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As Canada Post strike halts U.S. mail, what are your options?

RELATED: U.S. Postal Service halts mail to Canada amid strike

Canada Post and the union representing its workers continue to negotiate in hopes of finding an agreement as the holiday season inches closer.

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But with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) saying it won’t take mail north of the border, one retail analyst says Canadians and Americans will need to get creative as the federal minister says binding arbitration “isn’t in the cards.”

“Deals, especially and perhaps even particularly this one, must be achieved through compromise,” Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said on Wednesday.

“Canada Post is at an obvious pivot point in its history. Its traditional letter business is under strain, it’s looking for new commercial opportunities and that means the employer and the union must work together on the way forward.”

This past weekend, USPS said it had temporarily suspended accepting mail headed to Canada due to the strike, and asked customers to refrain from mailing items addressed to Canada until further notice.

With no signs of ending, however, and holidays nearing, those hoping to send a Christmas card or gift package to family and friends in Canada may have to pay more to get their items there faster.

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Companies like FedEx and UPS, which operate on both sides of the border, are still operational during the strike meaning Canadians and Americans can ship their items through the couriers, among others.

But you may have to pay a premium, given Canada Post and USPS are often considered a cheaper mailing option.

For example, the flat rate to ship one of the small boxes from USPS to Canada using its priority mail international is about US$32.20. It can usually take an estimated six to 10 days.

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By comparison if you were to ship a small box weighing about two pounds via FedEx in the U.S. using your own packaging, you could pay at least US$38.35 using international ground shipping from Michigan to Ontario.

If you used one of FedEx’s own small boxes with the same transportation, the lowest amount you could pay would be US$147.31, neither of which include customs costs.

Costs are slightly different for some shipping from Canada to the United States.

For Canadians shipping to their family and friends down south, however, shipping a similar-sized package using your own box from Ontario to Michigan via FedEx could cost at least $29.38, though if you wanted it delivered by Wednesday you could pay $92.70 at a minimum.

By comparison, sending a small box package via Canada Post if it were still running would have cost at minimum $22.60, with the price increasing to $44.30 if you wanted delivery by this Saturday.

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Retail analyst Bruce Winder said with the strike putting a wrench in people’s plans who would normally use both postal services to deliver gifts, more may consider digital ideas to get people gifts.

“People will get creative and they’ll do different things,” he said. “But definitely sort of the old-school way of putting it in the post office, in the postal service and getting it to people, that’s got a big pause on it right now.”

Winder said people could consider going on a e-commerce store like Amazon, where you could set up a gift to be delivered to your friend or family member in the U.S. from Canada — even using Amazon’s U.S. store — as it may be easier than directly mailing the package through UPS, FedEx or another courier.

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Another option for those buying local might involve setting it up so they could go pick up the gift from that store.

But Winder said it’s not just physical items you could look to.

“There’s lots of things you can do as it relates to using digital methods of transportation versus physical methods,” he said.

That could include looking into tickets to a sporting event or concert that can be purchased online and kept on your phone, as opposed to having to send the physical product.

In a statement to Global News on Monday, USPS said once service resumes in Canada, items will be inducted, processed and delivered on a first-in, first-out basis.

That means those hoping their items will be delivered once the strike has ended may have to wait as USPS says customers should expect delays and adds there will be limited scans to provide tracking information.

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with files from Global News’ Saba Aziz and Kyle Benning

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