Flyer ban deals blow to businesses

Brandon businesses have been hit with a new challenge after Canada Post’s unionized workers stopped delivering flyers across the country on Monday.

“It’s a double hit,” Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Jennifer Ludwig told the Sun.

“Not only are businesses losing one of their most reliable, low-cost tools, but they’re also having to manage the uncertainty of not knowing what might happen next in the ongoing labour dispute,” Ludwig said.

The ban on processing and delivering unaddressed business flyers — described as neighbourhood mail — came into effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. local time. At the same time, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers lifted its national overtime ban.

The union put the ban in place four weeks after it provided Canada Post with its latest offers and had yet to hear “anything meaningful in response,” CUPW national president Jan Simpson said Monday.

“With Canada Post abandoning bargaining once again, it gives us no choice but to ramp up the pressure. We can’t bargain with ourselves. Canada Post must come back to the bargaining table with a realistic attitude and work with the union’s offers,” Simpson said.

The disruption comes less than a year after a strike over the Christmas season left many companies scrambling and is yet another example of the hurdles Brandon companies are having to deal with in 2025, Ludwig said.

“Many businesses, both large and small, depend on local flyer delivery by Canada Post to market their services. Business operators are now going to have to spend time and money looking for different options.”

Similar to the last year’s mail disruption, she said, businesses are once again caught in the middle.

Flyer distribution, Ludwig said, has been important for small independent retailers, local restaurants and service providers that lack the budgets for large-scale digital advertising campaigns. For many, “it remains one of the few affordable ways to reach neighbourhood households directly.”

With the holiday season approaching, businesses are now forced to pivot quickly to other forms of advertising, such as social media campaigns or private flyer distribution — options that often cost more and reach fewer households, Ludwig said.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimates that one in five small firms across Canada rely on flyers to market products and services.

The timing of the union’s announcement could not be worse, CFIB regional spokesperson Brianna Solberg told the Sun.

“Small firms will now lose access to flyers — a low-cost marketing option used by 20 per cent of small businesses across Canada,” Solberg said. “Even more troubling is that escalating job actions lead us closer to a strike or lockout as we approach the holiday season.”

Solberg added that the uncertainty itself is pushing firms away from Canada Post, with many searching for alternatives such as private distribution services or increased online advertising.

“Every day this uncertainty continues, more small firms leave Canada Post for good. CFIB data found that another strike would prompt two-thirds to abandon the service forever. This means a death spiral for Canada Post and its workers — a trend that is already well on its way with a billion in annual losses,” she said.

“If businesses stop trusting Canada Post as a reliable partner, they may never come back.”

Canada Post said last week it was “disappointed” by CUPW’s decision to ban the delivery of neighbourhood mail, learning about the ban through the media rather than at the bargaining table.

“This decision will impact the thousands of Canadian businesses that reach their customers with information and offers through the mail,” spokesperson Phil Legault said. “It will also impact CUPW-represented employees who are paid to deliver flyers on top of their wages. This latest strike activity will only increase the uncertainty that is having a major impact on the business.”

The Crown corporation, already struggling with deep financial losses, recently reported a $407-million second-quarter shortfall — the largest before-tax deficit in its history. Between 2018 and mid-2025, cumulative operating losses have topped $5 billion.

Canada Post insists that without significant changes, the losses will continue and ultimately fall to taxpayers. The company says CUPW’s most recent proposals “maintained or hardened” positions and would add new costs at a time when the postal service is struggling to stay competitive.

“We encourage CUPW to come back with workable solutions that reflect our current reality and get the parties closer to a resolution,” Legault said. “We’re disappointed that the union chose not to do so, and instead chose strike activity that will have further negative impacts on the company.”

For its part, CUPW has argued that the elimination of flyer delivery is about protecting postal workers from what it sees as low-value work that distracts from core services. Union leaders have said Canada Post should focus on expanding parcel delivery and other modern services instead of relying on flyers to boost revenues.

» aodutola@brandonsun.com

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