Through rain, sleet or snow, the mail must be delivered. That’s certainly not true right now and it hasn’t been for a while. The timing of the 2024 Canada Post strike is disheartening and very Grinchy.
By the end of November an estimated 10 million parcels went undelivered. Ironically, one of the sticking points of the strike is parcel delivery.
To be sure, the strike isn’t hurting everyone. We can all imagine the round of high fives Amazon’s upper management are giving each other in anticipation of higher Xmas bonuses.
But that isn’t true for many small businesses, including home-based artisans. Already hit by Covid, the postal strike may be the last straw for many of them as Christmas purchases are a large part of their annual revenues.
Rural locations, including many First Nation communities, are hardest hit. Limited choices and merchandise in those places will see many trees looking understocked come Christmas morning. There will be a lot of disappointed kids as the postal workers’ union show their power over the rest of the country.
So, there is a new Grinch this Christmas and unfortunately their hearts have remained three sizes too small.