Maritime businesses dealing with added costs, inconveniences from postal strike

There are plenty of stocking stuffer ideas at Phee's Original Goods - a leather works shop in Sydney, N.S. - so it's little surprise Christmas is their busiest time of year.

However, some of their holiday deliveries have been coming with extra costs.

"We haven't been able to ship to our rural customers for the same prices we were able to with Canada Post," said owner and operator Kyle McPhee.

When the postal strike started, McPhee emailed his clients expressing support for the postal workers - while explaining he has to ship through companies like Purolator, FedEx and UPS for now.

"People want to see (the strike) resolved, but in the interim we're just going to keep on with business as usual and use the other couriers," McPhee said.

For Farrah Aspinall-Renaud, owner of Canapa Candle in Louisbourg, N.S., being under the same roof as the community's post office used to make shipping easy.

Now, she is offering only local pickup because driving into Sydney to ship through other carriers was too time-consuming.

That is not really something I can do because I'm a Mom, I'm a business owner," said Aspinall-Renaud. "I do a lot of local events with my business during the offseason. Plus, the price increase for shipping through a different carrier."

Louis-Philippe Gauthier, the Atlantic Canadian vice-president for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says about three-quarters of the businesses that make up its membership are impacted.

"$76 million a day that businesses are losing across the country because of this, and it will hit $1 billion on Wednesday based on our calculations," said Gauthier. "Forty-one per cent say that the costs being imposed on them because of this total around $2,000."

Gauthier said delays and uncertainty are the last things small businesses want during the holidays.

"Sixty-nine per cent of them right now say the federal government should step in and introduce a back-to-work legislation," he said.

While she sympathizes with the striking postal workers, and said local support has been great, Aspinall-Renaud is hoping for a resolution to the dispute in the new year before Valentine's Day sales kick into high gear.

"I get it, but on the other hand you know, you just have to make do, I guess, for the time being," she said.

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