Local makers forced to abandon shipping as postal strike drags on

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This article was published 21/11/2024 (291 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local makers are feeling the crunch as the Canada Post strike enters its second week and the holiday shopping season ramps up.

Leiah Bauer, an artisan soap maker from southeast Manitoba, is overstocking her booth for this weekend’s Third + Bird Christmas market to make up for business she’s losing from online sales.

Her company, Apothecandy, makes soaps and bath products sourced from goat milk from her own farmstead. The strike forced Bauer to turn off shipping options on her website, which she says accounts for 95 per cent of her e-commerce sales.

“It’s basically put half my business on hold,” she said Thursday. “I’m located rural so I’ve lost a lot of my way of selling it and getting it into the hands of my customers.”

About 55,000 members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers hit the picket line last Friday morning after failing to reach an agreement with Canada Post. The strike has ground mail and package deliveries to a halt.

Union workers are asking for better working conditions and wage increases of 23 per cent over four years. Canada Post has offered an increase of 11.5 per cent over four years, according to the union.

Bauer is among dozens of local businesses who sell their wares at Christmas markets to carry their business through the end of the year. Shipping alternatives aren’t available from her farm, located outside Richer, so the maker is scrambling to find alternatives.

“I do have a pickup at my farm gate as an option, but it is outside of the city so that’s challenging for a lot of people, and a lot of people can’t make it out there,” she said.

Bauer can’t rely on alternative shipping options because they are either not available or out of her price range.

Other shippers, such as FedEx or UPS, charge 30 to 40 per cent more for shipping than Canada Post.

Makers like Delaney Tycholis, who refurbishes and reworks vintage jewelry, have packages stuck in Canada Post limbo with no information as to when her customers can expect their jewelry.

She’s also waiting on material to be delivered so she can continue running her business.

“I get excited for supplies and when it no-shows I can’t create and work, which is what I love to do,” she said.

A poll commissioned by the Retail Council of Canada shows 62 per cent of Manitobans do their holiday shopping in November. The strike, coming right before Black Friday, is sure to put retailers in a bind, said Retail Council Manitoba director John Graham.

He called on the federal government to institute back-to-work legislation.

“Canada Post is a critical lifeline for small businesses across the country and we’re very concerned of the impact this will have to shifting away from buying and supporting local to larger retailers that have have… guaranteed shipping contracts in place that put them at that advantage,” he said.

During previous Canada Post strikes, in 2011 and 2018, the federal government passed back-to-work legislation, which ended service disruptions.

Tycholis has other options for shipping her product during the holiday season and offers local pickup, but the strike has made her reconsider her reliance on Canada Post.

“I care so much about my customers and promptly delivering their pieces,” she said. “I hope I can sit tight while Canada Post does its thing. It’ll hurt my pocket for sure but I’m trying to stay hopeful.”

While Bauer waits out the strike, she’s partnered with a Winnipeg business who offered to be a pickup point for Apothecandy’s online orders, but the option isn’t a long-term solution should the strike drag on.

“Small business people are creative and resilient, and I hope that we can kind of rally and support all of our local small businesses this season, but we could do with slightly fewer challenges,” she said.

— with files from The Canadian Press

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca