Canada Post Strike

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Reaper

Yeah, no one except charities who recieve the majority of their donations through the mail and small businesses who rely upon the inexpensive shipping of Canada Post in order to survive.

I owned a small business that sold things over the internet for a number of years. I sold small items of approximately 1 pound in weight. I no longer run this business (and the part time contract employee I had is out of work) because Canada Post is dramatically uncompetitive.

The cost of mailing a 1 lb package to Canada from anywhere in the US is $5.58.*

For me to ship that same package across the street via Canada Post costs approximately $8.20**

That doesn't seem like that big a difference, but a significant portion of my sales were to Ontario, at the approximate cost of $12.61.**

So my American competitors could ship the same item to Ontario for 5.58 that cost me 12.61 to ship. Since my cost of goods was only slightly less, my pricing became uncompetitive and I'm out of business.

Did that hurt me? Not really. I just focused on my career instead of my business. But the part time job was lost to the economy, and it was something that didn't require a bunch of education for my employee. So some Canada Post employees are getting above market wages, but there are a bunch of people out of work elsewhere because of it, at a net cost to the Canadian economy.

These type of union and regulation induced inefficiencies have a real cost to the Canadian economy, and that cost inevitably falls on the less educated/less financially secure.

*http://www.usps.com/prices/first-cla...nal-prices.htm (small packets service)

**http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/ap...execution=e1s2 (Entered info)

[Yasa]

Originally Posted by Shazam

There are alternatives.

Hell, usually I don't give a carp about unions but in this case they've screwed themselves over.

Maybe the union leaders should send some charitable donations?

I don't usually give any kind of carp to unions either. They mistreated the last koi I gave them...

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

I owned a small business that sold things over the internet for a number of years. I sold small items of approximately 1 pound in weight. I no longer run this business (and the part time contract employee I had is out of work) because Canada Post is dramatically uncompetitive.

The cost of mailing a 1 lb package to Canada from anywhere in the US is $5.58.*

For me to ship that same package across the street via Canada Post costs approximately $8.20**

That doesn't seem like that big a difference, but a significant portion of my sales were to Ontario, at the approximate cost of $12.61.**

So my American competitors could ship the same item to Ontario for 5.58 that cost me 12.61 to ship. Since my cost of goods was only slightly less, my pricing became uncompetitive and I'm out of business.

Did that hurt me? Not really. I just focused on my career instead of my business. But the part time job was lost to the economy, and it was something that didn't require a bunch of education for my employee. So some Canada Post employees are getting above market wages, but there are a bunch of people out of work elsewhere because of it, at a net cost to the Canadian economy.

These type of union and regulation induced inefficiencies have a real cost to the Canadian economy, and that cost inevitably falls on the less educated/less financially secure.

*http://www.usps.com/prices/first-cla...nal-prices.htm (small packets service)

**http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/ap...execution=e1s2 (Entered info)

Maybe shipping yes but working in an office of 4 employees that covers a territory from Cranbrook to Swift Current and the border to Calgary, this whole postal fiasco wreaks havoc on payables and receivables. Like it or not there are still companies that rely heavily upon the postal service to conduct every day business.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by return to the red

Maybe shipping yes but working in an office of 4 employees that covers a territory from Cranbrook to Swift Current and the border to Calgary, this whole postal fiasco wreaks havoc on payables and receivables. Like it or not there are still companies that rely heavily upon the postal service to conduct every day business.

Well, it wont be long before those companies discover the internet and push Canada Post one step closer to being obsolete.

[Displaced Flames fan]

We are officially mailing to Canada again starting tomorrow.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by return to the red

Maybe shipping yes but working in an office of 4 employees that covers a territory from Cranbrook to Swift Current and the border to Calgary, this whole postal fiasco wreaks havoc on payables and receivables. Like it or not there are still companies that rely heavily upon the postal service to conduct every day business.

I was responding to the comment about the inexpensive shipping of Canada Post. I disagree that Canada Post is inexpensive for anything except letters less than 30 grams. As evidence, I suggested that the cost of shipping something from California to Ontario shouldn't be less than half the cost of shipping something from Calgary to Ontario.

A proper and inexpensive mail service is essential to the economy, but that's not what we're getting, which is why I think we should privatize like Germany.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

A proper and inexpensive mail service is essential to the economy, but that's not what we're getting, which is why I think we should privatize like Germany.

Agreed. I stopped selling on Ebay for this reason. Canada Post's small package rate is simply not competitive but there's no good alternative.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Yasa

I don't usually give any kind of carp to unions either. They mistreated the last koi I gave them...

It's a trap?

[steve954]

woohoo! shiiit is moving again.

2011/06/28 13:10 RICHMOND Item processed at postal facility

I hope I get the phone I ordered off ebay later this week or early next week the latest.
I bought it 3 weeks ago damn it! The anticipation is killing me; I'm gonna get a seizure soon.

[chemgear]

Apparently the union wants to go to court.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/06...tion-in-court/

“We want to challenge the government legislating us back to work at less than what the corporation offered at a time when the cost of living is far greater than what the government has imposed upon us,” Mr.Deveau said.



Maybe just get back to work rather than trying to force your employer to create "make work projects?"

[Bill Bumface]

Shocking. My delivery guy didn't show up for work again yesterday. If I judged by my mail delivery there is a postal strike every other week...

[Drury18]

Has anyone's mail delivery been caught up or back to normal yet?

I have a couple of subscriptions (comic books) that were due to be sent out in early June and I haven't seen them come through yet. I also was supposed to be receiving new insurance information sent out in the beginning of June and it hasn't showed up.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Has anyone's mail delivery been caught up or back to normal yet?

I have a couple of subscriptions (comic books) that were due to be sent out in early June and I haven't seen them come through yet. I also was supposed to be receiving new insurance information sent out in the beginning of June and it hasn't showed up.

No, it seems like they're doing as little as they can for some reason.

[darklord700]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

No, it seems like they're doing as little as they can for some reason.

Yeah, not a whole lot had come, not even flyers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Has anyone's mail delivery been caught up or back to normal yet?

I have a couple of subscriptions (comic books) that were due to be sent out in early June and I haven't seen them come through yet. I also was supposed to be receiving new insurance information sent out in the beginning of June and it hasn't showed up.

I was shocked that all I got was flyers for the first day and then nothing since then.

[Ben_in_Canada]

Flyers, Flyers & more Flyers. I might as well park my recycling bin next to the post box.

[Deegee]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

No, it seems like they're doing as little as they can for some reason.

Union workers.

[4X4]

^ lol

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Drury18

Has anyone's mail delivery been caught up or back to normal yet?

Yesterday I got my first piece of 1st class mail; and it was something that would have been mailed out in the last week.

Originally Posted by Ben_in_Canada

Flyers, Flyers & more Flyers. I might as well park my recycling bin next to the post box.

I'm curious; just how many flyers are you getting from Canada Post? I would say that 90% of the total number of flyers I get come from flyer delivery; or 99% if going by weight. I would say that from Canada Post I average 1 or 2 single page leaflets per day; and maybe 1 or 2 of the "coupon book" types per week.

I've just heard several people talk about this strike in that "all they get from CP is flyers"- which is why I am curious.

[albertGQ]

So did the CP workers get what the Feds mandated as a contract? If so, is the union pissed that they ended up with a lower offer than CPs worst offer?