Canada Post warns against mailing anything.

[jjjwar]

Seems like Canada Post has thrown in the towel on trying to end the strikes. they warn of very long extensive delays for deliveries. Possibly months. Say they are running out of places to store mail and may stop pickups. This warning is for commercial customers and all Canada Post customers. I do not know about anyone else but I would think twice about sending anything by Canada Post right now.   Link to Canada Post statement.    https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/comm/details.page?article=2018%2F11%2F19%2Flast_ditch_efforts_t&cat...

[cumos55]

Canada Post is in a "lost" situation.

[oldhousejunk]

This is beyond frustrating! I have 10 large packages sitting at my door ready to be mailed (but my post office was on strike today). UPS is too expensive for these, and the buyers have all been informed of the delay but now they might not even get them until January? What are we supposed to do Ebay? !

[silverpinups]

Since Canada Post and the CUPW aren't likely to come to an agreement anytime soon, I'm giving the Trudeau Government a few days to get their act together and initiate back to work legislation.

If this doesn't occur I'm closing my eBay store for the unforeseeable future (probably until 2019 by the looks of things) and will respond accordingly in the 2019 Canadian Federal Election. 

It's truly sad that the Trudeau Government isn't taking this Canada Post Strike situation seriously and has let it drag on to the point of no return for the 2018 Christmas season. Don't they realize how many Canadians rely on Canada Post for their livelihood.  

[jjjwar]

eBay will just give the old business as usual line. Sadly with the current state of affairs at Canada Post it is not business as usual.

[jjjwar]

I am hoping as well Trudeau steps in and forces them back to work. I have a whole pile of things I would like to list but do not want to deal with unhappy buyers and package delays.

[forester_studios]

It is hard to believe the the government has not acted after nearly a month of this. If Trudeau does not act in the next 48 hours he will look incredibly weak and ineffective. I also will remember this past month when I vote next year (not that I'm thrilled by any of the choices any of the 3 political parties present).

[fergua3]

I voted for Trudeau but have been very disappointed in his performance.  He is weak.  Instead of making hard decisions he delays with more talks, studies (trans mountain pipeline)....anything to put off a decision.

Christmas season is pretty much gone.  Even if there is back to work legislation tomorrow morning, the NDP can delay its implementation for weeks with a filibuster, like they did in 2011.  And they have already said they are going to.  By the time it passes, it will be far too late.  Back to work legislation should have been tabled two weeks ago.  But that's in the past now.

CUPW thinks they will get what the want but they won't.  There isn't enough money to give them.  All that's going to happen is postal workers will lose thousands of dollars in income (from striking and loss of overtime),  many small businesses will go bankrupt and Christmas will be spoiled for millions of Canadians.

A situation I could never have imagined in a country like Canada.

[forester_studios]

I pretty much agree with everything you say. It is a prime example of people with too much power and either abusing it or using it ineffectively.
I think that all parties involved will pay in one way or another. CUPW has made at lot of people angry. I will be looking at ways to move away from shipping with Canada post to alternatives. I will remember this at the next election. As for the NDP blocking back to work legislation; they are a party in decline and have become a shadow of what they once were. If they pull a stunt like blocking a solution they will also pay in the next election. When I was a kid in the 60's Canada was a great place, now it's heading towards 3rd world status. Lets hope the Feds can resolve things this week.

[fergua3]

I too was hoping that the NDP would be worried about next election and not interfere with the passage of back to work legislation, for fear of incurring the wrath of Canadian voters.   But their leader, Singh, reiterated today, that they will fight it tooth and nail.  Unless the rules of filibuster have changed, I calculate they could delay legislation about 2 1/2 weeks.

[momcqueen]

I’ve said it a half- dozen times today: send emails to the PMO and your MP and cc local media.

I’m going to scream.

If there’s no movement in 24 hours, I’m adding courier rates to all my listings and taking out classified ads to attract customers from Manitoba.

[marnotom!]

This will likely be a controversial perspective, but I think Canada Post is trying to give CUPW employees a reason not to go to work.

Once the amount of mail in the system is sufficiently reduced, there's no reason to have workers come in to sort and deliver it.

In effect, they're trying to prevent employees from working without initiating a lockout. At the very least, they're trying to turn public sentiment against the workers for being paid for doing almost nothing.

[hlmacdon]

I like how they have still failed to mention they cut off international inbound. 

This is an absolute **bleep** show from top to bottom. The government, Canada Post, and CUPW and their members should be embarrassed with themselves. They have effectively ruined Christmas for huge numbers of Canadian households. When are any of these idiots going to realize they exist to serve the public, not screw them. Privatize the **bleep**, fire the lot and start over.

[marnotom!]

Fair enough, but I can't think of any business or organization that wouldn't have its customer base inconvenienced in the event of a workplace disruption.

Including a privately operated postal service.

[femmefan1946]

@forester_studios

It is hard to believe the the government has not acted after nearly a month of this.

I find it hard to believe that Canada Post management has not acted since they locked out the workers in 2011.

Or since 2016, when a two year agreement left several problems unresolved.

[probuy2013]

I spoke with eBay and they advised they will extend delivery dates and expected delivery times. But the damage is done.. Sales have dropped to virtually a few a day now. In addition INR cases now being opened daily by my customers, complaints and messages of when their orders will arrive.

In regards to C.Post, speaking with them several times.   Orders shipped with "expedited" will take a higher processing priority over "normal/regular shipping".  Meaning, any normal postage mailed out, will just sit until all priority/expedited etc has been handled. Both times reps. said. "honestly.. This could mean 30-45 days or more before it is even sorted, yet alone delivered".  Not to mention how much of the mail will be damaged, or rushed and mis-delivered/lost. 

Even if this strike ended RIGHT NOW this second... .. it doesn't matter, the damage is done. Consumers know they won't get it in time. Black Friday or cyber Monday sales will never reach the customer on time, or be processed for a long time.

FYI*

In case people didn't know, or were wondering how Chinese sellers survive with low shipping rates,  well Canadian Tax payers subsidize C.Post for shipping costs...  Chinese sellers can sell a item and mail from China to Canada for $1. And yet still make money...  My postage to mail to my neighbour would be $1.20 alone, forget fees, products costs etc. .

Maybe it is time to stop subsidizing Chinese Sellers, and help us hard working Canadian Small businesses!

[ypdc_dennis]

---

@hlmacdon wrote:

I like how they have still failed to mention they cut off international inbound.

---

Inbound is not cut off -- CPC has asked other post offices to stop sending any more mail -- they are not turning away shipments that arrive (yet).

-..-

[jjjwar]

Just saw a a story on CTV News where the government say they want to wait a few days to see if both sides can reach a deal. Also said the workers have a right to strike and forcing them back to work would cause problems for the current government and they would prefer to avoid that.

Sadly I have little hope Trudeau will do anything soon if ever. The Union seems to have taken a hard line stance and thinks they have Canada Post over a barrel. The Union also thinks their actions are not hurting the customers. Not sure where they get that idea.

As for Canada Post well the fact they are still willing to take peoples money but cannot say when anything will be delivered and their statement says they may stop picking up mail due to lack of space to store it does not make me feel warm and fuzzy about mailing anything. To be honest Canada Post's statement reads to me like they have given up and are just going to keep things as they are for now but still want to get customers money.

I feel both sides have forgotten about the customers and businesses who rely on Canada Post. 

[momcqueen]

All that Canadians can do at this point is write the PMO, their MP and cc local media about the effect this is having on us lowly types who live regular Canadian lives. This will remind the powers-that-be who is truly suffering as a result of this labour dispute: regular Canadian people and small business owners.

As for me? I'm losing business at my busiest time of year, I'm losing sleep, and I cannot pay my bills at the moment because my sales have not kept pace with where they should be at this time of year. I'm a toy-seller and people turn to ebay to pay ebay prices for things because they need to receive them for Christmas, not Lent. 

[oldhousejunk]

I'm a toy seller too, with 90% of my business this time of year - all lost this year. So frustrating! I just had a long talk with ebay, and was advised to cancel all my listings (they all have large bids on them!) and send refunds for any packages that have not been mailed yet.
I asked her why ebay is not giving us any information on how to handle this, or why they are not communicating to the public about the strike and delays and she said she would ask management about that one!