Sales and Covid-19

[rosscd57]

I was having my best four months ever (I only sell 5 months a year)  and it just quit.

Then the US woke up re: Covid-19 - not one sale in the last 2 weeks.

eBay thinks people staying at home will increase sales.

My wife thinks people just don't want to spend their money right now. (I think she's right)

Anyone else want to pitch in?

I transferred a large amount of money to my Bank Account from PayPal last week - wish I had waited. Then I thought - the dollar is low and lots of Canadians are going to suffer so.................. no grousing.

[rosscd57]

Well just got back from the Post Office in the Shoppers Drug Mart - a fairly good sized store for out little town. There were only to shoppers in the whole place. Dropped off two eBay sales and picked one up. The clerk said she thought that at: "this time next week the Post Office may only be dealing in essential mail" - when I asked her what that meant, she could not define it. She did say:  "that is what she was told."

Interesting!So who defines what is essential and how do they prove it?

[ypdc_dennis]

Aren't rumours so wonderful.

I suspect the posties handling the mail would prefer to only have an increase in the risk to their lives for important stuff.

Non-essential: advertising fliers / admail

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[pjcdn2005]

That makes sense, especially if they are short staffed. I imagine advertising and flyers are a huge part of post office's income though.

[femmefan1946]

A couple of years ago that was absolutely true.

But apparently although letter mail (including billing) has dropped, parcel delivery is now as important as it was in Edward VII's reign, when parcel delivery supported the post office.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

That makes sense, especially if they are short staffed. I imagine advertising and flyers are a huge part of post office's income though.

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Around 16% of postal revenue in 2019 was for direct advertising mail.

[rosscd57]

Perhaps everyone knows this - but I will mention it anyway. If you use a super mail box. You can inform the Post Office or your Postie, that you do not want to receive flyers. Your Postie will post that notice inside your mail box that he/she opens to put in your mail in - and then just not put any flyers in your box from then on.

Works great, box does not get filled up with junk mail - we use this feature.

[teenytrinkets]

All mail is essential, isn't it? It's not up to the Gov't to decide if me shipping TP to my aunt in Regina is more essential than me shipping lipstick to a buyer in Newfoundland.

If they're still picking up mail in the red boxes, we can still ship out!

[ypdc_dennis]

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@teenytrinkets wrote:
All mail is essential, isn't it? It's not up to the Gov't to decide if me shipping TP to my aunt in Regina is more essential than me shipping lipstick to a buyer in Newfoundland.

If they're still picking up mail in the red boxes, we can still ship out!

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How quickly it arrives is another matter. COVID-19 does not care about who is essential.

March 24: St. John’s plant will not be processing mail and parcels on March 24 and may have limited processing on March 25. This hits all of Newfoundland.

https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/service-alerts.page

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[tryubik-useonlyasdirected]

It's due to this, The CPC office currently undergoing a "deep clean.":

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/canada-post-covid-19-march-24-1.5507745

[dkathuna]

I think people are pretty paranoid about getting covid from touching a package or an item they buy online. I think that's the reason for the slow down more than they don't want to spend money. 

[zee-chan]

Yeah. I mailed a friend some handmade facemasks two weeks ago and I told her to just let the mail sit for a few days before opening it.

Even when we collect mail, if it doesn't look too important, we let it sit for 3-5 days before opening. Flyers go straight to recycling if it's something we know we won't use. I only keep McDonald's flyers now but even when I go to one, they usually don't take the coupon now which is great.

[mrdutch1001]

well perhaps the majority, but as mentioned in my previous post, I am not that  paranoid and apparently there are others that are just fine with continuing to purchase their hobby items online/on eBay. Hubby's sales are  doing well in his category and packages are off to the PO this morning.

[reallynicestamps]

I've bought two tops, three books, and six pairs of fishnet stockings in thee past two weeks online.

The books were from Bolen's one of our local independent booksellers.

The tops came from ON by Canada Post in about five days, including weekends, the books were delivered by a bookstore employee on Easter Monday from a Good Friday purchase.

I was thinking of doing groceries too, but the things I want/need are not on the supermarket list. I KNOW they sell ghee, but it's not on their website.

[mrdutch1001]

I may like shopping for some things online, but groceries,etc is where I draw the line for purchasing online...

No way is anyone else going to pick out my fresh produce items or meat products or my other grocery products...those are items for my in-store shopping only and will continue to do so...

[reallynicestamps]

We have two independent butchers, a specialty fish shop, a corner store/delicatessen with imports and local produce, and two specialty cheese shops in walking distance. 
Plus two liquor stores.

And a hospital.

This is why we retired to the city and not to the country.

[mrdutch1001]

living in a quiet older city suburb where there is NO commercial development allowed has it's pluses for me, but a 5 minute drive or 20 min. walk to any amenities including a mall, Shopper's Drug Mart & Postal outlet, medical offices, grocery store, gas station, restaurants, fast food outlets,etc is not a hardship. We all do whatever we need to do given any circumstance that comes to pass.

Our city has been provided with plastic shield/barriers separating cashiers from customers in all open retail outlets, there are tape lines to keep customers at their distance both inside stores and outside, everything is wiped down, shopping carts are wiped down before and after every use, hand sanitizer is available for customer use in these retail outlets and much much more.

[valuestore]

Our sales are about 5x normal, amazon stock jumping 10%, its boom time for allot of online businesses..but there is a catch, supply... if we cant get stock due to shortages, or delays.. its lights out.

[nostalgicaftertaste]

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@valuestore wrote:

Our sales are about 5x normal, amazon stock jumping 10%, its boom time for allot of online businesses

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This is my current experience also, although it feels like 10x just by the sheer volume of orders I'm getting. It's a good problem to have, but I'm overwhelmed. (Send help.) It's a relief that eBay has sellers' backs with late shipments and such right now.

[mrdutch1001]

I don't sell much on eBay anymore, sales plummeted by about 80% about 3 years ago, so for me my eBay experience has become maybe a sale here & there with current time frame being no different....basically no sales.

However, my other selling venue has been increasing in sales so that's good and I'll go with that.

[valuestore]

And just like that in a fireball of sales we are lights out, 12 week lead times on supply. .. hoarding in business supply happening same as hoarding in retail.