The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has sent a letter to the federal government urging it to immediately step in and put an end to the Canada Post strike.
“It’s been a week since the strike started, with no resolution in sight. We hope the parties quickly reach a deal through collective bargaining, but reports say they’re still ‘far apart.’ Our economy and small businesses cannot afford another week of postal disruption,” said Corinne Pohlmann, Executive Vice-President of Advocacy at CFIB. “Small businesses, especially those in rural areas, are already losing on sales and missing payments, and they have to rethink delivery strategies on the eve of the busy holiday season.”
Three quarters (75%) of small businesses said they will be negatively affected by a work stoppage, with nearly eight in 10 still relying on Canada Post to do business, said the CFIB.
CFIB has been collecting examples of challenges small business owners are experiencing due to the strike. These include:
- A print shop in B.C. that works with thousands of artists, many of whom are small business owners themselves, is experiencing order cancellations, with customers unable to find alternative shipping solutions.
- A retailer in Manitoba uses Canada Post to ship at least one package a day, and most of their orders from suppliers also come through Canada Post.
- A wholesaler in Ontario that relies on Canada Post to ship coffee says about 90% of their business would be lost as this is their busiest time of year.
Unless the parties immediately negotiate a deal through collective bargaining, CFIB is urging the federal government to enact back-to-work legislation or order binding arbitration so that small businesses can finish the year strong instead of being punished by circumstances outside of their control, said the national organization
“While we hope for a quick resolution, we encourage Canadians to support and shop at small businesses this holiday season. Small Business Saturday is a week away on November 30 and a great opportunity to explore local businesses. We’ve seen how resilient and innovative small businesses are, and they will do everything in their power to serve their customers despite the current setbacks,” added Pohlmann.
The CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 97,000 members across every industry and region.
On Friday, Canada Post reported it recorded a loss before tax of $315 million in the third quarter of 2024 as strong revenue growth in Direct Marketing did not make up for a decline in Parcels results.
“An increasingly crowded and highly competitive ecommerce delivery market continued to impact Parcels results in the third quarter of 2024. While Transaction Mail volumes continued to erode, revenue rose due to a regulated stamp rate increase. Direct Marketing revenue and volumes experienced robust growth,” it said.
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It’ll be interesting to see how the call for mandatory arbitration is heeded, after all the government is the key stakeholder in Canada Post.
A quarterly loss of $315M means Canada Post is likely to exceed it’s reported loss of $748M for 2023, making the enterprise a significant drain on the taxpayer.
I suspect the taxpayer will increasingly lack support for losses at Canada Post while they experience delays and disruptions to service.
Not sure why parcel traffic losses are being paid for by the taxpayer. No other parcel carriers gets a hand out from the public to be inefficient. Surely, this is anti-competitive/discriminatory when the state favours one enterprise over another?