Just a month ago, Terra Nord still held a glimmer of hope that her watercolor art business would survive after she was forced to suspend shipments to most of her clients in the U.S. due to the end of duty-free shipping.
She had planned to rely on strong sales growth in Canada this coming holiday season — until another blow hit: the Canadian postal workers’ strike.
Nord, 37, from Terrace, B.C., said the strike has eliminated the only cost-efficient way to mail her products, mostly small items like stickers, bookmarks, and Christmas cards, sent through regular letter mail.
“It all started from last Christmas, when Canada Post’s strike started for the first time, and it’s a snowball from there,” she said. “Trying to make an income as a small business right now just feels almost impossible.”
Canada Post workers from coast to coast walked off the job for the second time in less than a year on Sept. 25, causing disruptions for many business owners who saw thousands of packages get stuck in transit, customers demanding refunds, and revenue evaporating.
It was yet another setback, coming on the heels of the Trump administration’s decision in late August to end the U.S. import duty exemption for goods valued at under $800, saddling businesses with steep tariffs and new customs paperwork hurdles.
Nord said her only remaining source of income now comes from selling notebooks on Amazon, delivered by the company’s own couriers, while sales on her Etsy shop, EarthdesignsCo, have come to a standstill.
“A lot of the frustration comes from the unknown. We don’t know how long this is going to last,” Nord added.
With no warning about the postal workers’ strike, David Jacob Stone — whose e-commerce vape shop has more than $30,000 in products hung up in transit — says he feels the postal system that is mean to support him is holding him hostage.
His company, East Coast Distribution, located in Newfoundland, regularly uses other couriers as well, but only Canada Post serves P.O. boxes and many small communities — the very destinations for most of his 97 parcels now stuck in limbo.
Stone said that last year’s postal workers’ strike gave businesses like his at least some time to switch to alternative couriers, but this year he was caught off guard, with no chance to put contingency plans in place.
“While I can acknowledge the right of workers to strike, blindsiding businesses and customers like this is nothing short of unethical,” he said.
Stone says he plans to reship all the products to his customers after Oct. 8 if the strike still hasn’t ended by then, as his customers are growing frustrated amid the uncertainty.
“This isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a nightmare for small businesses like ours who rely on reliable shipping to survive,” Stone wrote on Facebook to his customers, saying he will no longer ship through Canada Post.
“Every delay means a missed deadline, a disappointed customer, a loss that is unacceptable,” his post reads.
Stone is not the only one cutting ties with the Crown corporation. Rebecca Donaldson, bookkeeper at Home Building Products in Woodstock, Ont., told the Star the company currently has more than $10,000 in cheques to suppliers held up in transit. The family business is seeking permanent alternatives for making these payments in other ways after using Canada Post for 17 years.
But not every business has a choice.
Janice Frank, 52, who has run her Etsy knitting shop from Grande Prairie, Alta., for 16 years, and mainly sells to U.S. customers, said Canada Post is the most affordable option in her city. The alternative courier she used during last year’s Canada Post strike no longer accepts shipments to the to the U.S. after Trump imposed tariffs.
“I have all the time I need to knit this stuff, but I have no way to get anything anywhere now,” she said.
Frank said she wants to support the Canada Post union but finds it difficult after the shutdown, on top of the tariff dispute that has already cut her sales by 50 per cent.
“I’m all for people doing better for themselves and their families. I totally get that, but don’t make me and my family suffer,” she said.
