Canadians who are getting into the holiday retail spirit early may have some difficulty delivering their gifts in time, as the rotating Canada Post strike enters its fourth week.
For Winnipeg鈥檚 Lindsay Henley, who gets paid by mail and might not even receive paycheques on time, the threat of delivery delays has spurred her into early Christmas planning.
鈥淚鈥檓 doing all of my Christmas shopping early,鈥� she told CTV Winnipeg. 鈥淚鈥檓 really trying to get ahead of it and make sure that everything gets to where it needs to be on time.鈥�
Canada Post has cautioned that holiday deliveries may be in jeopardy if a 鈥渏ust-in-time resolution鈥� is not reached with its workers. The postal operator detailed the terms of its latest offer to employees , including a pay increase of 2 per cent a year, a signing bonus of up to $1,000, a $10 million health and safety fund and overtime pay. The offer was made with the expected influx of Christmas and other holiday orders in mind, the statement said. With hundreds of trailers backlogged in major parcel centres in Toronto and Vancouver, the offer is a last ditch effort to reach a resolution in time to fulfil gift orders.
鈥淐anada Post delivers the bulk of Canada's online shopping and we are entering the busiest six weeks of the year,鈥� the statement said, noting that there is 鈥渘o other shipping option鈥� for most customers at this time of year. 鈥淚f we are unable to clear the backlog and resume normal operations quickly, the large incoming holiday parcel volumes will severely compromise our ability to deliver the quickly approaching Black Friday and Cyber Monday rush which begins the holiday rush.鈥�
The latest offer expires Saturday night at 11:59 p.m. 鈥淭he time limit is necessary as this offer is only affordable if we can clear the backlogs caused by the union's strike activity and effectively deliver the quickly arriving massive Black Friday & Cyber Monday volumes,鈥� they said.
In Winnipeg, small retailers spoke to CTV about their plans ahead of the holiday season. Coal and Canary Candle Company ships most of its orders through UPS, but relies on Canada Post for others. 鈥淲e鈥檙e shipping everything out as fast as we can,鈥� said marketing manager Alicia Kurz. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had messages so far from people asking where their packages are. And it just kind of makes us look bad.鈥�
At Nerman鈥檚 Books, Garry Nerman said he too sends packages by other means but relies on Canada Post for other orders. While the rotating strikes are causing some difficulties, a full strike could make matters much worse.
鈥淚f it became a full strike 鈥� especially at Christmas time 鈥� that would be really bad for a small business,鈥� he told CTV Winnipeg.
Canadians hoping to receive packages from international shippers in the interim might face delays too. Britain鈥檚 Royal Mail this week said it is suspending shipments to Canada at the request of Canada Post. E-commerce giant eBay also said it had received a similar notice from China Post.
With files from CTV Winnipeg鈥檚 Gabrielle Marchand and The Canadian Press
