How The Sign Depot Prepares For The Pending Postal Strike In Our Community

Will The Canada Post Strike Affect The Sign Depot?

… Hopefully it won’t .

We’ve spent the better part of the last few weeks watching the headlines regarding the Canada Postal Workers Strike.  From the news earlier this week it seems almost unavoidable.  Being that many of our clients pay by company cheques, we needed to take precautions to make sure this strike didn’t cause cash flow problems.  These are the steps we’ve taken and in sharing them, we hope your are able to avoid some hurdles as well.

Where To Start

• Take a look at your accounts receivable.  See what is left outstanding.  Contact those clients and see if their payments have been sent.  If they said it’s been sent, ask for the cheque number.  This will give you an idea of what cheques you will have to track down in case of mail that is held back or lost during this ordeal.
• Check your accounts payable.  If you regularly pay by cheque you might find your payments will become overdue if you mail them out.  Look for alternate methods of payment (see below)
• How will your products end up in the hands of your clients?  If Canada Post is your main method of shipping you may want to look into setting up an account with a courier service.

Start Your Action Plan

• For your accounts receivable, how many of your clients are local?  Can you make payment pickup arrangements?  Every invoice I sent out this week had this message attached to it

• For your out of town customers, see if they are able to pay by credit card or through an online banking transfer.  If those methods are not available to them then suggest they make courier arrangements.
• Accounts payable should also make arrangements as well.  Many companies will accept credit and online payments, and depending on their methods for payment acceptance you may be able to take the bill to your bank and pay it by cheque through the teller.
• Inform your clients that frieght charges may change during this time period if you are changing your shipping methods.

Today the National Post asked if anyone would notice if there’s a strike.  We think so, and we’re taking some simple steps to avoid mail disruptions during the postal strike.  Find a way that works best in your community to avoid business interuptions and make sure your clients and customers know that they are still your top priority during a postal strike.