Strike causing delays to orders shipping to Canada
Update: 23rd November 2018
Until further notice we're not shipping parcels to Canada
Delays with orders being shipped to Canada are expected to continue indefinitely. Royal Mail have released a statement explaining the situation:
"Canada Post has requested Royal Mail and all other International Postal Operators (and consolidators) suspend the dispatch of international traffic destined for Canada, until further notice.
"This request is a result of extensive delays and disruption to Canada Post’s network operations, caused by ongoing strike action by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) since October. This disruption is across the Canadian postal network and affects domestic and international mail.
"This means we are no longer able to accept items bound for Canada and have been advised by Canada Post that this is likely to remain the situation for the foreseeable future, meaning the next few weeks, including the peak holiday season and into January 2019."
So, what does this mean for my orders?
- Orders shipped before 20th November have reached Canada but will be delayed due to the extensive backlog of shipments caused by the postal strike. These orders will arrive eventually, but expect excessive delays.
- Orders shipped on the 20th and 21st November could not be sent to Canada. These parcels are being securely held in hubs around the world and will be passed on to Canada Post at an undeterminded point after the strike. These parcels will eventually arrive at their desitination but please expect extreme delays.
- Canada Post has requested that no more parcels be shipped to Canada. From 22nd November, Royal Mail will no longer accespt parcels bound for Canada. Any parcels shipped to a Canadian address will be returned to sender.
Further advice for customers shipping parcels to Canada
- All international courier services using Canada Post for delivery have been asked not to send items to them until the situation changes. This is likely to remain the advice for the forseeable future.
- Parcels can only be sent to Canada once Canada Post reinstate acceptance of these parcels. There's no confirmed date of when this will be.
We're sorry for the inconvenience this will cause any Inkthreadable customers that ship to Canada, but it's out of our hands. We'll update our customers as soon as we know more.
In the meantime we're working on a system to prevent orders for Canada from being accepted to avoid your customers, you, and ourselves being affected by the postal strike.
Thanks for your understanding.
Original Post: 19th November 2018
Notice for delays shipping to Canada
Due to Mail Strikes taking place in Canada, their Postal System is not accepting any incoming mail from overseas mail services, including Royal Mail.
Inkthreadable will continue to fulfil orders destined to Canada, however these will be securely held by Royal Mail in their International Distribution Centre and not be forwarded on for shipping until further notice. The timescales are currently unknown for when this will be resolved.
We would recommend attempting to reduce sales to Canadian markets in the meantime as much as possible.
Suggestions on how to achieve this are to exclude Canadian customers from your advertising campaigns or remove shipping rates to Canada from your store, so that the products become unavailable for shipping.
You can read more information an view Royal Mail's status updates here.
Following this notice, orders received from 12:00 on 19th November 2019 with a Canadian shipping address will be excluded from our usual Delivery Terms