German postal strikes impact UK sellers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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There have been postal strikes in Germany which yesterday escalated to 31,000 workers downing tools and it’s starting to impact ecommerce sellers in the UK.

Deutsche Post posties have been engaged in regular walkouts and work to rule since the 8th of June and millions of letters and, more importantly for sellers, parcels haven’t been delivered.

The issue is Deutsche Post plans to hire thousands of workers in sister companies on different terms to the collective Deutsche Post agreement deal with the German trade unions.

The strikes are to go on indefinitely with no end in sight. This of course won’t affect sellers who are using couriers to deliver packages, although it’s still worth keeping an eye on as their volumes may increase as companies switch from mail to courier. It is however likely to affect merchants who despatch parcels via Royal Mail.

We’ve not seen anything yet from marketplaces on whether they’ll be protecting sellers who receive poor feedback as a result of the postal delays. Have you been affected either with parcels not being delivered in a timely fashion or have you seen an uptick in less that satisfactory feedback from your German customers?