Purolator Shipments Blocked

[RooJohnson]

Shipstation is blocking the printing of Purolator labels.  But, this is an error.  Purolator intended to blacklist just a few postal codes from processing shipments, but ALL shipments have been blocked. This needs to be communicated to both Shipstation technical support and Purolator.

[CelticStudio]

Also experiencing this today for all Purolator packages. Hoping you're correct and they fix it soon!

Shipping with ChitChats to Canada today but I prefer not to since they use 3rd party couriers which are a bit shaky in the best of times and are likely overloaded with the strike.

[mhenry84]

Same boat. Printed Purolator labels earlier today for shipments going out. Was doing labels for the past hour getting this error. Chat was unable to help and said they are escalating. I had to use Chitchat's Canada service tonight, which I never have had to  use. I am uncertain of the partners they use ie GTA GSM (who seems to be very low rated). Mainly use Chitchat for my US shipments, however.

Hope these all get delivered. Few orders I can't even use Chitchat's Canada service for (gives no options to ship) so unsure what to do with these ones. The UPS and Fedex rates are wild. 

Please fix this Shipstation. 

[LJ1988]

Same issue.  I talked with live chat and they said they acknowledged the issue and is currently working with the purolator devs to fix.  I hope this gets fixed soon.

[landonkein]

One of my account only a couple shipments/ postal codes worked but almost all showed this error.

another account I have seems to be working fine. What gives?

[bbqlibrary]

Same issue.

We are currently unable to process shipments to the specified ZIP code(s) due to high shipment volumes in this area. As a result, Purolator has temporarily blacklisted these ZIP codes, as they are unable to accommodate the increased load. We apologize for the inconvenience and recommend selecting an alternate delivery option or ZIP code for your order.

[mhenry84]

Update to my last post. I tried a few newer orders that came in and it printed (both local Ontario postal codes.)

I went back to try the ones that got the blacklist error, and all still get that error. It is currently 2 Ontario, 2 Quebec, 1 BC and 1 Alberta. Not sure why these are still giving the error when other ones are printing now. 

[eljogloria]

STILL NOT FIXED. BEEN 24 HOURS............

[LJ1988]

This is so ridiculous!  I can't ship any purolator labels.  UPS is double the price.  What the hell.

[harlowco]

The only labels I can generate with Purolator are for Toronto addresses 😭

[LJ1988]

I can't even use toronto addresses.  Which ZIP code were you able to use if you don't mind me asking?

[harlowco]

M4Y, M4A, M9C, M1C, L5H, etc.

[managers]

All Purolator label creating attempts have been blocked for us as well, from QC to BC, for regularly-serviced areas.

[eljogloria]

FIX THIS FFS

[mhenry84]

Only got one that failed yesterday, to now work:
Mississauga, ON L5C 2B7

These two which are new today also worked:
Toronto, ON M1C 2T1
Brampton, ON L6Y 4T9

These below do not work and give the zip code error:
Ontario - K8H 3M4
Guelph, ON - N1L 1R9
Waterloo, ON N2J 2N6
Oshawa, ON L1J 7S3
Calgary, AB T3K 1Y7
Port Carling, ON P0B 1J0
Mission, BC V2V 6M4
Saint-Laurent, QC H4T 1N3
Amherstburg, ON N9V 4C9
Pincourt, QC J7W 0H7

So far, no idea the rhyme or reason. Still have a boatload more I haven't tried that need to labels. 

[fctg]

Same, nothing works. It doesn't matter where it is. A couple of random postal codes went through yesterday, but I'd say that 99% of everything else is just not working. They messed something up in the API and not sure what.

[eljogloria]

You know this? This is wild right now I'm losing a ton of money

[fctg]

Yup, I can say this much, we called into purolator to ask as a general question if they are rejecting any shipments to specific postal codes due to high volume and 2 reps have now said they don't know anything like that.

So even without having any kind of technical answer from shipstation or purolator, that can only mean their api is messed. If purolator physically is not having volume issues they are aware of.

[LJ1988]

Definitely a problem with shipstation + purolator combination.  You can buy purolator labels directly but it's a lot more expensive.  Reached out to live chat here on shipstation yesterday and they said the devs from shipstation + purolator are working together for a fix. 

I assume since CP is down ship station got overloaded with purolator labels and somehow messed something up along the way.

[Jsmarcotte]

Same shit Here, i hope they will notify us when it will be fix

[sales246]

following this for updates

[ab1986]

Also following for updates, had no issues yesterday and today unable to create any purolator labels

[fctg]

Going on 24 hours now for us. Nothing working, customer service is slow to respond and feels like not getting any real transparency on a major service provider on ShipStations platform.

[eljogloria]

Yea very disappointing customer service from shipstation on this matter

[CelticStudio]

Just another little hurdle for us Canadian small businesses. Strike the insolvent national postal service, slap on a Digital Service Tax passed onto us of course, slog through a convoluted GST Holiday, and sling our parcels around the country through broken/overloaded couriers. 🎄🎅

[Jsmarcotte]

This problem only gives the remaining customer base that we have left to Amazon. This strike will have caused the end of small online businesses. Thanks to the unions and this problem which seems to be an intentional blockage. No return from shipstation, no update on the situation, nothing is going wel l😓

[dship]

It doesn't look like this is a ShipStation issue, others are affect by this:

https://tnc.news/2024/12/05/ups-purolator-restricting-service-due-to-postal-strike/

An online shipping company says UPS and Purolator have told it to freeze orders with their transporters as the companies face high volumes due to the Canada Post strike.

An email from eShipper, a platform offering shipping solutions to vendors, to Quebec-based bakery Félix and Norton, which was shared with True North, informed the bakery that “due to the postal strike and peak season shipping volumes” causing backlogs and large volumes of shipping, Purolator and UPS have “requested” that shipping be paused for 48 hours.

“We have been notified by Purolator to temporarily disable all Purolator services on the eShipper platform for the next 48 hours. This now means both UPS & Purolator will be disabled on the platform for the next 48 hours due to an overload in their network, requiring time to clear the backlog,” the Thursday morning email from eShipper said.

It said that Purolator and all domestic UPS services would not process or move shipments for 48 hours starting Wednesday.

A previous email sent out Wednesday afternoon said that Purolator was implementing a daily limit of 1,500 shipments for the next 24 hours, but by Thursday, it became a complete halt for both companies.

“This is going to impact a lot of customers who rely on, you know, the top carriers in Canada to deliver their packages across the country,” Imtiaz Kermali, the VP of sales and marketing at eShipper told True North in an interview. 

[harlowco]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/purolator-ups-shipments-paused-1.7403127 

[Nexus]

This has been frustrating thinking that some postal codes were blocked, only to find out that all Purolator postal codes are blocked in ShipStation.  No notice, no updated info, etc.

How do we know when the freeze to creating labels will be lifted?

[Nexus]

On the ShipStation update page today. I reached out to ShipStation on Chat and requested the Postal Codes. I even copied the info ShipStation had provided. The response was a link to the main page of Purolator, which has no info on the topic. It’s obvious they aren’t aware of their own direction. No update on when the black list will be lifted. Sent them another message….its been 4 hours and no response.

Purolator from ShipStation:
Effective, Wednesday, December 4, Purolator will temporarily not accept mail or packages for delivery to certain ZIP Codes in Canada due to the ongoing CUPW strike. Shipments in route may also be impacted. Please reach out to our support teams for the list of impacted ZIP Codes.

[mhenry84]

Disappointing that a news article comes out without Shipstation even giving us that same update first. They would have known this since Wednesday night then.

[fctg]

I still think something is weird as I am able to ship to Toronto, but not within my own city. I have been to the Purolator office and they are still taking packages so not sure what is happening until ShipStation can be bothered to provide some communication. As of right now, the CS I'm dealing with still doesn't know there is any issue and is not being very helpful.

[sales246]

check out this article in global news https://globalnews.ca/news/10904994/purolator-ups-pause-shipments-canada-post-strike/

[fctg]

Ya I think news is just travelling slower within ShipStation. CS just found out yesterday but don't know what is black listed and what isn't and how long it will be.

I spoke with Purolator hub down the street from me and the consensus is that they wouldn't be surprised if this lasted for a week or more. They need to remove the backlog before they take on any additional volume. Not sure if UPS is the same or not.

[K-aptur-A]

I am based in Montreal and shipping all over Quebec (province) Since the bugg, I have been doing the labels manually in the purolator app. This works and there are no problems printing them from my purolator business account. The Purolator guy comes in everyday as anything is happening. The bugg is def on Shipstation side. 

[managers]

Interesting. 

a) We've tried processing labels directly in Purolator and shipments are twice the price.
b) I've also tested Purolator on an alternate shipping platform (Shipstation and Shiptime) and neither can print Purolator labels.

[mhenry84]

Same, I when I create a label on the Purolator website it is nowhere near my shipstation price. Usually 15-18 and this is $50+ everytime for the same Ground service. 

[CelticStudio]

Yes, it makes sense to me that they would do it this way. With the strike causing increased demand they are reaching the limits of what they can handle so have cut off the shipments coming from the least profitable avenues. Makes good  business sense to me, a simple and effective way to create surge pricing. This has not been confirmed by Purolator or ShipStation but to me it is the most likely situation unfortunately for us. I've been using ChitChats but whatever private couriers they use are not as reliable as next day Purolator Express or slightly longer Ground shipping.

[mhenry84]

The rates with Chitchats and also Stallion express with these private couriers are definitely attractive. I am trying GTA GSM with Chitchats and UniUni, Fleetoptics , ICS Express with Stallion for the first time. Have really only used CP and Purolator (with UPS and Fedex sprinkled on occassion)

My only concern is although Amazon has UniUni and Fleetoptics on their dropdown list it doesn't seem like they actually pull in the tracking. I am curious to see how it affects our metrics now. Seems they turned off the Valid Tracking Rate due to the chaos of the strike. If  UniUni works out I may look to switch, their cost is extremely attractive (quarter of the cost)

[eljogloria]

How is ICS courier in your experience? I'm in Vancouver, most of my customers are in the east coast. I've never heard of ICS until this debacle, not sure how reliable they are.

Cheers