The strike at Correios, Brazil's state postal service, completed a week on Thursday (Sept 17) with no end date, and deliveries have stalled. Reports collected by Folha de S.Paulo show packages arriving past their deadline, frozen tracking pages and shipping refund requests. Consumers and small sellers have no delivery forecast, and delay complaints keep landing on the review site Reclame Aqui.

Workers approved the stoppage in union assemblies on the night of Thursday (Sept 10), and it took effect on Friday (Sept 11), with unions across the country joining, the workers' federation Findect said. Negotiations ended without a deal after repeated rounds of talks and mediation attempts at the Superior Labor Court (TST), according to news site g1.

The core dispute is the employee health plan. The federation says the company wants to change the benefit. Correios responded that its proposal covered 78 of the 80 clauses of the collective agreement, with a raise matching 100% of the INPC inflation index from Aug 1 and the maintenance of health assistance.

"The assemblies' decision came after successive rounds of negotiation and mediation attempts at the TST. The workers sought a negotiated solution, but the company held its position on an issue the workers consider fundamental," Findect said in a statement.

Sellers with no way around it

Sellers of collectibles feel the hit on the cash register. Mariana Greco Mantovani, 20, who runs the Instagram shop Sweet Wishes Store and imports Monster High dolls, Funko figures and Pokemon cards, has had two boxes stuck since early September. About eight customer orders sit inside them, and one buyer has already asked for a refund, Folha reports. "When the items are already here in Brazil, I can recommend that clients ask for another carrier, but there is no option other than Correios to bring them into the country," she said. If an order is for something very specific, she risks being left with the item at home: "It ends up being a big loss."

The rules of the game protect the buyer. Under Brazil's Consumer Defense Code, the online store is responsible for the delivery deadline even when Correios carries the package: the customer can demand delivery, accept a substitute product or cancel with a full refund. On shipments contracted directly with the postal company, a late delivery automatically returns part of the fare, from 5% to 15% on the PAC and Sedex services and 100% on Sedex 10, Sedex 12 and Sedex Hoje, as reported by O Povo.

A company in the red, branches open

The strike lands on a company deep in the red. Correios has posted losses for 15 straight quarters, including R$ 5.6 billion in the first half of 2026, g1 reported, and awaits a R$ 7 billion loan from a group with Citibank, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Banrisul after receiving R$ 12 billion at the end of last year. Branches remain open under a business continuity plan that shifts teams and routes, and a court ordered 80% of workers kept on duty, O Povo reported. The head of the Paraiba postal union, Tony Sergio, told g1 that in practice only internal administrative services were running during the stoppage.