Small businesses brace for holiday losses as Canada Post strike enters Day 3
CBC
With Canada Post workers on strike for a third day, small business owners say the walkout could not have come at a worse time.
Lorne James, who sells model trains in Tillsonburg, Ont., estimates he could lose $10,000 a day in online sales, judging from the month-long postal strike that his business had to deal with in 2018. That walkout ended in late November that year with back-to-work legislation.
"Coming into our busy season, where we make a third of our sales over two months, to be held hostage … it's unacceptable, and for a rural business like ours, it's not right," James told CBC's Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday.
James pointed out the online shipping season is ending in two weeks for deliveries to make it on time for Christmas.
But the two sides appear nowhere close to a deal after nearly a year of negotiating. The federal government has indicated it's not currently planning to intervene to end the strike by some 55,000 workers, who hit the picket lines early Friday.
"I'm not looking at any other solution other than negotiation right now," Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon told reporters in Montreal on Friday morning.
A spokesperson for the minister reiterated on Saturday that a special mediator, Peter Simpson, is on hand to support negotiations.
Jasmin Guénette, vice-president of national affairs at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says shoppers who may normally buy directly from small businesses may turn to shopping giants such as Amazon.
James began looking at alternatives about six week ago and started using Canpar Express, UPS and FedEx for domestic deliveries. But he says they can charge three times the shipping rate, so it's "cost prohibitive." About 85 per cent of the parcels he sells are delivered by mail.
"Right now, we're holding our international [shipments] until the strike can either be legislated or mediated back, until we have a return-to-work program," James said.
Onze Montréal, a clothing boutique specializing in women's fashion, is also scrambling to cope with the work stoppage by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
"Because it's the holiday season, you know, people want fast deliveries and they want reliable carriers. Now that we've only been dealing with Canada Post ,we don't know how it's going to be with other carriers," said Layali Suwwan, an online salesperson at Onze.
On average, the boutique ships out 35 packages a day exclusively with Canada Post.
Suwwan says if the strike continues, the business may have to find an alternative courier, which could increase prices.
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