eBay

jjjwar · ‎11-19-2018

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...

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-20-2018

For me, I'm just trying to rationalize if it makes any sense to create new listings/relist/sell similar until this is resolved and/or I am just throwing away good money? Paying store fees for something I cannot guarantee delivery on in the foreseeable future. And the thought of anything that is currently in the system is being stacked, piled and smooched. How much mail is getting damaged during this kerfuffle??? Actual sales have become a trickle. People can watch an item as long as they want. If a potential customer is located in the USA, they know they can buy it from an American seller and be fairly confident it will get to them they'll just buy it there. If a potential buyer is located in Canada, I guess there is always the mall or businesses that can afford to use Purolator(Ironically owned by Canada Post). So much for the possibility of ever getting my Top Rating Seller Status back for the USA. Now I have the joy of worrying about losing my Global Status as well. Yayyyy 10 % discounts!!! Thanks Canada Post!!! Now to end this post with a possible smile, something I am starting to forget how to do!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE186w91YVU

-CM

femmefan1946 · ‎11-20-2018

@probuy2013

Canadian Tax payers subsidize C.Post for shipping costs...

I think you are repeating a shibboleth from xenophobic American sellers.

China and Canada are both members of the Universal Postal Union, founded in 1874 and now a part of the United Nations.

This allows postal systems to deliver each others mail, and settle up at the end of the year.

The UPU makes allowance for developing nations, charging them less to deliver their mail than that of 'first world' postal systems.

Until about 20 years ago, China was a developing nation and paid those lower rates.

Then China boomed and became the second largest economy in the world. (The people are still pretty poor. The average income is about $13,000 US annually.)

It took UPU members 20 years to negotiate China Post into agreeing that they should be paying more for international delivery. That happened in 2016 and new rates are being phased in. (Tough negotiators the Chinese.)

In addition, the USPS, Canada Post, and some other European postal systems made a separate agreement to deliver a class of shipments which had advanced tracking. I'm vague on this, but it does cover a lot of the tracked (but not the untracked/free/ surface) shipments coming out of China.

Here is China Post's rate card:

https://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/postal-service/rate.htm

And just to be more clear.

Canada Post is not subsidized by the taxpayer.

Most years it makes money which goes to the Treasury.

In 2017 it made a$144million profit and in 2016 (in spite of labour unrest) $81million.

https://www.thestar.com/business/2018/05/03/canada-post-group-reports-2017-profit-up-as-parcel-busin...

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎11-20-2018

Yesterday I got eBay mail with an offer for 10 % eBay Bucks ending later this evening. Today I get an email to buy toys. So eBay wants me to buy with no hope of delivery. Isn't that being mean? Mind you in search it did bring up the 1 item I currently have listed in that category!! I guess I could buy it from myself and save the postage!!!

-CM

widgetc · ‎11-20-2018

Also unless things have changed the settling up is based on a per tonne basis not individual parcels.

Each country (postal system) charges the shipping rate it wants and charges that to it's customers and keeps the money. China chooses to keep rates low to increase exports. Canada sets it high likely to help subsidize letter mail and delivery to remote areas that lose money.

widgetc · ‎11-20-2018

At this point even if back to work legislation were tabled today it would be delayed for at minimum 2 weeks by the NDP. Then the backlog would need to be cleared. The Christmas mail order season is dead this year.

hlmacdon · ‎11-20-2018

@widgetc wrote:

Each country (postal system) charges the shipping rate it wants and charges that to it's customers and keeps the money. China chooses to keep rates low to increase exports. Canada sets it high likely to help subsidize letter mail and delivery to remote areas that lose money.

Under current UPU reciprocal terminal due rates Canada Post loses money processing packets/packages from China. This is why Canada Post instituted a policy of intentionally delaying mail from China, specifically registered/small packet non-tracked where they lose the most money. I would wager that a significant portion of the current backed up trailer load is specifically this, at least at the PPC and Mississauga locations.

Canada Post grossly inflates the price of a specific UPU mail class, namely Post Expres (marketed by CP as Tracked Packet) to compensate for this. Contract rates to remote areas always have higher rates to compensate for the increased cost of delivery. If you have ever gone through a commercial rate contract you'll see there are some rather huge variances which is why retailers often run with disclaimers that their shipping promotions don't apply to rural/remote. You pay more for international because they lose money processing big portions of their international incoming.

widgetc · ‎11-20-2018

"This is why Canada Post instituted a policy of intentionally delaying mail from China, specifically registered/small packet non-tracked where they lose the most money. "

If they did it was a violation of UPU rules. Each class of incoming mail is supposed to be treated as you do your own items in the same class. I had read the delays were customs delays looking for drugs like fentanol.

fergua3 · ‎11-20-2018

The situation is not quite as desperate as I and many others have been fearing. Don't get me wrong, I've been getting 3 hours sleep a night and have a slow boiling ulcer developing, but today I noticed something that surprised me and have been doing some thinking.

A package I mailed last Friday was delivered yesterday (Toronto to a small town in Quebec). I was stunned it took just 3 days total. Then this morning 3 packages I took to the post office yesterday morning were all processed overnight and are well on their way to their destinations. And this got me thinking.

Christmas season is still saveable. And here's how. First off, the strike has to end by whatever means and soon. Once everyone is back to work, the way to process packages is to process the most recent ones first. Leave the backlog untouched. As any spare time permits, the workers can then start working on the backlog. This seems counter intuitive but the rationale is that the most recent packages are probably for Christmas...the ones still sitting around from October and early November less likely so. So by processing the newest packages first and then processing the newest packages of the backlog as time permits next and finally the oldest packages last, odds are the vast majority of Christmas sensitive parcels will get processed in time. The drawback of course is that the packages that have been sitting around the longest will also be the ones delivered last. Far from ideal but it's still the best way to deal with the situation. (I'm not being cavalier about this...I have two packages i'm waiting for sitting at Gateway for over 2 weeks now and they haven't budged. It normally takes one day for them to be processed and delivered to me in Toronto,. By my scheme I won't seem them for a couple more months probably).

The key to the above plan of course is that the strike has gotta end and soon, which is far from a certainty given CUPW's apparent unyielding attitude and the Liberal's timidity. Throw in the NDP as a major delaying force. But at least there is hope if things can get resolved soon.

hlmacdon · ‎11-20-2018

@widgetc wrote:
If they did it was a violation of UPU rules. Each class of incoming mail is supposed to be treated as you do your own items in the same class. I had read the delays were customs delays looking for drugs like fentanol.

They can't refuse the mail, but if the class of mail has no set delivery standard well there you go. If you want package class delivery standards you have to use Post Expres or EMS (ie e-packet in this case for small packet/registered). Anything that is Post Expres (or EMS) class gets processed as fast as any domestic parcel class. It is also incredibly convenient to just point the finger at CBSA and use them to explain the delay. Here is one of the rare occasions they have commented on this publicly. That policy has been ongoing in Richmond and likely Mississauga as well as those two locations are the primary points of incoming mail from China. You may have also noted that Canada and the US (and to a lesser extent Australia) have pressured other countries to move from services with lower terminal due rates like registered to Post Expres variants (ie e-packet) by removing scans for registered mail.

Was Fentanyl a factor? Sure to an extent it does increase CBSA screening time but it is just compounding a much larger problem, which is why the UPU was pushed into phasing in a specific package delivery class for parcels to eventually replace registered/small packet for goods and push for electronic manifesting ahead of handoff to customs. They let it pile up and deliver once everything else with a delivery standard (read: profitable postage) is processed. This is why you have seen plenty of domestic and international Post Expres/EMS parcels being processed in a timely manner throughout the strike process, at least until the recent request by CP for international partners to pause on sending more mail.