‘Trying to exist’: Retailers on edge with Canada Post strike looming

Small business owners are feeling anxious and uneasy about the potential for a Canada Post strike, which could begin on Friday.

On Tuesday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) gave Canada Post a 72-hour strike notice for its urban bargaining unit and its rural and suburban units. A strike will begin at 12:01 a.m. on Nov. 15 if a deal is not reached.

Canada Post’s latest contract offer included annual wage increases that amounted to 11.5 per cent over four years. It also offered protection of the defined benefit pension for current employees, as well as job security and health benefits. The union rejected that proposal.

Ron McCowan, the owner of Wheels and Wings Hobbies on the Danforth in Toronto, says they’ve already seen an impact on sales online.

“There’s a little hesitation now to buy because if we put it in the mail and the strike happens, they’ve paid for it, it could sit there or a week, two weeks or a month,” McCowan said.

McCowan says 45 per cent of his business goes through Canada Post. He is now looking at other courier options but says they are more expensive and that it would eat into their profits. 

“With free freight and all of a sudden, you add an extra 20 per cent, 30 per cent cost to ship it, that comes right off your margin,” he said. “So that means our margin gets cut, but at least we have enough coming in to meet our overhead. The whole idea is basically what we did for [COVID-19]. You try to exist.”

In the event of a labour disruption, Canada Post said it will work to minimize impacts to its service, but customers may experience delays.

Strike could come at the worst time

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says rural areas could be heavily impacted by a strike. Many parcel delivery companies do not deliver to remote communities, leaving Canada Post as the sole provider, affecting more than just packages.

“We still see a lot of businesses that pay each other through the mail, whether it be invoices or checks … and having a disruption in that and therefore disruption potentially in their own cash flow can also be worrisome for some of those businesses,” said CFIB vice-president Corinne Pohlmann.

Canada Post said recently that parcel volumes have decline 28 per cent and “continue to slide at a usually busy time.”

“Delivered parcel volumes have been in an accelerating decline since CUPW announced its strike mandate on Oct. 25,” the Crown corporation said as part of a news release.

“Last week, Canada Post’s parcel volumes declined compared to the same week of the previous year. That represents 1.3 million parcels – or more than a day’s worth of delivered parcels at this time of year – that went to competitors instead of Canada Post. With CUPW’s strike notice, the company expects this trend to accelerate.”

With the holiday shopping season just a few weeks away and already ramping up, McCowan said he is bracing for impact and coming up with new strategies to survive.

“We’re going to have more sales here in our retail store. We’re going to try to bring the community in more than what we would normally do and we got some marketing tricks; I’m going to try to play to keep us going,” McCowan said.

CityNews reached out to Canada Post for comment. A spokesperson said both parties are at the table, and talks remain ongoing.