Even though Angie MacCrae doesn’t use Canada Post to ship online orders to her customers, she says she’s still feeling the effects of the postal strike.
MacCrae owns KOTi 28, a home goods store in Arnprior. She says she’s seen a dip in online sales since the strike started in mid-November, despite offering enticing Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Then, she began wondering if the dip in sales had to do with the ongoing postal strike.
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“We had some really great sale campaigns during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and they were not successful campaigns … I think that maybe people are just hesitant to shop online with us because they think small businesses are all using Canada Post,” she said.
MacCrae launched her online store in October 2023 and says she is still trying to get people to trust her brand, something that is not helped by the ongoing strike.
“I think Canadian society is reluctant to place online orders because they don’t know if they’re going to get them in time for Christmas, so they’re just opting out of that service,” she said.
While she’s noticed a slight uptick in in-person shopping, lower online sales means her business could lose touch with a wider-ranging audience.
“We’re a small town business and most of my clients are from out of town. I would say 75 per cent of my clients are from the Ottawa area and I even have clients ordering from Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto,” she said.
MacCrae uses a platform called ShipTime, a service that aggregates shipping prices from different couriers to find the best fit.
MacCrae says her store has felt the impact of the strike as suppliers who rely on Canada Post can’t get their products to her.
“I do have some vendors from Canada who use Canada Post, and I’ve not received those products, so I’m not going to have them on my shelves to generate revenue,” MacCrae said.
At least one local company is smiling when it comes to the postal strike. Earlier this week, OBJ spoke with Ottawa-based last-mile delivery service Trexity, where founder and CEO Alok Ahuja said his company was able to make his customers feel like “champions” by helping them get their products where they needed to be.
As the Canada Post strike hits the three-week mark, the Crown corporation says it is reviewing new counter-proposals submitted by the union representing more than 55,000 postal workers.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said in a bulletin Wednesday evening it had sent the counter-proposals to the government-appointed mediator. Canada Post confirmed Thursday morning it received the proposals through the mediator.
The union said it’s ready to get back to federal mediation, which was put on pause last week.
One of the key issues in negotiations has been a push to expand delivery to the weekend, but the two sides are at odds over how to staff the expansion.
Canada Post has pitched the expansion as a way to boost revenue as it’s been struggling to compete with other delivery companies.
On the weekend, the Crown corporation said it presented the union with a new framework to reach negotiated agreements, including proposals to bring greater flexibility to its delivery model. It said Wednesday it’s waiting for a direct response from the union.
The union said the framework is closer to what they’re looking for but still needs to address its priorities, which include wages and the expansion of Canada Post’s services.
– With files from The Canadian Press
