DSP's have been picking up the slack. All those "city van rental" trucks i see around GTA are taking on accounts to fill in the gaps of CP. its the folks out in the boonies I feel for, they rely on CP for mail and this is really gonna screw them, then most us in the cities.
Canada Post strike; Payment delivery
- Thread starter economy
- Start date
pick up on time and safely deliver freight- my job
pay me what i asked for on time- Brokers job
That being said, its not a situation you prepare for all the time so leeway is expected and given to our brokers and clients. But haven't we had our fair share of scumbags, use the mail strike as a reason why we haven't gotten our cheques yet...
On that note, I want to shout out Sunrunner Logistics out of Belwood, ON, They'ev never missed a payment and reached out to us well before our cheques were due and sent us a e-transfer to make sure we were whole. One of the brokers that will always get my trucks if they need it.
15
Well said! Can't put it any simpler. Up to date, there are a number of Canadian brokers who reached out to us starting the conversation by saying that they'd like to ensure their accounts are in a good standing, wishing to ensure the payments are timely made in ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS. Some offered e-transfers, the others notified that within next few days they will transform to EFTs, others just stepping forward to discuss any possible solution to comply with the payment terms. These brokers are true partners! Great people!
On the other hand, we are contacting those Canada Post dependent and getting replies such as: we are not going to make any changes for you, come pick up your cheque, arrange and pay for the courier, I will drop the cheque in a mail today, and other crap. Nothing but arrogance. Some of that crap of a partners are getting very resourceful immediately finding the way to pay when I tell them that I don't have a problem to bill and collect directly from the parties subject to BOLs. Why is it that in order to get an attention it has to come to a hand twisting? It is them who owe me money, I DO NOT OWE THEM A TNING!
I don't care what you have to do to ensure that I am timely paid! When you are going to be short on money to fuel your truck, preventing you to earn the living, Mr. Rob, you would not care either what your debtor have to do in order to come up with a payment. Carriers are struggling as it is in todays economy!
In my post I mentioned that there are ways for Americans to pay us electronically. I also mentioned the factoring company TriumphPay who makes the payment to us on behalf of one third of USA based brokers that we deal with. TriumphPay would not even consider to look for an alternative method of payment. Perhaps, those who use the TriumphPay should seek for someone else to administer their payables. Rest assure, I will file the Surety Claims against those who use the TriumphPay.
Lastly, I've been hearing: Oh we are all in the same shoes, CP strike affected us all. LOAD OF CRAP; I don't see how our industry should be affected. There ways to pay electronically and good people are stepping forward to ensure their accounts are in a good standing.
I am not very optimistic about how soon the CP strike be over. It might carry well beyond New Years. Previous two that I recall have lasted for a while. When CP reopens, we all going to deal with the issue of the lost in the mail cheques; oh we are going to have our hands full.
30
Although it is an interesting interpretation of the surety bond provision, I doubt very much that “mail delivery problems” will initiate any type of settlement on the part of the bond issuer. Claims against a surety bond are for cases of non payment, not for payments made but not yet received. This mail disruption is a pain in the neck but if you really want to collect your money, send a courier to pick up cheques at each and every customer who is holding onto your payments.
30
@economy let us know how you make out and if not too much trouble also let us know how many that you pull the surety on are still willing to use you after all is said and done. Good Luck collecting your payments it sounds like you are probably a spot market carrier and I feel sorry for you folks right now in general with the rates being unsustainable but I stand by my statement that you are causing yourself and the company more pain than you think if you try the surety bond BS as you are going to piss of a pile of folks. Have drivers stop and get checks couriers etc the surety bond deal is going to sink you mark my words. I guess having a short list AR has it's advantages..
Last edited:
30
It is the wrong weapon to use to fight this battle. Surety Bonds are there to protect the interests of unpaid suppliers in cases where the debtor refuses to pay, goes bankrupt, or AWOL, not for mail disruptions. To be honest, I think your request will be met with some serious eye rolls and a firm “NO”. As others have said, your customers, in this case the freight brokers you use, will probably form a different opinion of your firm
30
You’ll need to set up ACH with them since they won’t wire money to a Canadian USD account. Triumph takes forever with mail, we've had checks take as long as 45 days to arrive after they’re cut, which means the total wait can end up over 70 days.
I’ve got a few meetings lined up with different payment processors to figure out how to accept ACH from US customers. I’ll share what I find out.
30
How are you going about setting that up? i spoke to RBC they told me it would be a couple month process to setup on their US side and BMO Harris told me the same thing. The quickest way I've found is going through a Fintech company that can set it up and have you going in a few days.
30
Here's what I've done for my US based carriers: I write out a check... scan it .. and email it to them/their factoring company. Most will accept that. Some are wary and won't.. but it's worth a shot. Worst case, if they don't I will give it a week or two to see what happens with Canada Post, and if there's no progress and the invoice comes due I will Fedex them the original check at my expense... cost of doing business.
20
15
Faxing a cheque has been around for a long time, not many using it though. We have the software from Versacheck. You have the payee send a copy of the cheque by fax and use Versacheck blank cheque paper to print it out on. Only used it a few times not sure what the banks think but if you can take a picture and deposit that online, why not a fax copy. Only problem is finding a fax machine that works, our has dust collecting on it.
Thankfully I only have a few customers using cheques. I sent them my banking info and advised that due to the on going Canada Post strike arrangement for payments will need to come either by direct deposit, eft or they can use a courier such as UPS, FEDEX, etc. I only did this a few days ago but have had one customer already make a direct deposit. I do have one customer that uses cheques but has always used UPS . I was shocked that Canada Post went on strike as a they are set to run out of money in January 2025 as per a market place episode.
30
Jaydee,
were you able to figure out with Triumph? they say they dont accept anything but RBC for ACH to Canadian carriers. They wont even wire or courier cheques. There has to be a way to get around this, they cant be holding funds hostage until Canada post decides to get their act together. We have about $50K in the mail with them and another 40K coming due.
I spoke with them yesterday as well and got the same answer. I then spoke to a manager and they said one way to figure it out is if you ask the original company if they cancel the payment from Triumphpay and send it directly to you.
30
We’re stuck in this loop, being told the same thing over and over. When we contact the broker, they redirect us to Triumph, and nothing gets resolved. At this point, we’re seriously considering starting collection actions against brokers who aren’t cooperating. To make matters worse, the US Postal Service isn’t accepting mail bound for Canada making any attempt to pay through check void/
What's annoying the shit out of me is we’ve provided multiple alternative options to facilitate payment: a US-domiciled account (which they’ve refused, insisting it must be RBC), wire transfers, and even couriering cheques. US brokers continue to ignore the situation and persist in sending payments through the postal system, knowing these will not reach us.