Postal Update And More
It appears that we will be getting our mail delivered on Friday. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has refused arbitration and Canada Post had delayed the lockout until noon, Monday the 11th of July, 2016.
The other carriers have been reporting a boom in business so it is obvious that most of the e-commerce retailers have already taken preemptive action to keep their parcel deliveries flowing. And as I’ve mentioned in previous entries, most people will likely see no significant delays in their parcel deliveries.
I will update this blog with new information if the situation changes, of course. So don’t forget to pop on by over the next few days.
By the way, a new Parliamentary petition has been created to ask the federal government to raise their de minimis threshold on postal imports from $20 to $200 (in Canadian funds).
At the moment postal shipments valued at less than $20 in Canadian funds are exempt from duties and taxes. And this petition calls for shipments to be valued at less than $200 in Canadian funds to be free of duties and taxes, in response to a study commissioned by eBay that I had mentioned in a previous post.
I have signed the petition and hope that you will sign it too before the October 14th, 2016, when the petition closes.
Canada Post Issues Lockout Notice For July 8th
Canada Post has issued a 72 hour lockout notice to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and have notified Canadian mail order retailers to use their courier services.
If this lockout occurs people who have their shipments sent to their local store for pickup will likely notice no change because those parcels are usually delivered to these stores with regular shipments of merchandise at retailers (like Sears.ca and Staples).
Neither will customers of retailers that have multiple carriers like Amazon.ca, chapters.indigo.ca and Old Navy Canada.
According to Canada Post it appears that their major e-commerce retailers have decided to go with other carriers resulting in a 75% drop in parcels processed at their plants ; “The number of parcels arriving at our largest plants via transport trucks has declined to the point where there often are not enough parcels to last an entire processing shift”.
Perhaps the postal banking and seven day parcel delivery services proposed by the Union might help but a lockout doesn’t seem prudent because it simply causes smaller retailers to be exposed to the services offered by the other carriers.
In regards to imports by mail, unfortunately some importers will have their parcels delayed until the lock-out is over. And others will be subjected to significant customs processing fees, like customers of UPS.
Some American retailers like Amazon.com and Sheet Music Plus do offer customs processing services through alternative couriers so try purchasing from those retailers first. Foreign retailers that offer this service usually add taxes and customs fees during their checkout procedure and mention that this service is available in their shipping and handling policies.
By the way, if you’re thinking of traveling soon you might want to obtain your new or renewed passport directly from a Service Canada or Passport Office. This will cost more because of a pick up fee but it would bypass some of the delays associated to the lockout.
Canadian Postal Strike Update
Negotiations are continuing in-between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the later saying they will not give notice for a strike for now.
The Union is currently seeing higher yearly wage increases, the current offer being approximately 0.75% according to the Union, and other concessions including an agreement by Canada Post to fulfill their obligation to keep a minimum of 493 retail outlets open and the expansion of parcel deliveries on weekends.
I think the latter is something they should consider. It would be advantageous for online retailers like amazon.ca and chapters.indigo.ca to have their parcels delivered on weekends and to have a stable amount of retail outlets for their customers to use for returns and programs like FlexDelivery. And i’d definitely like to have these options, as a customer.
The Union is also proposing the introduction of Postal Banking at the Canada Post retail outlets, which would definitely be advantageous for some retailers.
I also think this is a good idea because some smaller communities that are serviced by Canada Post outlets are not serviced by a bank or financial institution. But i’m guessing this program might be some ways off because of the agreements some retailers may have with banks in regards to ATMs and credit card services. For example, one can find Bank of Montreal ATMs in some Rexall stores and one can find Royal Bank of Canada ATMs in Shopper’s Drug Mart stores.
I will of course post updates over the next few days in regards to these subject, so stay tuned.
Windows Security Update
It appears that Google has found some serious issues in Symantec security software products so users of this Norton software may want to consider purchasing a Fixme Stick
I’ve tried the latter and it’s great. Easy to use to clean out the junk that’s missed by most anti-virus software.
Symantec will likely be working on correcting this issue soon so Norton users should keep those updates recent.
By the way, if you were planning on upgrading your PC’s operating system to Windows 10 you have until July 29th, 2016 to do it for free. An upgrade cost you $120 afterwards, more if you upgrade to Pro.
Most users of the previous operators systems will be prompted to upgrade through-out the month, some with full screen warnings.
eBay Wants Changes In Duties
A study published by the CD Howe Institute is the latest attempt by eBay to get the Canadian government to consider raising the duty free thresholds.
Most postal shipments valued at under $20 and gift shipments valued at under $60 (in Canadian funds) that are imported into Canada are not subject to duties and taxes. And this eBay commissioned report studies the possible effects of a hike of this threshold to $80, $100 and $200 (in Canadian funds).
Apparently the authors of this study have found “that an increase of the DMT in Canada will be fiscally neutral or even positive for the federal government” and that such an increase would “likely to yield a net economic benefit for Canada”.
The American threshold was raised from $200 to $800 (in American funds) last February so hopefully the government will consider a higher threshold, reducing a need for paperwork for eBay sellers and Amazon Marketplace
For additional information on importing music by mail you can either click here to read my article on saving by importing films and music or click here for the official information issued by the Canadian Borders Services Agency.
Postal Strike Scheduled
A postal strike for July 2nd, 2016 has been scheduled according to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
Pension and social assistance payments will continue to be delivered. But companies like Amazon, chapters.indigo.ca, Sears.ca
and Staples may use alternative methods to get parcels to their customers.
Many of these companies will use courier services and will deliver parcels within certain areas through their stores. But unfortunately some will ask their customers to pick up their purchases at their local stores, which can be inconvenient if your “local” store is some distance away. And the option to have parcels delivered to local post offices under the FlexDelivery program will likely be suspended because that is a Canada Post program.
Delays are also to be expected with imports that use Canada Post. But I suspect some of the foreign retailers, like Amazon.com, will have contingency plans, although i’m guessing that Canadian eBay sellers and buyers will likely be forced to pay higher shipping costs to ship from and to Canada.
Hopefully this strike will be avoided or will be short. But I suggest that you keep an eye on your credit card and utility bills online, just in case.