As Canada Post strike drags on, small businesses worry about financial hit over the holidays

As the strike between Canada Post and its unionized workers heads toward its second week, small businesses across Newfoundland and Labrador are bracing for a financial hit as they navigate what should be a busy and lucrative holiday season.

Meghan Fahey, owner of the greeting card business Driven To Ink, said this is a crucial time of year for her company and not being able to ship orders is hurting her bottom line.

"It's absolutely vital. November and December is when I do, I'd say, probably 50 per cent of my online sales. So to have no shipping whatsoever this time of year is very detrimental to my sales," she told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

Fahey has since pivoted to other ways to reach customers, focusing on selling wholesale to local vendors in order to make up for the lost income from online sales.

Through her role as a market organizer for the retail platform Etsy, she says she has heard from other business owners who are also struggling to fulfil online orders and have shuttered their online shops temporarily.

"You put it in vacation mode, and at that point the longer your store stays in vacation mode Etsy kind of forgets about you when you come back," said Fahey.

Fahey said using a courier service isn't financially viable, explaining that Canada Posts charges $1.20 to ship one card in Canada but that it will cost more than $20 by courier.

"Nobody's going to want to pay $20 to $30 to have a single greeting card delivered," she said.

Depending on how long the strike lasts, Fahey said it will be tough to bounce back. 

"I think online sales for me, I just need to write them off for this year. If they come back to the table and they settle things quickly, that's great, but I'm not relying on that at this point," she said.

Fahey encourages customers to stop by their local markets for shopping this season. She said they're an important source of income for small businesses.

"When you're supporting a local business, that money that you're spending, it comes back into the community," said Fahey.

Shipping woes

Natasha Voisey-Canning, owner of Slippers n' Things in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, estimates that she ships about 20 parcels a week leading up to Christmas.

But now, when a customer calls, she offers to ship by courier and explains it will cost more.

"People don't have the money to spend the extra cash on courier services," she said.

Heather Bursey, owner of Spruced Up Labrador, agrees that courier services are too expensive for most people at a time when they are looking to save money.

"They have their own bills on top of Christmas," she said. "So that's one challenge."

Bursey said she recently shipped a 50-pound box to New Brunswick for $79 for a customer who was willing to spend the additional money, but that isn't the norm.

"For other people, they may not be able to afford that," she said.

In addition, Bursey said, the majority of her supplies also come through Canada Post and they aren't getting in.

"We're now availing of other shipping options. However, I did prepare for the holiday season. My hope is that people will also shop local," she said.

"If we do run out of ingredients for certain things, I mean, we may not be able to reproduce more. So that's going to be a challenge."

Both Bursey and Voisey-Canning hope the strike encourages people to shop locally.

"We have a fantastic array of different businesses, whether they're home-based or, you know, brick and mortar," said Bursey. "People do have options and my hope is that people will shop local."

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