This has been a big week in the world of e-commerce when it comes to news about shipping. Just this week we learned that the Trump Administration is backing out of an age-old agreement that allowed China to send packages to the USA and steeply discounted, subsidized pricing. Then we learned yesterday that the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has submitted a 72-hour advance notice to the Canada Post that they will have a labor strike.
The threat of a labor strike by the CUPW was enough to get Amazon’s attention. Yesterday evening, an email was sent to all sellers who participate in the Amazon.Ca Canadian marketplace:
On October 16, 2018, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) submitted a 72-hour advance notice to Canada Post of a labour strike that will impact shipments to, from, and within Canada.
To minimize this event’s impact on your seller performance ratings, you may consider the following actions for orders you fulfill yourself:
1. Use alternative carriers for Canada shipments, when possible.
2. For Canada Post shipments, consider updating your Shipping Settings in Seller Central to increase Handling Time to allow for possible delays. Learn more about changing your Shipping Settings here: https://sellercentral.amazon.ca/gp/help/G201834090.
3. Contact buyers if a work disruption affects their order. Learn more about contacting buyers here: https://sellercentral.amazon.ca/gp/help/200495790.
4. If you cannot fulfill customer orders, consider updating your Vacation Settings to set listings to inactive temporarily, rather than cancelling orders. Learn more about updating these settings here: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200135620.
Fulfilment by Amazon orders will continue to be processed, but please consider alternate carriers for your shipments to Amazon fulfilment centres in Canada.
We encourage you to visit canadapost.ca/update for the latest updates on the situation.
How does this impact me?
As described by Amazon, this primarily impacts Sellers in two ways:
- shipping method chosen for merchant-fulfilled orders going to Canadian customers
- shipping method chosen when sending product to Amazon fulfillment centers in Canada
We’re hopeful to see this dispute resolved. If you are a seller in Canada, what plans are you considering to mitigate any negative issues as a result of this strike?