Canada Post vs CUPW: Round Two.. Fight!
Things are... less than ideal.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and Canada Post are currently in a labour dispute, which isn't great considering they’re our main courier. As of now, CUPW is officially in a strike position, but has so far only implemented an overtime ban.
At the same time, Canada Post has presented what it’s calling a “final offer”, suggesting they may be preparing for a potential lockout if negotiations don’t progress.
What does this mean for the future of Canada Post and, more importantly, for our E-Commerce business? Read below to find out.
First off, why do we use Canada Post?
Glad you asked. Canada Post gets a lot of hate for its questionable reliability, the current labour disputes, and, worst of all, they deliver all your junk mail!
However, they provide a valuable service by delivering to rural people all over Canada at reasonable rates. They do this because Canada Post is a governmental service designed to help Canadians, and no private courier wants to do it because they are profit-driven.
For example, a single pair of pants costs us to ship to the following places:
| Downtown Toronto, ON | Yorkton, SK | La Ronge, SK | Conception Bay, NL | Fort McMurray, AB | Inuvik, YT | Chilliwack, BC | Vancouver, BC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Post Expedited | $16.71 | $15.55 | $15.55 | $24.92 | $16.34 | $22.75 | $15.92 | $15.53 |
| UPS Standard | $28.75 | $35.60 | $48.97 | $36.04 | $34.70 | N/A | $30.68 | $27.17 |
There is some nuance here. We have a great contract with Canada Post that allows us to ship anywhere in Canada at a reasonable price, and a pretty basic contract with UPS. In theory, we could shift all of our package shipping from Canada Post to UPS and get better rates with UPS, making it cheaper to ship to major centers like Toronto, Calgary, or Vancouver.
However, we would then be leaving rural folks out to dry. It would become expensive to ship packages to towns like Fort McMurray or Yorkton (which is a two-hour drive from our store), and folks who live outside of town limits are often not serviced by the private companies. According to Stats Canada, 6.6 million Canadians live in rural areas, and we believe they have the right to the same cheap parcel service that those in urban centers receive.
In other words, it is our view that Canada Post is an essential service that cannot be replaced by profit driven companies.
So, why is Canada Post and the CUPW Fighting?
Money (and other stuff).
Canada Post is a government-owned crown corporation. However, the company has traditionally been self-sufficient through its revenue and does not use taxpayer funding. That was all good and well until Canadians stopped lettering stuff in the last twenty years; I wonder what changed. With Canada Post losing more and more money each year they had to be bailed out in January by the federal government with a billion dollar loan.
Canada Post clearly needs to change and from where I sit, there are two paths:
1. Become a full-fledged business
2. Lean into being a government service
I won't delve into either perspective or the very complex issues both the company and the union have, but the TLDR is: The corp wants to become leaner to return to green, and the union wants more security, money, and benefits for their members (I mean, who doesn't want those things).
DeliveringCommunityPower.ca is CUPW's vision for the future. Worth a read in my opinion.
How are the Stapleton's Dealing With this?
While Canada Post continues to begrudgingly operate, we will continue to use their services. When checking out, feel free to choose Canada Post for immediate service, but please realize that if there is a labour disruption, your package will be stuck in limbo until it is resolved. If you need quick shipping that is guaranteed, please select UPS Standard.
We Will Quote you Shipping Prices
We also have the option "Quote Emailed to you". This will slow things down as we have to physically check prices and email you. The gist of it is as follows:
We typically offer free shipping over $100, $7 shipping between $40 and $100, and full shipping under that.
With this option, we will price the difference between the actual shipping amounts and consider the tier of shipping price you are in per our usual policy.
For example, if your order has a subtotal of $100, you typically get free shipping. In this case, Canada post costs $15, and UPS $25.
We will then charge you $10 to ship the package.
We will also have the option to hold the order and guarantee your stock until things become more certain with Canada Post.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions!
Email: Sales@GreatAdventure.ca
Phone: 800-757-9026
Best Regards,
The Stapleton's