Canada Post Strike Leaves Online Sellers Scrambling Amid Carrier Overload

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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As Canada Post strike stretches into third week, other carriers in the region are struggling under the load of increased volume, leaving online sellers stuck during critical holiday shopping period.

Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian recently retweeted a post from the frustrated COO of gourmet cookie company Félix & Norton who says their whole holiday season has gone up in smoke as even alternate carriers are unable to provide reliable service due to the backlog and increase in volumes.

The thread went on to show that due to the daily limit from Purolator, the company is unable to continue taking orders - and that since Purolator is 91% owned by Canada Post, there may be a conflict of interest or perverse incentives involved.

Meanwhile, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Dan Kelly says Canadian small business owners have already lost a billion dollars as a result of the strike.

Source: X/Twitter

Canadian business owners flooded the replies, sharing examples of the dire situation they are currently facing due to the ongoing strike action, spilling over into delays from UPS and other carriers.

And some carriers and postal services in other countries have temporarily suspended service the Canada entirely, since they depend on Canada Post for final delivery that cannot be made at this time.

The US Postal Service is suspending service to Canada effective November 29th.

DELIVERY: International Service Suspension Notice - Effective November 29, 2024 - Canada | PostalPro
Effective November 29, 2024, the Postal Service will temporarily suspend international mail acceptance to Canada due to the foreign postal operator indicating that they are unable to process or deliver international mail or services because of the ongoing national strike by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

Customers are asked to refrain from mailing items addressed to the following country, until further notice: • Canada

This service disruption affects Priority Mail Express International® (PMEI), Priority Mail International® (PMI), First-Class Mail International® (FCMI), First-Class Package International Service® (FCPIS), International Priority Airmail® (IPA), International Surface AirLift® (ISAL), Commercial ePacket® (CeP), and M-Bag® items.

In the UK, both Royal Mail and ParcelForce are also suspending service to Canada.

How is the Canada Post strike impacting your ecommerce business? Are you finding other carriers are cost prohibitive or not reliable due to backlog from the extra volume? Let us know in the comments below!

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Liz Morton is a seasoned ecommerce pro with 17 years of online marketplace sales experience, providing commentary, analysis & news about eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Shopify & more at Value Added Resource!

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I sell certain lower value collectibles that are only economical to ship by USPS international letter mail. I won't ship them by UPS or FedEx as that would result in a huge loss. I am holding a couple of items sold to Canadian buyers until the strike is over and advised them as such. So far , they've agreed to wait.

Recent Comments
Avatar PlaceholderjannicksYesterday
Order number: 05-12869-97956, Item was counterfeit, cant leave feedback due to "we can't find this transaction"
Avataralexclifford93Yesterday
Absolutely agree with other people here - this Ebay "simple postage" is a wheeze to squeeze more out of private sellers. I live walking distance to the post office (2 minute walk) and it's 4 miles to my local Evri drop off point. I don't have a car. So will have to opt for Royal Mail only - which in turn adds an extra few pence to the postage. Previously a 2nd mail parcel was £3.25, with this it's going to be an increase of nearly 50%. The biggest increase is for the 1-2kg parcels, which previously qualified as small parcels.

As many of the items I sell are £10 or less, this makes it not worth the bother and I'll probably have to give it away to the charity shop.

Add that to the "buyer protection" fee they've added on - and the costs are making it untenable for people trying to clear the house, or make a few bob from old bits and pieces. Not happy at all and there doesn't seem to be a way of opting out.

The sooner these sleazebags at the top can be got rid of, or some community-run buy/sell/swap sites come up - the better. We don't need ebay.