negative feedback? What a mess...I'm not going anywhere near this type of crazy. Putting both stores on vacation immediately and ending any auction listings. I just hope everything I already sent out makes it. Maybe I'll do Craigslist and store consignment this summer. Well at least it didn't happen in October/November!

[pierrelebel]

"why is eBay telling us not to put our stores on vacation?"

Why?

Simple: they collect fees (FVFs) from us when we sell stuff.

If we close our store and stop selling they do not collect fees.

eBay is in the business of collecting fees (FVFs).  Nobody In San Jose cares if Canadian sellers get bad feedback or a bad reputation (take the money and do not ship because of a strike).