Canada Post Strike - Waiting for a Christmas Miracle

We are now into the fourth week of a postal workers strike in Canada. The union wants higher wages, better benefits and job security. And Canada Post wants to compete with all the gig-worker driven delivery services that have sprung up over the last few years which means they need more output from a cheaper labour force. Canada Post is a crown corporation which means its direction is overseen by the government but it operates on its own. And for the last 6 years it has been losing money. Last year it lost almost $750 million (CDN).

 
This strike has gone on without any clear sign of a pending resolution. Unlike previous postal strikes, this one doesn't seem to be getting the same public attention. Small businesses and rural customers are feeling it the most. But the outcry over the lack of mail delivery just doesn't seem to be there this time around. So maybe this is the tipping point for Canada Post. The two sides are so far apart in their negotiations that it will likely take government intervention to get the mail moving again.

I really miss checking my mailbox everyday. Even if the strike ends tomorrow, it would take several weeks... months perhaps, to clear the backlog. No circuits coming in or going out. No stamp exchanges. Not even junk mail. It sucks.

Argentina National Parks

A cover from Buenos Aires with 7500 pesos of postage on it. That's a lot. It's slightly more than the international letter rate for Denmark. Here's a postcrossing thread I came across with a discussion about postage rates in Argentina. Looking back over covers I've received from Argentina in the past, I can see the increases getting larger and larger as the years go by. Inflation is so high in Argentina. The postal rate increase so fast that multiple older stamps are always needed to make the current postage rate.

The stamp on the left is a 2023 stamp that recognizes the National Plan for Telecommunications Networks. It was originally a 2014 stamp that has been overprinted with a new value, going from 50c to $500, The others are all national park definitives from 2023, except the last stamp on the right which is from 2024: Laguna Blanca National Park, Jaramillo Petrified Forest National Park, Federal Campo San Juan Park, and Baritú National Park.

Sendt til udlandet fra Danmark

Not much happening on this cover from Taastrup, Denmark (there is a large Postnord terminal there) but the stamp caught my attention. It's the first cover I've received from Denmark with an "Udland" stamp on it. Earlier this year Postnord declared that all stamps produced prior to Jan 1 were no longer valid for domestic mail because they were purchased before a 25% VAT for postage stamps was introduced. Apparently the same will apply to international bound mail at the end of the year. New stamps now bear the word "Innland" on domestic rate stamps and "Udland" on international rate stamps.

This stamp is from a 2024 sheet of two (with two sheets in the issue) that feature portrait engravings. On this stamp is an image of Danish poet and author Tove Ditlevsen, based on a photograph by Erik Petersen, engraved by Martin Mörck

It's surprising to see how postage rates have increased in Denmark this year. The international letter rate was increased to 50 DKK. It covers letters up to 100g but that rate also applies to postcards! By comparison, 50 DKK is currently more than enough for three international 20g letters from Canada, or four from the US.

Colourful Flowers, Japan FDC

Another floral FDC from Osaka. This time it's a pair of recently issued rose stamps.

Birds from Suzhou, China

Lots of bird stamps on this cover from Suzhou. The pair on the upper left are peafoul stamps from 2004. And the group on the right from 2005 are birds at the Xianghai National Nature Reserve in north-eastern China. The stamp in the lower left corner is from a 2022 set showing images of pigeons.

Living Legends of the Philippines

I can almost make out parts of the text in the postmark that would tell me where this came from. But not enough. The stamp on the right commemorates former basketball player Ramon Fernandez. It is from a 2021 souvenir sheet called "Living Legends of the Philippines". And the stamps on the left are definitives that feature phrases in different languages spoken in various regions of the country. It was not immediately obvious to me that this was from the Philippines. I think the Canadian air mail sticker caught me off guard. 

Florianopolis, Brazil

This cover from the Brazilian coastal city of Florianopolis comes to me with three stamps from a sheet of nine from 2020 that feature celestial bodies from our solar system. From left to right, the Sun, Earth and Mars. It's hard to see but the dark lines in the stamps that trace the paths of the planets around the sun are highlighted with a varnish. 

UPU 150th Anniversary, Algeria FDC

The 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) was October 9, 2024. 

Montserrat

Postmarked at the main post office in the town of Brades, which has been the capital of Montserrat since 1995 when the Soufrière Hills volcano erupted and buried the original capital of Plymouth under mud and ash. Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory. It is a Caribbean island of 100 square kilometers in the northern end of the Lesser Antilles chain. Half of the island is uninhabitable because of the volcanic exclusion zone so the island's 5000 residents reside on the north half of the island.

 

The stamps from 2009 feature fruit-bearing trees that can be found on the island. From right to left: tamarind, dwarf coconut, breadfruit, calabash and geiger. 

80th Anniversary of the Battle of Normandy, France

Postmarked at the philatelic bureau in Mende in southern France. The 2024 souvenir sheet commemorates the 80th anniversary of the allies landing on the beaches of Normandy. D-day. June 6. 1944. It was the largest amphibious military landing in history. 

Traditional Weapons of the Philippines

On this cover from Taguig is a set of four stamps from 2024 that feature traditional weapons of the Philippines. From left to right: a sinawit ax, a gunong knife, a kris knife and a falfeg javelin. 

World Post Day, Singapore

The stamps are from a 2020 set commemorating the end of the Second World War and the end of Japanese occupation. The well applied spray-on sorting center postmark commemorates World Post Day which marks the anniversary of the founding of the Universal Postal Union on 9 Oct 1874.