The month-long Canada Post strike has been very disruptive to small business owners during the holiday shopping season.
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And a majority say they will be using the postal service less in the future because of the strike.
According to new data from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), nearly three-quarters (73%) of small business owners said in an online survey that they will rely less on Canada Post and seek other shipping options.
“Small businesses have written off Canada Post for this holiday season, as even if the strike were settled today, it will take weeks to restart the system and get through the backlog already in the system,” CFIB president Dan Kelly said in a news release.
“But it should alarm us all that thousands of small firms will permanently abandon use of Canada Post as businesses have been forced to put alternatives in place. Canada Post and its union may well have lost their last reliable customers — small business owners.”
The data, collected by the CFIB over two days this week, shows the daily cost of the strike on small business has also risen to $100 million per day.
Coupled with the fact that private couriers appear to have reached maximum capacity and are not taking on any new customers, the financial hit to small firms has now reached $1.6 billion since the strike began, the organization said.
On Friday, Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon referred the dispute between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers to the Canada Industrial Relations Board in a bid to end the work stoppage and get the nearly 55,000 workers back on the job.
“What’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year has turned into the nightmare before Christmas,” said Corinne Pohlmann, an executive vice president at CFIB.
“Due to circumstances far beyond their control, small businesses are struggling to deliver goods in time for Christmas. CFIB encourages consumers to shop in person and to be understanding with businesses doing their best to deal with the postal disruption and the upcoming GST/HST holiday.”