Possible Royal Mail strikes

soolin

I just had this message on my business account, might be worth keeping an eye out for news.

Dear customers,
As you may be aware, the members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted to take industrial action. It’s business as usual as talks continue with the CWU.
We believe any strike action taken before the dispute resolution procedures have been followed would be unlawful.
We are committed to further talks as a matter of urgency to reach agreement with the CWU to prevent any disruption to your services.
!
Please post as normal.
Find out more at https://www.royalmail.com/latest-news.
Kind regards,
Click & Drop Support

goodfella66

They are talking of a 2 day strike from Thursday 19th October.

May just close my Ebay shop for a few days. I remember all the hassle from before.

theonlywayisup

goodfella66 wrote: »

They are talking of a 2 day strike from Thursday 19th October.

May just close my Ebay shop for a few days. I remember all the hassle from before.

We will hold our RMT packages over the period as it causes so much backlog.

The CWU is planning industrial disruption at or after 11am on Thursday 19 October to before 11am Saturday 21 October 2017.

goodfella66

It's in effect 4 days because I doubt much would get done until the Monday

This_Year

goodfella66 wrote: »

They are talking of a 2 day strike from Thursday 19th October.

May just close my Ebay shop for a few days. I remember all the hassle from before.

That's what I'll be doing.

soolin

On the basis that ebay rarely acknowledge strikes or delays, I suspect I too will be closing my shop for a few days, the damage a run of late defects could do is probably not worth the risk.

soolin

I will be bumping this as I think if this strike goes ahead some sellers could face real issues with late defects. Looking at discussions across various boards some sellers have been assured by ebay that delays will be considered should a late occur , however others, including some very large sellers have been told that due to the amount of warning we have had that sellers are expected to make other arrangements to ensure that buyers are not affected and it remains our choice whether to risk a late or not by choosing to use RM.

As it stands at the moment RM will strike on the 19th and 20th unless the legal action to stop it is successful or the unions call off the strike. That means no post movement on those two days resulting in a backlog. Smaller sellers using post offices might be falsely re assured when POs are still open- however it is likely that their post if accepted will just sit in the shop until Saturday at the earliest.

Then on Saturday they will have a short working day as usual, but with 2 full days of backlog from Post offices that were open, this could rumble through to the Monday before being sorted.

Basically therefore sellers risk lates for anything that is still in the RM network after Wednesday's deliveries. So even sending something 2nd class on Monday or Tuesday Is likely to mean it sits in an office somewhere for the best part of a week.

Unless ebay guarantee that the late defects will automatically be suspended during this entire period- possibly even from this coming weekend I fear sellers may face real issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2017/oct/09/royal-mail-strike-pensions-pay-jobs

custardy

soolin wrote: »

I will be bumping this as I think if this strike goes ahead some sellers could face real issues with late defects. Looking at discussions across various boards some sellers have been assured by ebay that delays will be considered should a late occur , however others, including some very large sellers have been told that due to the amount of warning we have had that sellers are expected to make other arrangements to ensure that buyers are not affected and it remains our choice whether to risk a late or not by choosing to use RM.

As it stands at the moment RM will strike on the 19th and 20th unless the legal action to stop it is successful or the unions call off the strike. That means no post movement on those two days resulting in a backlog. Smaller sellers using post offices might be falsely re assured when POs are still open- however it is likely that their post if accepted will just sit in the shop until Saturday at the earliest.

Then on Saturday they will have a short working day as usual, but with 2 full days of backlog from Post offices that were open, this could rumble through to the Monday before being sorted.

Basically therefore sellers risk lates for anything that is still in the RM network after Wednesday's deliveries. So even sending something 2nd class on Monday or Tuesday Is likely to mean it sits in an office somewhere for the best part of a week.

Unless ebay guarantee that the late defects will automatically be suspended during this entire period- possibly even from this coming weekend I fear sellers may face real issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2017/oct/09/royal-mail-strike-pensions-pay-jobs

It will rumble beyond Monday from a 2 day strike.

soolin

custardy wrote: »

It will rumble beyond Monday from a 2 day strike.

I feared as much and am glad you have posted on this thread, I hoped you would.

I'm always afraid of being too pessimistic, but looking at other ebay forums now I'm rather surprised at how many people don't check their late defects and do nothing until they get the 'you are restricted' email, by which point it is often too late.

I think I may well shut up shop from Monday after my post run on that day, and then re open on Friday but with a 3 day dispatch time (post on Monday). Even then I think I'm pushing it a bit.

custardy

soolin wrote: »

I feared as much and am glad you have posted on this thread, I hoped you would.

I'm always afraid of being too pessimistic, but looking at other ebay forums now I'm rather surprised at how many people don't check their late defects and do nothing until they get the 'you are restricted' email, by which point it is often too late.

I think I may well shut up shop from Monday after my post run on that day, and then re open on Friday but with a 3 day dispatch time (post on Monday). Even then I think I'm pushing it a bit.

I posted a thread here

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5721732

I hope not but given current relations,it could snuff out before Thursday or build into a business killer.

[Deleted User]

Can anyone advise please. I'm a private seller (trying to declutter) no ebay shop and I have 5 BIN items currently up with a couple of weeks left. Not high value and free P&P on all (RM 2nd class)


Was thinking about a few options to offset potential problems caused by the strike if it does go ahead. Do I....

* Edit the postage section on the listings, changing from royal mail to hermes (which should be £2.75 instead of £2.90), Unsure as never used hermes before and the drop off location is fairly difficult for me to get to.

* Increase the despatch time by a few days.

* Cancel the listings entirely and re-list when the strike action is over. If I do this are there any consequences for me? I know you are penalised for ending auctions early but unsure about BIN listings.


Thankyou in advance.:beer: