Small businesses and non-profit organizations say the halt of neighbourhood mailing during the ongoing labour dispute between Canada Post and its unionized postal workers is hurting them.
Twenty-eight thousand brochures highlighting the Firehall Arts Centre’s 2025-2026 season are ready to be delivered to neighhourhoods within walking distance of the Downtown Eastside theatre, but are instead sitting in limbo at Honeycomb Direct Mail.
“If those ones aren’t moved, we end up having to destroy them because there’s no way we can afford FedEx or another mailing service,” artistic producer Donna Spencer told Global News.
In a bid to force the national mail carrier back to the negotiating table amid stalled contract talks, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers stopped delivering business flyers across Canada on Sept. 15.
Spencer said Firehall Arts Centre’s annual targeted mailing campaign is a cost-effective way to connect with potential audiences ahead of the “ELBOWS UP – Made in Canada season”, with 99 per cent of the plays and dance works created by Canadian artists.
“We went into a bit of a panic because this is our communication tool for our fall season,” said Spencer.
The non-profit charity spent thousands of dollars on the leaflets it fears are now destined for the recycling bin.
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“That $15,000 is lost to us if we can’t actually get these out,” Spencer said in an interview.
“The return on this is pretty hard to actually measure, but last year we had people that called and said, ‘Thank you for sending your brochure, I’ve always wondered what you guys did, I’ve heard about you, I’m going to buy tickets’”.
“The impact’s massive,” said Kalith Nanayakkara, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
According to the CFIB, just under one-third of B.C. small businesses send out promotional material, and 19 per cent of them rely on Canada Post to mail it.
“Many consumers might not miss marketing materials in the mail but for small businesses, this is one of the very few low cost marketing options that they have left,” Nanayakkara told Global News in an interview.
Spencer said the people caught in between are the businesses sending out the flyers and the people who patronize those businesses.
“I don’t know that both the parties that are negotiating this are understanding that it hurts the people who shop,” Spencer told Global News.
In a statement Sept. 17, Canada Post said it was disappointed in CUPW’s decision to ban the delivery of ‘Neighbourhood Mail’, acknowledging it would impact thousands of Canadian businesses that reach their customers with information and offers through the mail, as well as CUPW-represented employees who are paid to deliver flyers on top of their wages.
The Crown corporation said it remains committed to reaching new collective agreements through the bargaining process.
CUPW did not respond to a request from Global News.
In a Sept. 18 news update on its website, CUPW said its national unaddressed flyer ban remains in effect.
The union added that more than four weeks after it presented global offers to Canada Post, it had finally heard back from the employer through federal mediators, and Canada Post said it wanted to present new global offers for both postal bargaining units next week.
In another news update posted online Friday, CUPW said it is waiting for the Corporation to return to the table as soon as possible.
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