Possible Canada Postal strike this summer 2016 CBC reports contract dispute, brace for interuption

[wkndshop]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-post-warns-key-customers-of-looming-contract-dispute-1.360190...

If there is a postal strike, i would pretty much have to close shop, its too pricey to send my items via courier.

[cumos55]

My Store was on vacation for 40 days during the last postal strike.

Vacation time allowed for the preparation of a lot of new listings!!!!!

Lots of inventory to list....

Couple that with my current 30 day vacation  when my listings are being changed from US to Canadian dollars  on eBay Canada

and it will be 70 days of vacation. in 2016

What next??  

Maybe I should stay on vacation until the end of the postal strike.... Not Quite!

[mr.elmwood]

Scheduled for July. Fits in nicely with me being away. Maybe I will buy a fishing boat. I take a month off here and there anyway.

I got blind sided by the last strike, not this time.

I have a garden to maintain. Beer to drink with the neighbours. Road trips for inventory. Windows to put in the house.

[ricarmic]

Sadly in our world Vacation = No paycheque.

I may have to adjust my normal summertime vacation around the postal strike this year.....

[cumos55]

Not worried about pay cheques...

For 2016 there will be my investment income plus OAS and CPP.

I was a lot younger with the last strike... but even then I survived  and added close to 250 listings prepared over 40 days during the strike.  

Sales were quite good after the postal strike.... People had money to spend

[cumos55]

More discussion about the Postal Strike at the following link.....

http://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/sales-are-plmeting-fees-are-going-up/m-p/339116#U339116

[musicyouneed]

So I guess, to be safe, I would have to end all my listings on June 22/16.  I usually get a lot of buyers from back east, ON and QC and I would hate for the CD to be stuck in the mail.

What do you think about June 22/16.  Too Early, or Too Late or just right?

[recped]

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@musicyouneed wrote:

So I guess, to be safe, I would have to end all my listings on June 22/16.  I usually get a lot of buyers from back east, ON and QC and I would hate for the CD to be stuck in the mail.

What do you think about June 22/16.  Too Early, or Too Late or just right?

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About right for domestic, US & International could go later, from your location most of that will have left the country in 48 hours or less.

If they do plan a lockout for the holiday weekend they will be flushing the system of anything they can offload on the 29th & 30th rather than moving domestic to a different location to sit until service resumes

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I haven't been following in the news much, but does it seem very likely that it'd happen?

[cumos55]

The news is very quiet....

and we may not hear much, if anything,  for another two weeks... perhaps

Only a select few people have been notified  that a strike is possible....  Those affected the most by a work stoppage at Canada Post

We hear about this  because we have... ears all over Canada.

Based on previous years.... a full strike is most possible... most probable.....Canada Post wants it, and the union says... No Thank you

and ultimately   the Government of Canada  says... Go Back to work... by way of a vote in Parliament

[tobyshitzu]

Received an oversize letter to today, mailed from QC to eastern ON...67 days ago.  No indication on it that it was misdelivered or anything unusual happened.  Guess Im lucky it beat the strike

[dutchman48]

They want more money for that great service.

Our mail truck here is over an hour later than normal every day.

I wonder if posties are on a slow down already?

[femmefan1946]

There were rotating strikes in 2011  that slowed but did not stop the mail.

Then Canada Post locked out the workers and that did stop the mail.

And that was what triggered to back to work legislation and the arbitration settlement.

There was also a wildcat localized strike in 2013.

I'm not sure what the problems are this time? Using non-union labour for parcel deliveries? Pension questions?

Canada Post has been making noises about how they are planning to become more and more of a parcel delivery service and that is not something the carriers would want to be doing on foot.

Do Canada Post carriers get those wheelie carts that the USPS carriers do? Or are they only allowed to use the shoulder bags?

[pjcdn2005]

I'm not sure what the problems are this time?

CBC News obtained a memo being sent to CUPW members by their union on Friday. It lists some of the demands from management, including: 

• Cutting the "more secure defined benefit" pension plan and switching to a "riskier defined contribution" pension for all members in the future.
• A pay freeze for temporary workers for the life of the collective agreement.
• Eliminating the paid meal period for employees.
• Removal of stools in new concept stores.
• Amending the promise of job security so it applies only to employees with 10 or more years of continuous employment instead of the current five years

[recped]

The change in pension plan is clearly the big issue.

I say let them keep their stools and forget about the rest!

[cumos55]

Canada Post as a .....Parcel delivery service

It is there new promotion on their "little trucks"

Postal delivery people need trucks if they deliver to community mail boxes

Parcels either are delivered to the community mailboxes... or to a local outlet where a parcel can be picked up..

A pickup and delivery to a local postal outlet  involves Canada Post's trucks.

On must conclude that parcels  are not a "big" problem.... except of course  at a time such as Christmas, where if you talk to a Canada Post delivery person...  the number of parcels being delivered has been going up each year.

and..  there is only so much room for parcels at a community mailbox

Lettermail... snail mail...  has dropped over the years... mainly because people have instantaneous communication possibilities  .....emails... texting... and more....

[momcqueen]

Does the part about stools not stand-out as clearly ridiculous? Like, what could the issue with stools possible amount to? 

[recped]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

Does the part about stools not stand-out as clearly ridiculous? Like, what could the issue with stools possible amount to? 

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Actually I really can't blame retail counter workers for not wanting to be forced to stand for a complete 8 hour shift. Maybe you never worked retail, standing for a full shift it not much fun and physically challenging for a lot of people even those that are otherwise hard workers.

At my postal outlet they often sit there for half an hour between customers, I see no issue with letting them sit down when they are not actively serving a customer. Personally I don't care if they are sitting on a stool while they are serving me, my clerk can reach the POS terminal, the scale and the bin where the mail goes without leaving their stool.

[momcqueen]

I worked in retail, and know it's a lot less tiring to move around than it is to stand still. If I still worked in retail and needed to sit down, I'd bring a stool and sit on it, period. Or quit.* But, then again, I have not been inside a post office for 20 years, only postal counters and those are run by authorized dealers. 

*Or better yet, allow myself to be fired and then take it up with the Human Rights Commission. Physical disability discrimination and all. 

[momcqueen]

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@musicyouneed wrote:

So I guess, to be safe, I would have to end all my listings on June 22/16.  I usually get a lot of buyers from back east, ON and QC and I would hate for the CD to be stuck in the mail.

What do you think about June 22/16.  Too Early, or Too Late or just right?

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June 22, 2016. That was also the day I picked. I think it gives just enough clearance time to hopefully get most orders either delivers or sent outside of the border. 

While my plan is to: close the store and hide my listings; batten down the hatches; clean up my paperwork; reorganize inventory, and get new listings ready to go, what I find happens on days when I have no looming deadline by ways of an order to pack and take to the post office is that I sit in front of my desktop monitor like a blob, starting vacantly into space. I lose motivation to get things done when I have time to spare. 

Of course, there are courier companies to consider. Having used one only once, I imagine it would take me a month to get the shipping settings right.