Delivery estimates not taking account of Royal Mail strikes

[WychtreeCottage]

I'm posting this here as I understand Etsy reads this forum and I wanted to raise it as an issue.

I'm in the UK.  Delivery estimates for orders aren't fully taking account of Royal Mail strikes.  

One order was placed on the 31st August and the estimated delivery was 2-8 September which takes account of the Royal Mail strike on the 31st but not the one on the 8th and 9th.

Another order was placed on the 6th September with estimated delivery on 7-10th which obviously doesn't take account of the strike on the 8th and 9th at all.  

They both have the same shipping profile so the difference isn't because of having different settings.

Having the delivery estimates extended was really helpful and it would be great if it could be continued.  Thanks!

[anythinggoeshere]

Wasn't the strike called off?

[WychtreeCottage]

The one on the 9th was called off, but only on the 8th and I don't think it would explain such a difference between the estimated times?  And the first order estimated that it could be delivered on the 8th which was obviously impossible.

[CraftyCornishMaids]

If you have Royal mail set as your default, and a shipping class, etsy goes to Royal mail and uses their estimates.... which should include delays for strikes, depending on location

So you need to contact Royal mail

[bradgoodell]

If it's like USPS, the estimated delivery time is set by the carrier, not Etsy.  USPS often gives completely irrational estimates.  Christmas 2020, they added ONE day to their estimates.  This was with millions of packages sitting in trailers for weeks on end.  Yet they would still cheerily tell people that Priority Mail would take 2-3 days.  

[BagmakerSupply]

@WychtreeCottage  :  Do we really want to depend on Etsy to monitor and account for things like this, or even predictable things like postal holidays? If I were in your position, I would just change the ship by date (if the strike might impact your ability to ship) and just send the buyer a "cut and paste" note explaining that a potential strike might adversely affect the estimated delivery date as estimated by Etsy. We routinely do this for our postal holidays.