CP strike to start on Friday 23rd of May

[cottagewoman]

As per CBC

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-post-strike-notice-1.7538696

[mrdutch1001]

Any CP strike or other actions will no longer affect me here on eBay as all my listings have ended and I will not relist anything until sometime in June.

[shallow_karl]

Canada Post parasites are typical unionists.  Imagine if a private company was effectively bankrupt and the employees started agitating for more money?  Happened in England in the 1970s and MANY companies went under thanks to left-wing politicians pandering to unrealistic union demands.  Canada Post, despite their recent "move to the cloud" needs a MASSIVE reorganization STARTING with the elimination of every day mail delivery.  Meanwhile, Ebay has NO provisions for these situations, requiring the seller to individually adjust shipping rates on what could be hundreds or thousands of items.

[brettjet38]

@shallow_karl unrealistic union demands

Do you know what a Postie does in a single day, and what the dangers are involved in delivering your post?!

You are just spitting arrows at Unions, Canada Post, and eBay!

So transparent you are...

[cottagewoman]

Regardless of whether CP or the CPUW are right or wrong, I do agree that eBay has been very amiss in not providing its sellers alternatives to CP and UPS. WhatNot has partnered with ChitChats (right or wrong!) to provide a more cost effective solution. Not sure of it's every-corner-of-Canada coverage, but it seems like eBay is wayyyy behind the ball.

[38e_avenue]

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@brettjet38 wrote:

Do you know what a Postie does in a single day, and what the dangers are involved in delivering your post?!

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Well, and it surely gives them right (again and again) to held all country in hostage...

I can list here thousands of jobs more dangerous than a postie...  

[33nhl]

Sadly this time around will last all summer. Canada post has made it clearthat they want less days delivery thus would mean less jobs. So get ready for a long haul strike.  

To use Chichats or Stallion or Fed Ex or others to mail $1.00 to $20.00 cards is not worth the cost nor wil buyer pay $15.00 to $20.00 to have  $1.00 to $20.00 item shipped this manner.

Ebay will act like they care but they dont only care is about the fees and increasing profits.

Many in the Pokemon and sport cards past 6 months have increase attending to local card shows and dealing in person thus buyer no pay sale tax and seller dont pay fees.

Plus with tarrifs anything going from Canada to USA must have stickers on the item where it was made and also it should say on it where its made other wise chances are be returned and thus shipper will be out of $$$ for cost shipping. Plus packages sent with Chichats or Stallion are being opened before they try to go across the boarder and again USA Customs could or does open the packages to be inspected thus if they mess up and buyer says after item damaged then good luck to seller to resolve problem with the shipping company they used.

Better to not ship then to have to deal with headaches, this is going to be a nasty 2025 with shipping items across countries or just sell with in country.

[silverpinups]

I put my store on time away this evening because there is no way if I ship out tomorrow morning that packages would cross into the USA by Thursday evening (in 2 days).

I don't think this will be a long strike as the Carney government will implement back to work legislation. Canadian businesses are hurting with the Trump tariffs and the Candian economy is on the brink of a recession. The last thing Canadians need is a postal strike.  

The union will also be shooting themselves in the foot and could cost their members their jobs  because the times are a changing and if CP doesn't change and adapt they will fall by the wayside. 

The CUPW needs an attitude adjustment.. they have an old school mentality and need to adjust to current economic reality.    

[fergua3]

i wonder if strike action will be different this time.  eg rotating strikes at first instead of a full walk out.   Strange time of year to go on strike.  Even fewer people will care than at Christmas.    Workers may end up hoping they get ordered back to work; they may still be catching up from the thousands they lost in Nov/Dec.

[parts_and_diecasts]

In anticipation of this week's CPC strike, I tried changing all default domestic shipping to UPS Standard but the resulting quotes were unrealistic (e.g. $35 to ship to myself, while I know it should be under $15 when buying the label through eBay); not sure that the Calculated Rates for UPS (domestic shipping) are accurate. I left it at CPC Calculated Rates and will use Chit Chat Express (will refund difference if significant), I cannot afford the risk of offering Canada-wide flat rates in case where the buyer is in a remote region (I don't sell stamps or pokemon cards), everything is boxed with the standard being a 8x6x4 inch weighting ~0.5 lbs. 

The Perfect Storm: 1) No more De Minimis on US-bound Made in China items + 2) CPC strike. For me, it's only a hobby, I feel for the full time small business owners.

[fh991586]

It also uses the widest delivery coverage of the country, as most private couriers use its services in remote areas [I stopped using FedEx for that reason when shipping out of the main areas, because I'd get the same service as Canada Post without having to pay their mark up]. Even using those courriers during the strike won't provide for the last leg in most of the country!

Canada Post wants to deliver during week ends, but also wants to cut the personal daily delivery,; won't it make it even after all? Since commercial addresses are mixed up with personal mail on the field [ex. a shop on ground floor with 2 renters over it], it won't change much in the work force because of the work needed to sort them first.

There's a lot that we don't know about those talks [never consider the public statements as golden facts], so saying one side is worst than the other here isn't relevant at all for us.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@parts_and_diecasts wrote:

In anticipation of this week's CPC strike, I tried changing all default domestic shipping to UPS Standard but the resulting quotes were unrealistic (e.g. $35 to ship to myself, while I know it should be under $15 when buying the label through eBay); not sure that the Calculated Rates for UPS (domestic shipping) are accurate. I left it at CPC Calculated Rates and will use Chit Chat Express (will refund difference if significant), I cannot afford the risk of offering Canada-wide flat rates in case where the buyer is in a remote region (I don't sell stamps or pokemon cards), everything is boxed with the standard being a 8x6x4 inch weighting ~0.5 lbs. 

The Perfect Storm: 1) No more De Minimis on US-bound Made in China items + 2) CPC strike. For me, it's only a hobby, I feel for the full time small business owners.

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@parts_and_diecasts 

Here is the link to settings to turn on discounted rates. It works for CP, Fedex and UPS.

https://www.ebay.ca/ship/prf/carrier

eBay calculator to check rates.

https://www.ebay.ca/shp/calc/rates

Token disclaimer. Format for weight using calculator tool is #.## in Kgs. Measurements are in cm's. Unfortunately you are unable to add or not add a handling charge like in the past. Also no way to compare discounted vs non discounted with the new tool. 

[parts_and_diecasts]

very helpful, thank you!

[patphotog]

Store on Time Away...do not rely on ebay to get your back in situation of "item not arrived" open cases.

[drath999]

I'm wondering what is more damaging to your store, putting yourself on "time away", or just changing all shipping to UPS/FedEx (which nobody will pay anyways because it's double/triple the discounted/calculated cost of Canada Post). I'm currently doing the latter since I wanted to continue to post new items every day, which I am not sure is possible on "time away".

[chicweb]

I think using UPS is like a soft vacation mode.

By having it on, there's still a chance of sales (specifically with some items that the price of shipping would be almost the same as Canada post).

There's also the combined shipping. Buying a lot of low value items will almost cost the same shipping in the end with UPS when combined.

As for the effect on account, I'm not sure about the algorythm.

[ricarmic]

@drath999 I've pondered this as well when I'm on time away (yes as far as I know you can add new, and end items etc) but I don't want to lose the viewing "boost" the listings get when they are initially dropped. My plan before my store reopens may be to create a lot of drafts and drop them in portions each day when the store reopens so I don't lose the "bonus" when they're first dropped..... 

[intimewithmusic]

@drath999 

@chicweb 

@lotzofuniquegoodies 

It's going to be different for everyone. 

Staying open depends on:

1.  your ratio and value of widgets going to the USA/Overseas

2.  if they go Tracked Packet rendering UPS useless

3.  if it's worth your time navigating store issues for the amount of profit coming in when you could be doing something else

Taking the above into consideration I printed my final label and closed my store (disabling purchases) last night. 

On the bright side those that stay open will have less competition if they sell common items. If you sell one of a kind items which is mostly my situation customers will wait.

Do what ever works for you and good luck!

[chicweb]

Exactly.

I think we are all in the same boat here, in this special time. Been happening 2 times in less than a year + tariff. Not easy.

No real 'good' solution. It's all test/error/success and tweakings depending of the situation.

eBay canada, specifically, is a special beast it seem. We are limited with our options. Trying to be creative can be difficult (using table rate with chit chat not working as expected, as an example).

What is important is staying positive. When it works, it works well. 😉