The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has begun striking in select cities as of 12:01 am local time.  Here's the official alert from Canada Post:

IMS and Canada Post will continue to collect, process, and deliver your mail and parcels.  We've been through this before and have seen very minimal to no disruptions.  We'll continue to monitor and update the situation as needed. 

The link to updates from Canada Post can be found  here.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has issued a strike notice for as early as Monday, October 22, 2018.  This is a legal formality that simply allows them to conduct isolated 24 hour strikes in one or two rotating cities.  There's also the distinct possibility that Canada Post and the CUPW will settle before then as they have mediators involved in ongoing negotiations.

IMS and Canada Post will continue to collect, process, and deliver your mail and parcels.  We've been through this before and have seen very minimal to no disruptions.  We'll continue to monitor and update the situation as needed. 

The link to updates from Canada Post can be found here.

The designated operator of Costa Rica, Correos de Costa Rica, asks us to inform the designated operators of UPU member countries that the public sector labour unions have called an indefinite strike as of Monday, 10 September. This situation may result in collection, processing and delivery delays for both inbound and outbound mail (letters, parcels and EMS).

Correos de Costa Rica thanks designated operators for their understanding and will inform them once the situation has returned to normal.

The designated operator of Japan, Japan Post, asks us to inform the designated operators of UPU member countries that it is experiencing delays in domestic transportation and delivery of mail items and parcels in the Hokkaido region (postcode: 00・04-09 ), due to the impact of the strong earthquake that hit this region in the northern part of Japan on 6 September 2018.

Japan Post is making every effort to maintain operational performance for international postal services and apologizes in advance for any unavoidable delays. It will keep designated operators informed of the situation and thanks them for their understanding and cooperation.

Poste Italiane (IT) wishes to share the following update on impacted areas, caused by the motorway collapse :

August 14th:

• Outbound – internal flows from post offices directed to Lonate Gateway blocked in the Savona, Imperia and Genoa districts. Affected postcodes: from 16010 to 18100.
• Outbound – internal ExportBox flows from SDA branch in Genoa directed to Lonate Gateway blocked. Affected postcodes: 16149 and 16151.
• Inbound –  undelivered flows in area directly impacted by the accident. Affected postcodes: 16149 and 16151.
• Inbound – critical delivery in areas west of the accident. Affected postcodes: from 16152 to 16159.

August 16th:

• Inbound – critical delivery in areas directly involved by the accident. Affected postcodes: 16149 and 16151.

The designated operator of Indonesia, PT Pos Indonesia, asks us to inform the designated operators of UPU member countries that, as a result of the earthquake centred on Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara Province, on Sunday, 5 August 2018, many post offices have suffered major damage. Delays are therefore to be expected in the processing and delivery of mails, parcels and EMS items.

The affected districts and areas are in the following postcode areas (as of Monday, 6 August):

Mataram: 83000–83365;

Selong: 83600–83672;

Sumbawa Besar: 84300–84381.

PT Pos Indonesia thanks designated operators for their understanding; it will provide an update via EmIS once the situation returns to normal.

Need an effective return mechanism to get packages returned from Canada?  IMS now offers "International Business Reply Service (IBRS) Canada Small Package Return" service that makes it very easy for your customers to return packages back to your USA location.

The service is designed for items measuring up to 24” in length and weighing up to 4.4 lbs. IMS will provide you with a preapproved label containing content information along with your US address. You can make this label available by either enclosing with each outbound package, via email, or post in your web site. Then, your customer simply affixes to the package and drops off at any Post Office or Post Collection Box in Canada. No postage required. Items are delivered back to the US in an average of 4-7 days. You’re charged only for those items actually returned.

Please let us know if you’d like more information on this exciting new service by calling 800-466-6245 or via email.

What is Commercial ePacket (CeP)? It’s a relatively new service from the United States Postal Service that provides door to door tracking to 36 countries (as of 2/11/18) with more being added.  The service is only available for small packages containing merchandise and weighing 4.4 lbs or less.

HUGE SAVINGS! Compared to First Class Package International (FCPI), our all-inclusive rate for CeP will save you 50% or more.  Your savings will vary by piece weight and destination country.  This is a mere fraction of what you’d pay for other trackable services like PMEI and PMI.

Countries served (effective 2/11/18):

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

How do customers use the service?  IMS can integrate with the most popular types of shipping software to print the unique CeP labels and facilitate the package data transfer.  Once enabled (usually takes a week or less), you can begin using the service immediately.  For most integrations, there's no cost or revenue obligation to the customer.  IMS will sort your packages by country and apply our permit imprint to pay for postage.

What can you send? You can send packages weighing up to 4.4 lbs with a value of $400 or less. The packages must be rectangular in shape and the total of length, height, and thickness cannot exceed 36″ (not greater than 24″ in length alone).  Minimum size is 6″ x 3″ x 1/4″.

Tracking packages: The USPS tracking number sequences are preassigned.  When you generate an order or package label, the “LX” prefixed number appears on your manifest and shipping label so you can pass this on to your customers immediately.  Packages can be tracked direct from USPS.com.

What is the cost? You get tracking and 5-6 day delivery (worldwide average) with savings of 50% or more off the cost of First Class Pkg Intl postage alone.   Your savings will vary by destination country, weight, and overall volume.

How to get more information: We would be happy to provide a quick analysis of your costs if you can provide a profile of your package weights, quantities, destinations, etc.  Call our office at 800-466-6245 or email Mark Bouman.  You can also browse our web site to get more information about CeP or any of the other mail and parcel services we offer.  Thank you!

The South African Post Office, asks us to inform the designated operators of UPU member countries that the nationwide strike, which commenced on 3 July 2018, ended on 18 July 2018 has caused system wide backlogs.

Accumulated mail is expected to take roughly 20 working days to be processed.

The South African Post Office thanks designated operators for their understanding.

The designated operator of Japan, Japan Post, asks us to inform the designated operators of UPU member countries that Gifu, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, Tokushima, Ehime and Kochi prefectures in western Japan are experiencing typhoons, heavy rains and massive flooding, as a result of which many post offices, domestic sorting centres and mail processing facilities have been closed. Some roads and highways in these areas are also inaccessible to traffic, which is delaying the delivery of mail and parcels.

The affected districts and areas are in the following postcodes (as of 11 July 2018):

Gifu: 5000000-5099999;

Kyoto: 6000000-6299999;

Osaka: 53000000-5999999;

Hyogo: 6500000-6799999;

Okayama: 7000000-7199999;

Hiroshima: 7200000-7399999;

Tokushima: 7600000-7699999;

Ehime: 7900000-7999999; and

Kochi: 7800000-7899999.

Japan Post apologizes for these unavoidable delays. It will keep designated operators informed of the situation and thanks them for their understanding and cooperation.