Calgary Courier Sees Surge in Business Amidst Canada Post Strike

It’s been over two weeks since a nationwide strike of Canada Post workers began, with no end in sight to the ongoing negotiations. According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), about 80 per cent of small businesses in Canada normally rely on Canada Post for shipping goods, invoicing, or receiving payments. With the holiday season fast approaching and the strike dragging on, a Calgary courier — along with its giant competitor, Amazon — is primed to pick up the local delivery slack.

Matthew Trapp, a distributor with Calgary courier service Deeleeo, has noticed an uptick in business since the start of the Canada Post strike. Trapp is seeing the parcels continue to pile up at Deeleeo’s Calgary warehouse. “It is a bit tough to tell because this is normally the busy season regardless … but it has gotten a lot busier, a lot more commercial orders,” said Trapp.

Deeleeo makes same-day deliveries to Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, and cities and towns in between. Trapp says the majority of Deeleeo’s clientele are local businesses, and the firm deals largely with smaller orders and packages. He hopes the extra business will stick around even after the strike, and that the reliability of the company’s same-day deliveries will win over new customers for good.

Other delivery services with heftier networks, especially Amazon, are also benefiting from the Canada Post strike. Hossein Piri, assistant professor at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, stated that Amazon has already built a delivery network that is not impacted by the strike, giving them an advantage during this time.

Amazon has distribution centres dotted around the province, a national pattern in part driven by a surge in demand for online shopping during the pandemic. This network of fulfilment and distribution centres makes the giant company an easy, dependable option for consumers.

However, Piri notes that the Canada Post strike could also drive some customers to do more shopping in person, impacting consumer behavior. The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has called for an immediate resolution to the strike to prevent further economic disruption and encourages Calgarians to shop in-store to support local businesses.

Canada Post presented the union with a framework to reach a negotiated agreement in the dispute, including proposals to bring greater flexibility to Canada Post’s delivery model. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is currently reviewing the proposal.