Royal Mail Strike Disruption

The Royal Mail have recently announced that some of their workers are going on strike in August and September 2022:

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters to take strike action on 26 and 31 August and the 8 and 9 September 2022. 

We’re really sorry for the disruption that this strike action is likely to cause to you. We want to reassure you we will do everything we can to minimise disruption and get our services back to normal as quickly as possible.

Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, but they cannot fully replace the daily efforts of its frontline workforce. We will be doing what we can to keep services running, but customers should expect significant disruption. 

We have therefore decided to temporarily close our Amazon and eBay storefronts and listings from Tuesday 23rd until c. 14th September and during this time we will be instead fully concentrating on our forthcoming new publications. This is because that orders sent within strike times are typically held and queued by the RM and seem to be the last items cleared - they normally run a First-In-First-Out system. Anything sent within these times is likely to get stuck somewhere and, due to the delays in getting items to customers, combined with the way that the Amazon and eBay systems run, it will likely (as in previous strikes) cost us a considerable amount of money refunding delayed orders, not to mention upsetting customers and losing goodwill.

There is a limited amount of stock in Amazon’s warehouses that can be bought via www.Amazon.co.uk and delivered via their own courier system (including next day Prime members).

Our websites www.MoonhouseMusic.com and www.Masquerade-Music.com will continue running in order to prioritise our regular customers, however, please be aware that there will likely be delays in orders sent out via the Royal Mail. We will endeavour to send via alternative carriers, but very small orders can only be sent via Royal Mail. In each instance of an order we will email customers to check that they are aware of any delays before sending out orders and explore any alternative options.

Thanks for your understanding, see you on the other side of the strikes!