'It's going to cost you': Local businesses facing higher gift shipping costs as Canada Post strike continues

Calls for an end to the Canada Post strike are growing louder in Saskatoon’s business community, as many head into a critical time for their revenue potential.

Sherri Hrycay has run a small clothing and hat store in Saskatoon for nearly 25 years. She feels the effects of the postal strike this Christmas shopping season.

Hrycay relies heavily on shipping her handmade linen clothing and hats out to customers, but the increased demand for alternative couriers has caused a spike in shipping prices.

"Look, I can get it to you. It's going to cost you three times as much and a lot of them are just opting to wait and hope that the strike is over soon,” said Hrycay, owner of Sova Design and Apparel.

Jason Aebig with the Saskatoon and District Chamber of Commerce worries about the long-term effects it could have on small local businesses.

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“We're now 25 days into this dispute. Twenty-five critical days at a time of year when some small businesses rely on sales right now. Some small businesses rely on sales right now to account for 30 per cent of their annual sales,” Aebig said.

With recent moves by Purolator and UPS to pause shipping because of the backlog caused by the strike, Aebig has joined the call by chambers across the country to end the labour dispute, so businesses don’t suffer anymore loss.

“Increasing, strong and loud calls for the federal government to step in and force the parties to some sort of agreement or arbitration,” he says.

Those shoppers we spoke to are changing their Christmas shopping with the postal strike on their mind as items sit in limbo.

“I ordered a jacket online and it was supposed to come here like two days before the strike started, and I just never got it yet. It's been, like, almost a month,” Aijah Spencer-McAuley told CTV News.

Some shoppers are already making contingency plans for what to tell family about gifts that didn’t arrive in time to open on Christmas.

“Your gift is coming, it's just stuck in the mail or something,” Maya Burden plans to say.

Of course, one of the other options for shopping is Amazon, which doesn’t rely on Canada Post.

“You know, I have been buying some things more impulsively and earlier than before, like online with Amazon,” said shopper Dexter Meyers.

While he is counting on the 2-day delivery guarantee, he admits, with so much shipping uncertainty, he’s not entirely sure Amazon will deliver on time, either.

Aebig says he wants shoppers to get out and visit an actual store to help out local businesses, so they aren’t so negatively affected by the current strike.

There are so many benefits to that according to Hrycay. She says customers who come to her store expect to be in an out in ten minutes, but end up staying a lot longer just to chat and learn about her unique business. She also offers the convenience of being able to buy locally.

“You come to the store, exchange it, or find something else, and you don't have to worry about, you know, shipping, or boxing things back up, that sort of thing. It makes the whole Christmas shopping experience a lot easier.”