Small businesses feel the impacts of ongoing Canada Post strike

It’s day 12 of the Canada Post strike, and workers were once again on the picket lines Tuesday, including in Innisfil, where roughly two dozen postal workers held signs demanding a fair deal.

“None of us want to be out here. None of us want to be doing what we are doing. We want to be in doing parcels and stuff for Christmas, getting ready for Christmas, it puts everybody behind on everything doing this,” said Joanne Balazs, vice president of Local 503 of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).

The strike involving more than 55,000 workers from across the country has already caused significant disruptions with no end in sight.

Canada Post estimates around 10 million parcels haven’t been delivered since the walkouts began.

For small business owners, the impact has been immediate and costly.

“We use Canada Post and right now everything is on hold until Canada Post comes back because we can’t afford other people’s rates,” said Jane Decola, who owns and operates Brabary on Commerce Park Drive in Barrie.

Decola has packages piling up at the back door of her business ready for delivery, but for now, they are staying put with the cost of alternative shipping too steep.

“To ship something to King City is $40 versus $17 with Canada Post,” she explained.

Big B Comics in Barrie is also feeling the pinch. While staff have managed to ship packages using other carriers, it’s taking a toll on their bottom line.

“On average, we are paying about $10 more for a package to ship out to the U.S. We are just hoping for the strike to end sooner rather than later so we can go back to being more profitable, honestly, by being able to charge less,” said Marc Sims, the comic store’s owner.

Despite the challenges, local business owners said they’ll return to Canada Post once the strike is resolved, but for now, they are bracing for higher costs as the labour dispute drags on.