"No international packages to Canada " Topic

Canada Post has asked international postal services to hold all packages to Canada: link

If you're a Canadian planning to order from overseas, you may need to put your credit card away for a little while, unless your supplier can ship by courier!

Wow! Merry Christmas to our northern allies!!!

Talk about extortion………

Agreed – shameless blackmail of the hapless wargaming public

So Canada is closed?

It's a measure taken by Canada Post Corporation to put pressure on the government to legislate an end to the postal worker strike – focus is on upcoming Black Friday sales.

Hmmmm, imagine that might just boost sales of stuff from northern US cities.

I'm sorry guys. Can the Yanks among us hold stuff for you until Canada Post lets you have nice things again? Wouldn't want you to miss the sales.

Canada Post has been one of the worst mail services in the civilized world for the last 25+ years. Doubt this will improve their reputation even after it is resolved.

Okay…I just recently shipped a package to a Canadian TMP'er.

I've lost a lot of money shipping stuff to Canada, the last guy wanted me to pay the import duty. Go figure.

What a cluster ****!

I have just had a small parcel returned from Canada marked 'NSA'. I assumed that meant ' no such address ' but now it must be 'nasty strike action'.

Oh Canada ..indeed

Management doesn't want to pay the rural posties a fair wage. And doesn't want to do what the arbitrator told them was the correct course of action. Apparently eBay is asking them to resolve this quickly. Doesn't sound like they are going to however.

In a few years UberPost will have replaced it, I'm sure.

Ah. That would explain why some of the packages I've ordered seem to be a bit overdue.

I've lost a lot of money shipping stuff to Canada, the last guy wanted me to pay the import duty. Go figure.

That had nothing to do with Canada, but rather with an idiot who happens to live in Canada. Sadly, they're in every country.

Oddly enough, in the hundreds of packages I've ordered from overseas, I think I've only ever paid duty on one or two. It is actually cheaper for me to buy books overseas, since I get free shipping and don't pay any taxes.

The underlying issues of the (presently) rotating strike include:

* high injury rates (1 in 12 posties experienced a disabling injury in 2017).
* gruelling routes (my posties sorts his mail for two hours at the plant and then walks 25km carrying a heavy bag in all sorts of weather).
* rural posties and temps have worse wages and working conditions than colleagues doing the exact same work elsewhere.

link

Those are disgusting working conditions. Canada Post clearly need to get their act together.

I'm usually skeptical about strike complaints but that injury rate is strike worthy!

Reading Bob's link it looks like the Canadian Post is in bad shape and the union refuses to admit it.

There's some things in there that are remarkable to me: the union is concerned with, and thinks the management should be concerned with, 'work life balance', preserving good full time jobs, (this is a business, not a charity – they have to make a profit, or at least break even), it only takes seven years to make the top pay scale, and they're complaining?

Also, I find the injury rates to be highly suspicious. I'm a police officer and have to fight/wrestle with people on a fairly regular basis, as do the people I work with. Our injury rates are nothing like that. In the fifteen years I've been doing this only two officers at my department have had to retire due to injuries, and both of those were inflicted on them by a bad guy. What are the postal workers doing that is so much more dangerous than me?

I know the union is trying to get the best deal they can for their workers, but they may be driving themselves into not having jobs in the long run.

Dn Jackson: A disabling injury is an injury that means a worker do their job the next day due to injury. The main causes are slips and falls and repetitive strain injuries ( due to workload, including a huge surge in package delivery ) .

Canada Post is profitable ( again driven by a huge surge in package delivery ) :

In 2016, Canada Post recorded its 3rd consecutive profitable year, making $114 USD million before tax ( $81 USD million after taxes ) . In total, Canada Post has made a net profit of $266 USD million since 2012.[4] In 2017, the Corporation posted $144 USD million after tax profit ( link )

Seven years to get to top of wage scale can reflect that the scale tops out quickly. I was unable to find the wage scale but the average annual salary reported on job searches sites is $35 USDk ( so about $18 USD/hr ) .

According the Doug Ford, that wage doesn't even put them in the Middle Class.

Not that anyone should pay much attention to anything Doug Ford says…

A lot of my fellow Canadians have negative experiences with Canada Post, but I have to say I find them much better than the alternatives such as FedEx or UPS. I've had some nasty issues with couriers.

Ok, a different definition of 'disabling injury' than I would use.

The package surge is what saved the USPS too. If not for Amazon both systems would be in dire straights. They both need to think long and hard about what will happen in 5-10 years. Eventually the on line retailers will find, or someone will create, an alternative delivery system to the post office. Something that is cheaper and more efficient. When that happens they'll find themselves where they were a couple of years ago – on the cusp of insolvency.

I think the union's current move to bring back postal banking services is really smart. They can definitely remain relevant if they offer low fee banking services. Simplii and Tangerine already show there's a huge demand for simpler and less fee laden financial services. In France, postal banking has already grown to be a quarter of their post office's revenue.

But yes, those of us in Canada are currently barely receiving parcels and there's probably more than a month's delay already and the labour action is still just rotating and not a full strike.

At present I have 7 parcels from eBay and one from Butlers somewhere in transit and all long overdue. Worse part is if they arrive now it's almost too cold outside to prime them. So odds are those models don't get built and on the gaming table until Spring 2019.

I had a small package arrive from the 2nd City Games, UK last week which was ordered early December so their may be a few getting through – I am now waiting for a Perry order :-(

The strike ended some weeks ago (underlying problems that led to the strike remain unresolved, however, as the posties were legislated back to work), so post is moving again. Reports indicate that the backlog has been cleared. i was able to get an order from the UK in pretty reasonable time (2 weeks, roughly).