12/14/2024
CUPW Postal Strike and Canadian Authors
The vast majority of Canadian authors are really only small business owners: they create a product, they arrange for printing and distribution of their books, they market and promote them, make a sale, and deliver the product to their customers. It’s not an easy business, especially, for most of them, the marketing and promoting aspect.
Receiving the product from their printers, and then shipping it to their customers, was generally the easy part, even as it got to be more and more expensive. Like small business operators everywhere who ship small quantities, the first choice for shipping was Canada Post.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has upset that applecart.
Effect on Indie Authors
Doug Jordan is an indie author and his company, AFS Publishing, is a self-publishing business. AFSP’s printing provider, the print-on-demand Lulu Press, relies mostly on Canada Post in Canada to deliver books to its customers, whether the author or the author’s customers who go directly to Lulu to place their order. We at AFS Publishing determined weeks ago it had become impractical to place orders with Lulu for more inventory with this uncertainty and delays.
We keep a small inventory of our books to deliver to customers locally but for customers further afield we rely on Canada Post to trans-ship our books. Most indie authors do the same. Using Canada Post’s postal services imbedded in Shoppers Drug Mart or Rexall Drugs stores has been a very convenient service, but with this postal strike we have abandoned plans to promote our books to our publics this Christmas year.
Canadian Authors Jigsaw Puzzle Project
I spear-headed the Canadian Authors Association initiative to promote its members’ books through an innovative idea of rendering the covers in an attractive Jigsaw puzzle. (See if you can find my book in the puzzle.)
The Occurrence, our producer of the puzzle, is a family business operating out of a small factory and distribution centre in Merrickville, Ontario. The Occurrence had a contract with Canada Post as its primary shipper. We at Canadian Authors and The Occurrence were all geared up to launch our puzzle by mid-November, just in time for Christmas buying – the most likely time of year for jigsaw puzzle sales. CUPW has given us a serious setback.
It isn’t just lost revenue we have suffered, it is the opportunity to promote Canadian Authors and our members’ books.
Silver Lining
For every disappointment there may be a silver lining: this strike may result in the overhaul of this monopolistic crown corporation and its self-serving unions. With expansion of delivery services, and even the breakup and privatization of Canada Post itself we small business operators will not be so vulnerable again.
The sooner this dinosaur corporation becomes extinct the better.
(For a longer version of this article please visit AFS Publishing’s blog site: Travels With Myself.)
