'It's been very hectic': Retailers brace for busy shopping season without Canada Post

Some businesses worry they have been left holding the bag as the Canada Post strike continues just days away from Black Friday.

A pile of packages has been sitting behind the counter of Zumiez in St. Vital Centre awaiting Canada Post delivery for nearly two weeks. There’s even more in the back room.

“Essentially all my orders have not been picked up for the last week and a half, so that makes me a little worried that a bunch of people aren't going to get their stuff in time for Christmas,” said Landon Gagne, the assistant manager.

Canada Post estimates that since the strike began nearly two weeks ago, it has delivered 10 million fewer packages compared to this time last year.

Gagne said his store has had to make some changes to lessen the blow.

“We've definitely made different arrangements for our packages to get to customers, whether that's through UPS or FedEx,” Gagne said. “But for the people that are ordering through Canada Post, they unfortunately have to wait until that strike is done.”

And that could be a while.

On Wednesday, Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said mediation has been suspended as the two sides are too far apart on critical issues.

The feds could force a result through binding arbitration, like they did when rail workers went on strike in August and when port workers went on strike earlier this month. But MacKinnon said he doesn't plan to do that.

He did note he is meeting with the two parties to tell them they alone are responsible for finding a solution to the deadlock.

“I’m extremely frustrated with this turn of events,” MacKinnon told reports in Ottawa. “These parties need a bit of time to rethink their positions.”

Meaning the strike will likely continue into the busiest shopping season of the year.

“It could be very disastrous for many small businesses,” said Tyler Slobogoian, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

He said the strike is disrupting the supply chain, which is hitting small businesses hard.

“We have businesses in Manitoba that heavily rely on Canada Post to do their day-to-day operations,” he said. “Seventy-five per cent said that they would be negatively affected by this work stoppage.”

Tristan Saltel, who works as a seasonal sales associate at a kiosk in St. Vital Centre, said he’s already noticed the impact, as most of their sales are online.

With Black Friday just days away, he expects the season to look a bit different.

“It's been very hectic for our company,” he said. “I think that a lot of companies, us included, lose out on that whole avenue of ordering a bunch of stuff in bulk online, getting a big old deal on it.”

For Gagne, waiting with a pile of packages, he said he can only hope the strike ends soon.

“It's kind of a crappy deal, unfortunately, right now.”

-with files from CTV’s Luca Caruso-Moro