HALDIMAND—The ongoing Canada Post strike has created significant disruptions across communities, with ripple effects impacting charitable organizations, small businesses, and everyday transactions.
The strike has forced many to adopt alternative methods for communication and delivery, leading to increased costs, logistical challenges, and creative problem-solving.
Rob Phillips, President of the Hagersville Chamber of Commerce, said, “The interruption of postal services has a significant impact.”
“In particular for small businesses, many do not have access to the technology to distribute their invoices electronically or process payments to suppliers electronically,” noted Philips. “This has a significant impact in cash flow. Small businesses are resilient and resourceful and will find a way to deal with this, even if it means having an employee hand deliver payments to local suppliers.”
“In addition, many businesses rely on the postal services to deliver goods to customers during the holiday season and alternate delivery methods can be more costly or perhaps even not available in a busy holiday season,” he added.
For the Dunnville Hospital & Healthcare Foundation, the strike has reshaped the way they conduct critical fundraising initiatives.
Sandie Heirwegh, Interim Executive Director, shared the challenges they faced with their Trees of Hope campaign.
“We had just over 4,100 packages ready to be mailed,” said Heirwegh. “Instead of mailing them, we called upon volunteers to help us deliver them.”
The pivot to hand delivery demanded immense coordination and the dedication of staff and volunteers who sorted the packages by address. The effort underscored the resilience of the community.
“I can’t say enough about the people that pitched in and made it happen. And the donors who have personally made a trip to the office – we are so grateful,” said Heirwegh.
Similarly, the West Haldimand Hospital and Healthcare Foundation has faced considerable obstacles due to the strike. Executive Director Lisa Hostein noted the delay in delivering Trees of Caring packages – a vital component of their fundraising strategy.
“A considerable percentage of our donations – approximately 70% – are typically received through the mail,” she said.
In response, volunteers have taken a proactive approach by contacting donors directly via phone to encourage their support.
The strike has also posed challenges for businesses reliant on Canada Post for daily operations.
McCarthy and Fowler, a Hagersville-based law firm, has experienced disruptions in processing real estate transactions.
Tammy Trotman, the firm’s main receptionist, explained that the strike has impacted the delivery of commission cheques for realtors, which is required for every real estate transaction. While some local realtors are willing to pick up their cheques in person, outside offices have requested the firm to set up electronic transfer systems or use couriers.
Though email has become a convenient tool for some transactions, other clients still prefer paper copies, adding another layer of complexity to their daily operations.
The use of couriers may be effective, but “the cost is obviously a lot higher,” said Trotman.
Small business owners like Autumn Supott, who runs a home service business with her brother and a friend, have also been affected.
Supott shared her frustration over the inability to send Christmas cards to clients as planned.
“The strike has impacted our time and money put into our business,” she said.
Delivering cards in person was considered as an alternative, but it is both time-consuming and expensive: “Our alternatives are taking our own personal cars to deliver them, but it’s more expensive as we have some clients pretty far away,” she explained.
For small businesses, these added costs and logistical hurdles underscore the broader economic impact of the postal strike.
The Haldimand Press itself had to pivot to community pick ups at local libraries and at The Press office, along with opening up the online edition so readers who are unable to travel can continue to access their local news from the comfort of their home.
“The paper is investigating potential local companies who could assist in a return to deliveries by addressed mail, but have yet to find a suitable match,” said Co-Publisher Kaitlyn Clark. “Unfortunately, hand delivering thousands of copies each week just isn’t feasible for our small staff, and we don’t have the resources to launch and coordinate a whole new delivery division that may only be needed for a week – as we never know when this strike will end.”
Clark added, “We thank all our readers for your patience during this time, and we hope to be reporting to you soon that regular mail service is resuming.”
Amid the community-wide disruptions, negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have yet to yield a resolution.
In a statement on Sunday, December 8, Canada Post announced it was awaiting a formal response from the union to its latest proposal, submitted the previous Friday.
Meanwhile, CUPW has emphasized its commitment to returning to the bargaining table while expressing concerns about the timing of the mediation process.
