IMPORTANT SHIPPING UPDATE
Greetings!
As you may be aware, on May 23rd Canada Post's workers officially began strike action after giving 72 hours notice 3 days prior. Currently their strike action consists of a ban on overtime but could escalate further either by the Union or Canada Post to a full lockdown. Since the Union already gave 72 hours notice last week they do not need to give another 72 hours if they were to fully lockdown which means it could happen at any moment.
We exclusively ship using Canada Post due to their service and their prices. We once again looked at alternative methods but the cost difference was still way too expensive and based on our experience the service was nowhere near Canada Post in terms of dependability, speed, address reach, and the care of the parcels. For example, we get parcels from the distributors using CanPar, UPS, and FedEx with the results being that CanPar damaged almost every parcel sent to us in May, UPS damaged five in May, and FedEx damaged one in May. In all the times we have used Canada Post since 2015 we have only had a single instance where a parcel was damaged and that was one heading to the US so it could have even been due to their postal system. We do not want to run the risk of avoidable shipping damages especially nowadays where the various publishers are printing less and less in regards to stock levels.
We exclusively ship using Canada Post due to their service and their prices. We once again looked at alternative methods but the cost difference was still way too expensive and based on our experience the service was nowhere near Canada Post in terms of dependability, speed, address reach, and the care of the parcels. For example, we get parcels from the distributors using CanPar, UPS, and FedEx with the results being that CanPar damaged almost every parcel sent to us in May, UPS damaged five in May, and FedEx damaged one in May. In all the times we have used Canada Post since 2015 we have only had a single instance where a parcel was damaged and that was one heading to the US so it could have even been due to their postal system. We do not want to run the risk of avoidable shipping damages especially nowadays where the various publishers are printing less and less in regards to stock levels.
What does this mean? Currently we are in a state of limbo. We do not want to send out parcels because they could potentially be trapped in the postal network if a shutdown occurs. The Union offered a two week extension as they reviewed the latest offer but Canada Post rejected the two week pause which has led us to the current uncertainty. More should be revealed this week as Canada Post looks to respond to the Union's latest documents. Negotiations have deteriorated to the point where on the weekend the two sides could not even be in the same room together and had to have a mediator go back and forth between the two rooms.
For those reasons, the following changes have now been implemented:
1) All shipments that were supposed to go out this week are on pause until we have more concrete info regarding what is truly going on.
2) All in-stock items including graphic novels and merchandise have been temporarily removed from the site.
3) Comic pre-orders are still open and new releases will still be arriving to us on a weekly basis like normal. All those releases will be held in your pull box until shipments resume.
We are trying to remain hopeful that a resolution will be reached in time for parcels to potentially head out either the first or second week of June. More info and any other updates to follow.
1) All shipments that were supposed to go out this week are on pause until we have more concrete info regarding what is truly going on.
2) All in-stock items including graphic novels and merchandise have been temporarily removed from the site.
3) Comic pre-orders are still open and new releases will still be arriving to us on a weekly basis like normal. All those releases will be held in your pull box until shipments resume.
We are trying to remain hopeful that a resolution will be reached in time for parcels to potentially head out either the first or second week of June. More info and any other updates to follow.
If you have any specific questions you can always reach us by sending an email to info@timestreamcomics.ca.
Thank you for the understanding during this difficult period.
- Timestream Comics