As Holidays Approach, Mail Strike Disruptions Hurting Small Business Owners’ Mental Health: Advocate

Canada Post employees and supporters rally as they are reflected in a window at Canada Post headquarters in Ottawa, on Nov. 28, 2024. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Small business owners are suffering emotionally and mentally as the Canada Post strike drags on, according to a small business advocate.

Canada Post workers have been on strike for nearly four weeks as workers seek better wages and job protections. However, the Crown corporation says the parties are still far apart.

Speaker and author Beverlee Rasmussen, the owner of a company in Langley, B.C., that provides business coaching services to small companies, said small business owners are suffering as the strike continues with no end in sight.

“This strike doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon. I’ve been hearing for the last couple of weeks that it’s costing business owners more than just money. It’s really taking a toll on their mental health, and they’re exhausted. They’re frustrated,” she told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

Rasmussen said the strike and its complications are compounding other challenges businesses have been facing for months.

“The strike on top of the port strike earlier, not being able to get goods in, the threat of tariffs, inflation, and still dealing with COVID,” she said, “Most small business owners are just kind of getting back on their feet now, and they’ve had enough.”

She said the mental health component came into focus when she was talking to a business owner she knew as they were both at a doctor’s office.

“Her face went red, and she started to tear up, and she said, ‘I’m getting medication. I can’t take it anymore. I can’t handle this stress on the cusp. I can’t get out of bed,’” Rasmussen recounted.

“It’s the most poignant example that just came up this week.”

The businesswoman is not alone. Recently, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said owners from all parts of Canada are suffering during the critical holiday shopping season.

CFIB said that a bookkeeping business in Alberta was not being paid because its customers send payments by mail. A consulting firm in Ontario has to pay extra shipping costs because there is no alternative, a Dec. 2 news release said.

The CFIB also cited the example of a seed supplier in Prince Edward Island that can’t send out its catalogues. The company is now facing a revenue shortage, high storage costs for the 270,000 catalogues it had printed, and low Christmas orders anticipated.

Small firms missed Black Friday, the most important sales weekend of the year, and businesses coast to coast had lost over $1 billion by Dec. 4, CFIB said.