We want to hear from you—Canada Post labour disruptions

[happy_pigeon]

Hi all,

With Canada Post rotating strikes continuing for the third week with no indication of a resolution between Canada Post and CUPW, the eBay Canada team are looking to hear from Canadian sellers about the impact of the strikes on their business.

Feedback and examples from our seller community helps us to better advocate for you. If you're comfortable with sharing your experience, we want to hear from you, whether you've felt an impact from the postal labour disruptions or not.

Some members of my team (someone other than myself or Tyler) may reach out to you via PM for more information after you post in this thread. We look forward to hearing your stories!

[ricarmic]

I run stuff on both .COM (likely 85%) and .CA (other 15%).

Here is what I did a month/while ago:

-I throttled back my store

   -stopped running auctions (because I can't close them as easily as I can the BIN items)

   -stopped listing new BIN items once the rotating strikes happened

Surprisingly sales if anything increased, which was an interesting thing to observe, makes one wonder how much good all my "special things I do" do!! 

I've always sent buyers a note advising their item is now in the mail. I've updated it to advise them of the rotating strikes and possible extra delays (see other threads I've posted it in a few places). I've received more than usual responses from buyers and all have been positive so far.

I was heartened by the news from Tyler that eBay has our back if there are problems.

Since then I began listing new BINs again.

Monday I began running auctions again, so the store is back at full throttle again.

I've not been keeping a really close eye on my shipments as of late, my expectation from what I am watching and have watched that there is about a 2 day delivery delay. That may be another day or so now with the extended number of locations affected each day.

I regret (same as last time around) slowing down the store. I should have just kept everything going full blast, but it is so hard to avoid all the "what can go wrong" fears and of course the news is blasting it out a lot.

I have noticed that sales have slowed a fair bit in the last few days, that may be an indication of more people being aware, or it could just be the usual once in a while slowdown.

(PS Backwards perhaps to what one would expect, I do think some buyers are just buying earlier than they would for Xmas for example to make sure it gets here in time....can't say this for certain but some of the buyer comments lead me to think this)

[what-sales-direct]

I sell electronic accessories and have been shipping my items the same day as I usually do, I had left my delivery time on eBay 3-7 business days, now looking back I should have changed that to 1-10 business days to give that extra delay due to the rotating strike. 

I have seen items not received claims increase from about 2 per week to about 5.

I recently received a negative feedback that mentioned item not received. I was happy that when I called CS they removed it after I told them about the strike.

One of my Not received Case was closed and refunded in buyers favor, no delay was given.  I just hope it does not show up as case closed without seller resolution. 

From what I can see anything that is shipped in my province is arriving fast without delays.

[ricarmic]

Something also I just thought of that I've been doing is that I have lowered my bar ($100 ish was the old bar) a bit regarding when I choose to track packages, ie I'm tracking a slightly higher % of items now than I was before. The stuff I used to waffle on and NOT track I am now tracking.

I think it is safer for me and allows the buyers to watch it en route which reduces conversation time if it is slowed down too much....

[postit4me]

I have sent and received packages from both Canada and USA with little or no problems during the Rotating Strike 2 had a day delay but no big deal. Both of those packages came from the Toronto area when they went out. eBay needs to give a large free listing special so we can get the sellers more sales and stop worrying about the rotating strikes which seem to delay slightly some of the mailings. The other online sales companies are doing business as usual and so must we or be left out. Come on eBay lets get to business.

[reallynicestamps]

I ship from Vancouver Island, so my shipments are ferried to Richmond/Vancouver before proceeding, even if the recipient is on Vancouver Island.

I had one query about a lateish book, which resolved itself (and which was not related to the labour dispute).

Sales are steady. However, I sell discount Canadian postage, mostly to eBay sellers and that seems to have dropped off a bit.

International and US sales are unaffected so far.

I do not track.

[snoopwiz]

No huge issues as I tend to do a decent job of managing my buyers expectations before and during a sale however, being in Toronto, I have noticed a slight slowdown of movement for items I do ship tracked within Canada. Safe to say that each one has taken 1-3 days longer than it normally would have pre revolving strike.

[esclyons]

ebay has made it clear that they will have seller's back during this postal disruption.. My question is to specifically address , What do you recommend we do we we ship an item without tracking and we have a buyer open a case for item not received.. I realize you will remove any negative feedback, or low dsr's for late arrival. 

Is there anything in place for us , to deal with the  customers who will demand a refund, as soon as the expected delivery date has passed..   

tyler@ebay

[esclyons]

also wondering if, ebay is going to extend the delivery dates as promised, as i just had a customer, say their items were 7 days past the expected delivery, this was going to the usa, untracked. They left positive feedback, but too early too say if i will get dinged for late delivery,..

[momcqueen]

After a week of so of the rotating strikes, I increased my handling time to five days from same-day from an abundance of caution despite seeing no delays in my parcels travelling east, west or south.

My outbound orders (both domestic and international) are still being delivered on time or ahead of time. (Perhaps that's due to my location being affected by only 24 to 48 hours of strike action since Oct 22.) It also helped that Canada Post was running their Free Ship Tuesdays through October and the first week of November which allowed me to choose Xpresspost for everything I sent through that promotion. 

After a strong summer but weak September, I noticed sales performance picked up almost the moment rotating strikes were announced. I don't know the rhyme nor reason for that. It's been steady since.

I'm not overly worried about INRs or negatives for slow shipping speed because I use tracked services 90 per cent of the time but I do worry about my Shipping Speed DSRs taking a hit. It doesn't sound like those, however, are covered by the Seller Protection that ebay is promising so that bothers me somewhat. I don't want to come out the other end of this with a 2.5 star-rating for Shipping Speed DSRs over a situation outside of my control. 

Thanks for asking.

[around_again_records]

So far the Strike has not caused me any significant problems. It's still early though, I wait with bated breath and hope the INRs do not start coming in.

I have contacted all buyers since the strike began and informed them of the rotating strikes, and asked them to please allow extra time for delivery.

My handling time is 1 day and I have not changed that, because that is my handling time. I really do not want customers to think I'm taking so long to get their items in the mail, just to satisfy the robot programs shipping time metric. That's just wrong, I'm not a big fan of manipulating information, I don't buy into the Free Shipping trend either. I will offer Free Shipping when I get Free Shipping, until then I like my customers to know the cost of shipping. I think it is good for people to know how much shipping actually costs. Free shipping does not exist, and it is misleading to offer it. I like customers to know that I am charging reasonable prices for the items I am selling. Shipping cost is beyond my control. Sorry, I know I'm getting off topic, but I'm finished venting now.

Most of my items are sent without tracking, but I have had 3 with tracking since the strike began. One of them got stuck in Mississauga due to the rotating strikes and took a full week for delivery instead of the 2 days it should have taken. I have recieved positive feedback for that item and did not get a Late Delivery strike. Another item arrived within the normal delivery time - postive feedback recieved. The other one was 2 days late and I have not recieved feedback yet.

My main concern is with the other 10 items that I have shipped via Letter Mail or Small Packet USA and Small Packet International since the strike began. I have not recieved feedback for any of these yet, but also have not had any INRs opened (Yet)

I understand and appreciate that eBay will provide me with protection against late delivery strikes for any of these items, however, like a previous poster in this thread, I am concerned about INRs and how to handle them if they start coming in. Of course I will ask the buyer to be patient due to the strikes, but what is a reasonable amount of time. Statistically, I am sure the items will arrive, but I'm also pretty sure that if I give a refund, I will not be reimbursed when the item does arrive. So it's a game of wait and see. Does eBay have any advice for us as to when we have to honor an INR and send a refund?

I suppose the most logical and safest thing to do right now would be to only sell heavy items via the tracked expidited parcel service and only within Canada until this dispute is settled.

I really wish eBay could negotiate a good deal for us with another carrier. I am not a big time seller, but this is the first year that I have had numerous people contact me about the cost of shipping an item, and have been asked many times how shipping could possibly cost so much (and like I said, I don't even use tracking, and I am still getting complaints and people implying that I am gouging them on shipping) I think tipping points have been reached and of course prices will go up again this year, how can they not go up. It is the consumer who will pay for any increased costs incured by these strikes and any settlements that are made. Imagine how much we could all sell if shipping costs could be kept to a reasonable amount.

[reallynicestamps]

@around_again_records

I really wish eBay could negotiate a good deal for us with another carrier.

Fat chance. And not because of eBay.

Couriers have discovered that they can charge almost anything for fewer destinations* while paying their workers less by claiming to be faster and more reliable than the postal system. 

Even large scale sellers, like AZ, use the postal system over couriers.

And most of their sales are from their own warehouses, while eBay has millions of sellers shipping a few packets from millions of locations.

Free shipping does not exist, and it is misleading to offer it......I have had numerous people contact me about the cost of shipping an item, and have been asked many times how shipping could possibly cost so much ( ...people implying that I am gouging them on shipping)

One purpose of Free Shipping (which I agree is not free, but really means "shipping cost included in asking price") is to stop those conversation before they start.

My job as a retailer is to supply decent products at a reasonable price and thereby make a reasonable income.

Not to educate the world on how the price of something is reached.

It is what it is.

But of course you have the right to your own opinion on that. I would buy from a seller who makes shipping a line item as readily as a seller who offers 'free' shipping. Others like the warm fuzzy feeling of getting a bargain on shipping.

prices will go up again this year, how can they not go up.

Probably, and Canada Post management is setting the stage for that by giving Report on Business (G&M) a press release about how they are losing money this year https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-post-reports-big-loss-cites-massive-expected....

Which makes me wonder how badly management screwed up that their income dropped while parcel shipping increased?

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

They don't even have the excuse of a poorly thought through deal with AZ like the one USPS messed up.

*Notoriously, couriers only cover profitable destinations and sub-contract isolate and rural shipping to Canada Post and USPS.

[momcqueen]

I think ebay sellers have that other major mega-etailer to thank for all those ‘cost of shipping’ complaints: overnight shipping for $4?! Two-day Free shipping on anything I want as part of an $80-annual ‘membership’ on items practically being given away due to the company muscling in wherever it wants?! No kidding consumers are blissfully unaware of the actual cost of postage paid by mere mortals such as ourselves when compared against an industry bully of that depth and spread. I honestly don’t understand how anyone but that company makes money as part of their corporate business structure: it’s as if their carriers and third-party merchants work for free simply to keep the beast satisfied. Like throwing virgins into the pyre. No thanks.

[oldhousejunk]

I decided last week to add tracking to every package sent out - which on small packets to the USA is about $5 to $10 extra.   On some packages I lost money,  but I felt that it was worth the piece of mind. I  sent messages to each buyer informing them that I had added the extra tracking so they could feel confident that it would eventually arrive. Most buyers have been very appreciative.  

Now I've decided (like some other sellers) to only sell large items that I can ship expidited so they can have the tracking + insurance.  

I have a huge lot of small christmas items that I'm so disapointed that I won't likely be able to sell, as asking someone for $20 for a tracked package is way too expensive. 

So, how is this affecting us as sellers?  November has always been my highest sales month where I make much more than the rest of the year.   This year, I won't even be listing most of my inventory, and biting my nails until the ones I have shipped out arrived. 

I also wonder if ebay can help us with people wanting refunds when an item is not recieved in the time frame - even giving them an extra week or two may not be enough. 

Please get back to work Canada Post!!

[snoopwiz]

Mailed an oversized envelope bound for Saskatoon on Nov 1 and received it back today, Nov 9, "$1.15 postage due"    I had put my usual $1.80 stamp on it, good for up to 100 grams within Canada, weighed it upon its return today and it weighed, wait for it...............103 grams. No, really, 103.

Was it "overweight?" Well, yes.  Could they have shown a tiny amount of compassion? (heck, even parking meter readers now give you an additional 5 minutes grace)

I suppose it was better they sent it back to me instead of showing up at my buyers door with their hand out, demanding the $1.15.

How diligent of them to take the time to scrutinize it, slap a sticker on it, and return it, halfway across the country.  How much may that have cost the corp? 3 grams over, indeed.

[mrdutch1001]

I send a lot of oversize lettermail both within Canada and elsewhere...and from my many, many years of experience with this, I can tell you oversize lettermail gets checked for weight and correct postage. I have had letters that are 1 g over, rejected by the postal outlets. I learned that lesson long, long ago... weigh accurately(or have postal outlet weigh it for you) and put correct postage on ALL lettermail, regular and oversize lettermail.

[pjcdn2005]

Any of my tracked packages to the US (which have been few) didn't take any longer than usual to leave Canada but they have been going directly from Calgary to the US. . I've recently sent out a few untracked packages to the US as well as to Ontario and farther east. It's too early to know if they have been delayed at all.

[momcqueen]

This describes my deepest fear on lettermail from the day I started to sell here. Even though I frequently calibrate my kitchen scale used for shipping with the one at the postal counter, I still add ten grams (and pay for it) to every sealed, finished outbound package to be safe. The only time I ever got an oversized envelope back was when a new kid at the counter undercharged me despite me telling him I was quite certain that wasn’t enough postage. I let it go, I was already late for an appointment. Then, boom. INR two weeks later, returned mail four weeks after that. Lesson learned.

[ricarmic]

Because I'm a stamps on the box kinda guy, the stamps I put on themselves can sometimes put the total weight over the limit.

Nothing worse than 99g without stamps.

However what I've been doing "forever" is getting my postmaster to weigh the package without the stamps, then I put the stamps on (which is how it would normally happen anyway if I purchased the stamps at the PO). This puts the weight over by a couple grams. So far none of them have ever come back (my postmasters along the line have always told me that a couple grams over is supposed to be allowed anyway). Of course now that I've said this, tomorrow I'll have one come back in the mail.....

I did get one back earlier this year that said insufficient postage. Everything checked out, PM just sent it again and it arrived ok the second time. (I also wrote the amount of postage by each of the stamps on the envelope, it had one of the fancy canada 150 maple leaf stamps on it and I suspect the postie on that end thought it was just a label and not worth 85c).

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

Same scenario can occur with sending a package Internationally. You weigh the package and scale says .490 grams. It's going internationally so you create 3 copies of the label along with customs invoice and packing slip to the box and now your package weighs over .500 grams. Could be considered inaccurate weight if clerk checking is being petty. It happens!!!

-CM