Toronto businesses struggling with holiday sales amid postal strike

With around 55,000 Canada Post workers on strike since Nov.15 and no deal in sight, Toronto businesses say they're gearing up for a tough holiday season.

Many businesses began making alternative arrangements even before the nation-wide Canada Post strike officially began 12 days ago. But with the holiday season upon us, some say the strike is taking a toll.

Miriam Juarez owns Pretty Clean Shop, a sustainable living retailer in the Junction neighbourhood that makes a portion of its sales online. 

"The rush of the holidays hasn't picked up the way that it normally works," she told CBC Toronto. "It's definitely challenging times, but we're hoping that things pick up and we're counting on people to come and shop locally."

On Nov. 15, around 55,000 Canada Post employees went on strike, shutting down the Crown corporation just ahead of the busiest time of year for mail deliveries. Since then, negotiations with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have continued, with talks taking place over the weekend.

But in a statement on Monday, Canada Post said "progress was limited." 

Business owners caught in the middle

Speaking to CBC Toronto on Sunday, Mark Lubinski, president of the local CUPW chapter, said the bargaining unit has spent recent talks protecting the gains they've made so far in the process. 

"Canada Post says it wants flexibility, but what it really wants is the flexibility to hire lower-wage, part-time workers, reduce worker benefits, and create a second-class workforce," he said. "Canada Post should be setting the standard, not engaging in a race to the bottom."

In the meantime, business owners like Juarez find themselves caught in the middle. 

The strike has impacted her ability to ship some orders to customers in more remote locations, she says. It's also reduced her holiday stock, with suppliers struggling as well.

"Some things haven't actually shipped at all because then they had to also scramble, the vendors, to find other carriers and some things are stuck [in Canada Post facilities]."

Small businesses hit especially hard, board of trade says

Jennifer van der Valk, a spokesperson for the Toronto Region Board of Trade, told CBC Toronto the timing of the strike couldn't be worse for most businesses.

"Especially small business during what really should be their busiest season," she said. "For some of these organizations and these businesses, November, December is typically their busiest, most critical season for revenue and profit, accounting for 30 to 50 per cent of their annual online sales." 

Many businesses are also still recovering from the pandemic and have struggled in recent years with consumers spending less due to the high cost of living, van der Valk said.

She also noted around 80 per cent of small businesses rely on Canada Post for their operations, and is asking customers to do their part to help out where they can. 

"Get out there, do your holiday shopping, have a little more patience with businesses," she said. "Let's do our part to make sure that we are helping them, you know, bolster up that bottom line."

If a deal is reached soon, Juarez is hopeful the impact will be limited, but she's worried about how long it might go on. 

"It might already be a bit late for this year because the deadlines usually for shipping parcels on any given good year are within the first 10 days of December. And we are so close to that already that I can't imagine the backlog of it."