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]

Here are the stats from the Google reviews for some of the couriers:

Uni Uni - 4.8 stars out of 25,534 reviews

Fleet Optics Inc. - 4.1 star out of 1,514 reviews

GTAGSM - 1.7 stars out of 65 reviews 

ICS Courier - 1.3 stars out of 201 reviews

Intelcom - 1.1 stars out of 179 reviews

[mhenry84]

Are you able to share where you see the 4.8 for Uni? If I search I only pull up 2.5 at 81 reviews and another one for 3.6 at 1.1k reviews.

Right now I have most packages out with GTA GSM through Chit Chats (1 delivered successfully so far, rest are in transit) and several with Fleet Optics through Stallion Express. Might send a few through Uniuni but the ultra low rate did worry me regarding actual delivery of product. 

[CelticStudio]

It is from a Google search so most likely the reviews are location based from where I am in Vancouver so may be different when searched in other cities.

In my personal experience with shipments from AliBaba/AliExpress they have left the package outside the front door of my business even when we were open. Sometimes they come in and it's a courier in street clothes with their own vehicle and limited communication.

Have had some bad experiences with Intelcom as well, they are rebranded to Dragonfly in BC now. Don't think any of the couriers are particularly great, overworked independent contractors but they are cheap.

[managers]

A note of caution - Reddit threads paint a very different picture of Uni Uni, and address inflationary reviews. Too good to be true perhaps. Does anybody have direct shipping experience with them?

[Nexus]

I just received the blocked Purolator postal codes from a manager at ShipStation this evening. When I opened the excel spread sheet, it appears that every postal code in Canada is blocked. Purolator has obviously provided the list to ShipStation and ShipStation is using this list to block the creation of labels for Purolator.

On a side note, in a discussion with Purolator support today, they implied that the block or black list would be removed once they catch up with deliveries. They wouldn’t give me a ETA on when that might happen. If I was a betting man, this will take longer than we all would hope for.

From media reports, it doesn’t look promising that Canada Post and CUPW will reach a mutually agreeable contract any time soon.  Our alternatives for shipping are few, the costs are high and the shipping times are now very long.

[fctg]

I find this news update on Purolator's site a bit amusing now. How naive they were just a few weeks ago... https://www.purolator.com/en/articles/purolator-network-ready-deliver-all-canadians-ahead-busiest-ti...

Funny thing is I don't see any updates on the news page about how they underestimated the volume and how they are not ready for the busiest time of the year.

[CaraAdmin]

Hello @RooJohnson!

Thank you for your post in the community! We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the current situation. As many of you are aware, starting Wednesday, December 4, Purolator will temporarily suspend accepting mail or packages for delivery to certain ZIP Codes in Canada due to the ongoing CUPW strike. Shipments already in transit may also be affected.

For a list of the impacted ZIP Codes, please don’t hesitate to contact our support team. We understand this is far from ideal, and we truly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. I’ll touch base with my team tomorrow to check for any updates and will share them as soon as I have more information. 

We appreciate you all!

-Cara

[mhenry84]

Is there any update yet from Purolator?  2 weeks now. 

[CelticStudio]

We have been able to buy Purolator shipping labels through ShipStation today finally. Sent to ON, BC, QC nothing has been blocked yet.

Canada Post is back to work tomorrow (Tuesday), announced late last night so maybe this had something to do with it.

UPDATE*: Just tried another one in rural AB and it was blocked, first one today

[fctg]

I second this, most ON, BC, QC, NS, NB, NL. But for some reason not AB even for major cities like Calgary.

[mhenry84]

I only got 2 to work in the last 2 weeks which were both Mississauga, Ontario. Nothing else.