Dec 11th update: In the last few days I’ve been able to purchase Purolator labels again – so if you live in an area of Canada that Purolator delivers to (not handed off to Canada Post for the last mile), your order might ship. If it is close to what you paid for shipping, I’ll send it. But, as mentioned before I am not going to pay $25 for a small order where lettermail shipping was chosen and is $3.43 for example. Totally happy to send those out after the strike though 🙂
Please note: Shipping is suspended via the 3rd party shipper in Vancouver, which hands off to USPS or does cheaper courier deliveries in a lot of Canada, because it’s all super backlogged. I have to courier orders there, they’re taking days to even get in the system, and aren’t moving very fast (some are over a few weeks that should have been delivered over a week ago in Canada and USA).
So… if you are wondering about ordering you can always sent a message via the contact page before ordering.
Or you can add a note to your order.
At this point, it’s likely arriving after Christmas unless you live on the west coast of Canada. Sorry, it’s shipping mayhem out there!
Older posts:
Unfortunately the couriers are super behind and it’s been a challenge to get labels to ship items (well, labels of couriers I can take my packages to within a reasonable distance), so I am suspending shipping for at least a couple of days until I can purchase courier labels online again. I will post when I am back to shipping. I’m starting to think that waiting until the Christmas shopping mayhem is over, because everything is late and backlogged and a bit nuts…
It’s December and Canada Post is still on strike 🙁
My apologies for the lack of updates… it’s been a bit overwhelming with having to navigate new ways to ship amid the the Christmas craft season (plus my big dog had a sudden end-of-life thing since I last did an update).
Currently orders are either shipping Purolator or via the 3rd party shipper in Vancouver. I courier a box to the 3rd party shipper 2-3 x a week with a bunch of orders, either to USA or with their courier in Canada if it’s better – this delays Canadian orders having a little detour at their depot. If you paid $10 lettermail, I will probably ship that way, because I can subsidize it a little vs paying an extra $20 ($30+ ship cost) via directly Purolator if you are farther away.
If you are wondering… “How do I order then?”
Use the shopping cart as normal.
Read on for which shipping method to choose…
Americans: Choose “small packet” (or whichever), and I will send via USPS (via my 3rd party shipper). Proceed as normal.
Canadian Option 1: If you order your items ‘expedited’ to a street address or area where couriers actually go (not sent last leg by Canada Post), we will try ship them by courier (either Purolator or the 3rd party courier depending on where you live due to rates). If you know couriers don’t go to your home, but will drop at work, etc, you can add a different street address when ordering.
Canadian Option 2: If you order your items by lettermail we will hold them until the strike is over, or send courier if we can not lose too much money doing so. Sorry, I can’t subsidize $20+ to ship what would be $3.43 lettermail, but if you paid $10 in lettermail and I can ship for $14 courier, then I will subsidize. Basically, if I can not lose too much shipping, I’ll ship it for the lettermail price (likely with the 3rd party shipper). It comes with a tracking number.
Canadian Option 3: If you want the cheap lettermail and know you are in no rush, you can still order and I’ll send when strike is over – feel free to add that in your order notes, super handy 🙂
Questions? Feel free to reach out via my contact form. That’s the easiest way for me.
Again, my apologies. It’s been a wild time over here with dealing with overloaded couriers (who don’t usually do rural pick ups, so I’m driving farther to drop off) and figuring out solutions!
Monday the 18th Update: Canada Post is still on strike, day 4. What is our plan? We can’t ship oversize lettermail for the price couriers charge to send items within Canada. We also can’t send courier shipments to PO Boxes and rural areas that are not serviced by courier (or where couriers hand off packages to Canada Post for the final leg of the journey).
What we can do…
– If you order your items ‘expedited’ to a street address or area where couriers actually go (not sent last part by Canada Post), we will try ship them by courier. We don’t get deep discounts, so courier can be pricey, and they don’t go everywhere – so if this is super important please check in by sending an email via the contact us (sorry, so many spam bots crawl the site looking for email addresses, so the contact form weeds them out).
– If you order your items by lettermail we will hold them until the strike is over, or send courier if we can not lose too much money doing so. Sorry, I am not paying $20 to ship what would be $3.43 lettermail, but if you paid $10 in lettermail and I can ship for $14 courier, then I will subsidize.
– If you live in the USA, I have a working solution at the moment to ship via USPS (I courier to a 3rd party shipper for that).
**You can also leave a note on your orders. Are you in a rush? Are you okay waiting to see what happens with the strike? Please feel free to leave me a note about what is ideal or any important information a courier might need, like a buzzer number **
Nov 15th Update:
The Canada Post website says: The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has started a national strike. Canada Post’s operations will be shut down for the duration of a national strike. Customers will experience delays. For the latest information and service updates, visit Negotiation Page.”
The link to the Negotiations Page provides no information, it hasn’t for days. So, that’s not helpful.
We will not be shipping today, Friday the 15th. We’re hoping to find out more over the weekend so we can update you with more information about orders already in the system.
If you ordered Before Nov 14, your order was shipped. Hopefully it will also get delivered soon!!
Orders placed Nov 15th (and after) have not been shipped. I’ll be figuring this out!
Unfortunately I can’t send packages by courier for under $5, like felt costs to send oversize lettermail – it’s often $30 from my location as I don’t have big discounts for couriers like FedEx. I’m in a rural location and that makes the postal strike very challenging for sending out… and if you live in a rural location then receiving by courier might not be possible ( a lot of couriers send the last leg by Canada Post to more rural areas, if they accept the shipments at all).
Obviously this is a bit complicated right now, and I will watch for news coming out today and contact customers as need be.
I am so sorry about all of this! I am really hoping this strike is over soon (as otherwise it might spell the end of Bear Dance Crafts) – it’s been a tough year already – so thank you to all of you who have supported BDC in the past, present or just cheered on from the sidelines. It’s been 25 years and postal strikes are very hard to weather for us small niche businesses that rely on Canada Post for our shipping.
From a few days ago…
You maybe heard that Canada Post might be taking strike action, starting Friday, November 15th?
Canada Post says if workers begin rotating strike activity, it will continue deliveries whenever possible as it works to reach a deal with the union.
“In the event of a labour disruption, the Corporation will work to minimize service disruptions, but customers may experience delays,” Canada Post warned.
So, it’s business as usual at Bear Dance Crafts. Until we know more, or more action is taken by Canada Post.
You can expect your order shipped in a timely manner (0-2 business days, shipping between Monday-Friday, except holidays), as normal.
You might experience your order taking a little longer. It’s technically “holiday season” in the mail order world, so mail has begun to slow a little, so add a little time to that when planning your projects.
Important: If you order lettermail, we will happily send that way (it’s cheaper after all), but you will not have tracking with lettermail. If you order “Expedited” or “Xpress” within Canada, you will receive a tracking number. If you order to the USA, all orders will ship with tracking. If you choose lettermail, sorry, no tracking, it just isn’t an option for that price.
If we hear more, or need to pivot (switch to couriering our orders to a 3rd party shipper), we will update on the blog here.
So sorry to everyone affected by this news. We hope Canada Post can move past this strike action. Many people rely on our postal system for very important things (and crafters gotta craft!).
Warm wishes, Natalie
