North Vancouver small business hand delivers orders during Canada Post strike

Amid the ongoing postal strike, one small business owner has taken matters into her own hands, delivering her product straight to her customers.

“We’re not just going to sit around and let this happen. This is an important time of year for retailers, and we’re going to do whatever we can to get our products into our customers’ hands,” said Anne Smithers, MommyPow.ca owner-operator.

Smithers started MommyPow.ca back in 2018, shipping directly to customers from her North Vancouver warehouse.

About 80 per cent of her orders were shipped, mostly through Canada Post, until the strike started three weeks ago.

“After a few days of enjoying our shipments flowing again, we unfortunately got the news that they were shutting their depots down, and no longer doing any pickups. That news came down on Friday, and on Monday morning we woke up to a number of order cancellations in our system as customers were realizing, ‘Gosh, I might not get my stuff in time for the holidays,’” she told The Leader Spirit.

Smithers decided to take it into her own hands, making the deliveries herself.

This time of year she sends out thousands of packages a month, and she doesn’t expect to slow down. But, it’s not only problems with sending out packages to her customers but also getting products in.

“We have a lot of local suppliers so we’ve diverted to them, so instead of getting products shipped to us to sell, that are coming from eastern Canada, we’re looking to our local suppliers here in B.C. and Vancouver,” she explained. “They can get us product quickly, we can pick it up at their warehouse.”

The whole situation has added a lot of work to the five-person company — Smithers herself has to spend an hour a day sending delivery receipts.

Smithers says she wants to see a quick end to the strike.