With Canada Post on strike, these mail-strike hustlers are picking up

It started as a joke. Cameron Hurteau posted on social media, saying that with Canada Post workers on strike, he’d be willing to deliver people’s mail. Since then he’s delivered Christmas cards, a death notice, and even an inmate visitation form. 

Though he drew the line at an oddball request to deliver a Christmas carol.

“I said, ‘Do you mean kind of like a Christmas gram? Like, Buddy the Elf shows up and starts singing Christmas carols? I’m sure you don’t hate the person enough for me to sing to them,'” Hurteau told Cost of Living. 

Christmas carols aside, Hurteau, who lives in Kingston, Ont., has stumbled onto a need. Negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers have brought mail delivery across the country to a halt during the busy holiday season. 

And with no clear signs of when the strike will end, people are looking for alternative ways to get their mail and packages out.

Hurteau, whose day job is doing maintenance at a hotel, says he was surprised by the number of people who responded to his social media post. When his friends suggested he post on Facebook Marketplace, he did that as well.

And it’s been a success. So far Hurteau says he’s done deliveries for about 50 to 60 different people and made about $2,500. And he’s far from the only one.

Out of necessity

When shipping costs went up with the start of the strike Nov. 15, Natassja Francis of Hamilton, Ont. — who owns an online thrift store called ReModest — decided to take matters into her own hands.

She got in her car and started making deliveries herself. Since she was already behind the wheel, she figured it was worthwhile to make a few extra deliveries on her way.

“I thought maybe I could capitalize on this and, you know, just deliver my own products around the area, but then also advertise to deliver other people’s stuff as well,” said Francis.

With a two-year-old son at home, she’s able to fit the deliveries in on her own schedule. Over the last week and a half, Francis says she’s done 10 jobs, along with her own work. That includes Christmas cards and promo material for realtors. 

She charges $2 per kilometre on both the pickup and the dropoff. Francis also has people sign a liability waiver.

For Hurteau’s deliveries, he asks his prospective customers what other delivery companies would’ve charged them and then offers to do it for less than that. 

“One lady said, ’70 bucks.’ I said, ‘OK, well, I’ll do it for 50 if you want.'”

So far he’s delivered cheques, regular mail, furniture, a form to visit an inmate, a death notice, and even some prescription medication. He had some questions about the latter.

“I’m like, ‘What kind of prescriptions are we…