Canada Post strike pushing Barrie businesses to private courier services

Uncertainties surrounding negotiations between Canada Post and the union representing its workers has made Barrie-area businesses look elsewhere for service.

While larger job action was averted on Friday, uncertainties surrounding negotiations between Canada Post and the union representing its workers has made Barrie-area businesses to look elsewhere for service.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) advised members late Thursday night to refuse overtime, rather than hit the picket lines, when the clock struck midnight on Friday.

That move will see large disruptions avoided, but Canada Post is still warning of potential service delays, nonetheless.

At Big B Comics in Barrie, the store relied on the crown corporation for its shipping. Now, it’s looking elsewhere for stability.

“Today (Friday) I shipped something that would’ve cost me about $11,” said Marc Sims, owner of Big B Comics. “Instead, I spent about $18.50 through UPS.”

Sims said that he has made the difficult decision to pass that onto customers. While he still could use Canada Post, and is trying to do so where possible, he said it’s been more challenging than expected.

“I was shipping packages on Wednesday, and I couldn’t even buy postage from Canada Post when they weren’t on strike yet,” he said. “The various services that I use to ship, they’re saying don’t bother right, because a strike was imminent. So, I mean, I don’t know, we’ll see where it goes.”

Big B Comics isn’t the only business opting for other courier services.

Our House in downtown Barrie confirmed it swapped to private courier services following Canada Post’s last strike in the lead up to the Christmas holidays and hasn’t looked back since.

“It’s something that we’ve become increasingly used to, uncertainty in business,” said Paul Markle, Barrie Chamber of Commerce CEO. “What I can say is businesses are confident in their own ability to survive this.”

Markle said avoiding a full strike is certainly beneficial but still leaves many business owners questioning when things might change.

“On top of all that, we’ve got all this uncertainty with the tariffs,” Markle added. “The timing of this isn’t great, we’re very hopeful that they can stay at the table and actually resolve this.”

Canada Post has warned for the potential of an escalation in strike action by CUPW should no resolution be found soon.