Latest news with #TracyStubbard
CBC
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Cape Breton business, organizations prepare for possible postal strike
Social Sharing Cape Breton businesses and organizations are getting ready in the event of a Canada Post strike that could start Friday morning. Tracy Stubbard, owner of Tracy's Rolling Yarn Shop in Sydney, N.S., said she doesn't do a lot of online sales, but she does use the mail system to deliver knitting supplies to a number of customers. "I usually try to squish as much into a flat-rate box as I can, but I mean, if it's just one skein, it's kind of hard to justify paying $30 for the skein and $17 to ship, so I unravel and squish it into an envelope so it gets shipped like a letter," she said. Stubbard runs a mobile business taking supplies to customers across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and sets up at the cruise terminal when a ship is in. She also just opened a shop on Charlotte Street and said there are plenty of cruise passengers who want to buy quality hand-dyed yarns featuring local colours, such as the Nova Scotia and Cape Breton tartans, and have it mailed home to save on luggage space. Stubbard said she spends about $2,000 a year on shipping through the Canada Post outlet in Dominion, where she lives, and she's hoping there won't be a strike. Strike possible Friday "The ladies that work at the post office in Dominion have been very kind to me since I started my business and I hate to see them be without a job," Stubbard said. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), representing about 55,000 employees, has said members could walk off the job Friday unless the union sees movement on demands that include better pay and details around weekend work, among other things. Canada Post presented CUPW with a new offer this week, but union officials have asked for time to review the details. Stubbard occasionally used private courier services during the 32-day strike last winter, but she said it cost more and meant driving from Dominion into Sydney. She will do that again, but hopes it won't be necessary. "It's definitely an inconvenience. It's just so easy to go through Canada Post," Stubbard said. A postal strike will also affect the Cape Breton Regional Library, said librarian Lisa Mulak. The library has an online program that anyone in Nova Scotia can access to borrow a book or other item. With the second-largest collection in the province, the Cape Breton library mails out about 7,000 pieces a month, mostly on the mainland outside Halifax. If there's a strike, that service will be suspended, Mulak said. Postal service 'excellent,' librarian says Canada Post offers libraries a discounted book rate to help make materials available to smaller communities that don't have a library or for people who can't otherwise get to a library branch in person. Mulak said the Cape Breton library has a great relationship with the postal service. "It's been an excellent service for us and we're hopeful that things are resolved quickly," she said. Cape Breton Regional Municipality still sends and receives cheques through the mail and uses the mail system for other administrative tasks, including sending out tax and water utility bills. "It's definitely a challenge when the postal system is not working," said spokesperson Christina Lamey. CBRM's water bills for some customers will be affected right away, because the municipal website is not yet set up for online billing and payments. Others may not be affected until their billing cycle comes around in the coming months. Lamey said if there's a strike, residents are being urged to contact 311, either on the website or by phone, to get their water bill and information on how to pay it.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Small businesses gear up -- again -- for a possible Canada Post strike
A Canada Post worker fills his truck with mail in Montreal on Dec.17, 2024. (Christinne Muschi / The Canadian Press) MONTREAL -- Small businesses and shipping firms are preparing for a possible Canada Post strike as early as next week, a disruption they warn could strain supply chains and freeze millions of parcels as well as billions of dollars in sales. Mom-and-pop shops and e-commerce companies have started making alternative arrangements to get their packages to consumers and clients -- but many are already frustrated. In Cape Breton, N.S., retailer Tracy's Rolling Yarn Shop has begun tallying the hit to its bottom line if it's forced to ship through a large courier, which typically charges more for parcels than Canada Post. 'People that just wanted one skein of yarn, I would ask them to wait to see what happened with Canada Post,' said Tracy Stubbard, who owns the store-on-wheels operation. She explained that the cost of small shipments outweighed sales during last year's Canada Post strike that shut down postal operations for more than a month during peak shipping season ahead of the winter holidays. For those in rural areas -- where Canada Post is usually the most accessible option -- there's also the inconvenience of finding an alternative courier. 'I shipped through Purolator because it was the closest and easiest spot for me to get to, which was still a 20-minute drive. But their office can only hold maybe two or three people. So we were lined up outside in the cold for 45 minutes to get in to ship stuff,' Stubbard said. While a burgeoning crop of last-mile carriers and shipping platforms saw their volumes surge during the 2024 strike, many were caught off guard and found they could handle only a fraction of the demand. Jarrett Stewart, in charge of commercial operations at delivery startup GoBolt, said a Canada Post work stoppage would mean more customers but also more headaches if the big couriers it relies on cap freight volumes. The Toronto-based company, which counts 500 employees and 12 warehouses across Canada and the U.S., carries out fulfilment services for the big players: storing, packing and shipping items for Canada Post, UPS, FedEx, the United States Postal Service and others. 'That helps relieve the reliance on a single carrier like Canada Post,' Stewart said, noting that a diverse range of clients eases the blow of a disruption at one of them. 'However, when it's your national carrier, it's quite impactful, because there are some areas that only they can access.' Stewart is trying to head off basic logistics problems faced by customers during the last work stoppage. For example, he's had to remind them to write an address rather than a PO box -- a lockable box at a Canada Post site that other couriers can't access -- in the event of a strike. He said a second problem is carving out capacity in the shipping ecosystem as part of it shuts down: 'We moved your volume from Canada Post to FedEx, but then FedEx says, 'Hey, no, no, we can't take all this, we're now capping your volume,'' Stewart said. A strike would stall billions of dollars in e-commerce revenue and leave rural shoppers waiting for essential goods, according to alternative shipping company Stallion Express. The last work stoppage resulted in an estimated $1.6 billion in losses for small businesses, according to Merchant Growth, a small business financing company. Since then, FedEx and Purolator have raised their freight rates. Canada Post employees could be headed to the picket line as early as Thursday, with an extension on existing deals between the Crown corporation and the union expiring on May 22. A strike or lockout would mark the second time in under six months that the postal service ground to a halt after 55,000 employees walked off the job for 32 days in November and December. Organizations from financial institutions to non-profits are warning of potential disruption. Bank of Montreal tells customers online it has mailed credit cards early and encourages online statements; many banks have sent warning emails. ALS Canada is reminding donors that e-transfers and gifts via phone or website are an option, noting that donations dipped during the last strike. Some shipping customers looking to make last-minute arrangements may be out of luck, with courier vans already filled to the brim. 'We cannot start shipping for someone overnight,' said Jean-Daniel Gervais, who heads business development at Montreal-based courier Intelcom, known outside Quebec as Dragonfly. 'It takes time because we need to understand their needs, how much volume we're talking about. And then we need to connect the systems so we can flawlessly work with them accepting their orders, picking up their parcels where they are or managing an injection in our network.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025. Article written by Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
16-05-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Small businesses gear up — again — for a possible Canada Post strike
MONTREAL – Small businesses and shipping firms are preparing for a possible Canada Post strike as early as next week, a disruption they warn could strain supply chains and freeze millions of parcels as well as billions of dollars in sales. Mom-and-pop shops and e-commerce companies have started making alternative arrangements to get their packages to consumers and clients — but many are already frustrated. In Cape Breton, N.S., retailer Tracy's Rolling Yarn Shop has begun tallying the hit to its bottom line if it's forced to ship through a large courier, which typically charges more for parcels than Canada Post. 'People that just wanted one skein of yarn, I would ask them to wait to see what happened with Canada Post,' said Tracy Stubbard, who owns the store-on-wheels operation. She explained that the cost of small shipments outweighed sales during last year's Canada Post strike that shut down postal operations for more than a month during the peak shipping season ahead of the winter holidays. For those in rural areas — where Canada Post is usually the most accessible option — there's also the inconvenience of finding an alternative courier. 'I shipped through Purolator because it was the closest and easiest spot for me to get to, which was still a 20-minute drive. But their office can only hold maybe two or three people. So we were lined up outside in the cold for 45 minutes to get in to ship stuff,' Stubbard said. While a burgeoning crop of last-mile carriers and shipping platforms saw their volumes surge during the 2024 strike, many were caught off guard and found they could handle only a fraction of the demand. Jarrett Stewart, in charge of commercial operations at delivery startup GoBolt, said a Canada Post work stoppage would mean more customers but also more headaches if the big couriers it relies on cap freight volumes. The Toronto-based company, which counts 500 employees and 12 warehouses across Canada and the U.S., carries out fulfilment services for the big players: storing, packing and shipping items for Canada Post, UPS, FedEx, the United States Postal Service and others. 'That helps relieve the reliance on a single carrier like Canada Post,' Stewart said, noting that a diverse range of clients eases the blow of a disruption at one of them. 'However, when it's your national carrier, it's quite impactful, because there are some areas that only they can access.' Stewart is trying to head off basic logistics problems faced by customers during the last work stoppage. For example, he's had to remind them to write an address rather than a PO box — a lockable box at a Canada Post site that other couriers can't access — in the event of a strike. He said a second problem is carving out capacity in the shipping ecosystem as part of it shuts down: 'We moved your volume from Canada Post to FedEx, but then FedEx says, 'Hey, no, no, we can't take all this, we're now capping your volume,'' Stewart said. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. A strike would stall billions of dollars in e-commerce revenue and leave rural shoppers waiting for essential goods, according to alternative shipping company Stallion Express. Canada Post employees could be headed to the picket line as early as Thursday, with an extension on existing deals between the Crown corporation and the union expiring on May 22. A strike or lockout would mark the second time in under six months that the postal service ground to a halt after 55,000 employees walked off the job for 32 days in November and December. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2025. Note to readers:This is a corrected story. An earlier version misspelled Tracy Stubbard's name as Tracy Hubbard
