Tariq Ahmed, owner of Revel Cider, labels cans at his Guelph, Ont., facility on Thursday.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
The Canada Post strike has made it prohibitively expensive for alcohol producers to ship their products directly to consumers, a type of transaction that was already mired in regulatory hurdles and muddy legalities.
Business owners who spoke with The Globe and Mail said the national postal service has been one of the few carriers that charged a manageable rate to ship alcohol within and sometimes between provinces.
Canada Post has become a critical channel for direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, especially as the slow dismantling of some interprovincial trade barriers opens up more flexibility in shipping beer and wine between jurisdictions.
Tariq Ahmed, founder of Guelph, Ont.-based Revel Cider said sending six bottles from Guelph to a home in Thunder Bay would be roughly $35 with Canada Post. It would cost about $67 with Purolator.
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“Canada Post really is kind of the only reasonably affordable courier to do that kind of cross-country delivery,” said Mr. Ahmed.
Canada Post is also one of the few carriers in his research with the capacity to do age verification at the door.
While Revel’s wholesale clients are covered by their own drivers or small third-party carriers, direct-to-consumer orders depend largely on Canada Post.
Since the start of the carrier’s latest strike on Sept. 25 and during previous labour disruptions, Mr. Ahmed’s team has turned to Purolator (Canada Post has a majority stake in the courier). But those shipments barely let his company break even, Mr. Ahmed said. “We kind of just use them as a bit of a stopgap solution until Canada Post gets back up and running.”
He estimates that losing Canada Post could cut a quarter of his company’s bottom line, particularly if disruptions extend into the busy holiday season. The losses in the past week and the coming days alone could amount to tens of thousands of dollars, he said.
Mr. Ahmed said Revel only ships alcohol to provinces where it’s permitted.
Tariq Ahmed sorts grapes with Amanda Pereira at the Guelph, Ont., facility.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
Canada Post spokesperson Phil Legault did not answer directly when asked between which provinces the post office is currently shipping alcohol, but said alcohol can only be sent when interprovincial shipment criteria are met.
“It is the sender’s responsibility to ensure they are following all laws and applicable regulations,” said Mr. Legault in an e-mail.
Until two months ago, the only province allowing beer to be shipped to a resident from out of the province was Manitoba, according to CJ Hélie, president of Beer Canada, an industry group. That said, new regulations that went into effect in New Brunswick in August now allow residents to order beer, wine and spirits directly from licensed manufacturers in eight provinces and the Yukon.
There are differences when shipping wine, with Manitoba, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Alberta allowing some flexibility in shipping alcohol directly to consumers from out of province, for example.
Manitoba has permitted its residents to purchase beer and wine directly from producers in other jurisdictions for years, but other provinces are slowly opening up as well.
Starting in June, Nova Scotia enabled interprovincial direct-to-consumer sales for all alcoholic beverages for those with a reciprocal agreement in place. (No such agreements currently exist.)
In July, nine provinces – excluding Newfoundland and Labrador – as well as the Yukon signed a memorandum of understanding geared toward opening up interprovincial alcohol trade by May, 2026.
The non-binding agreement was part of a broader commitment by provincial governments made in March to remove some interprovincial trade barriers amid rising strain on international commerce from U.S. tariffs.
These recent moves to liberalize interprovincial alcohol trade have created tempered optimism among brewers and other alcohol sellers across the country, while emboldening some to continue a practice they’ve been relying on for years even if it wasn’t technically allowed.
Canada Post has become a critical channel for direct-to-consumer alcohol sales.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail
One Nova Scotia brewer, who’s been shipping outside the province since just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, said shipping beer and vodka sodas between jurisdictions often felt like a legal grey area. The business owner asked to remain anonymous out of concern about potential repercussions for their business.
It was unclear, she said, whether the brewery was breaking any rules. When filling out shipping forms, the brewery always noted that the package would require the age of the recipient to be identified. Though it never explicitly disclosed that the package contained beer and vodka sodas, the brewery was also never explicitly asked.
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Out-of-province shipping was a lifeline during COVID, she said. Today, the company’s interprovincial alcohol sales amount to $5,000 to $10,000 a month – a steady revenue stream that’s been upended by the Canada Post strike.
Even if the practice was not always allowed in the past, provinces may not have had the bandwidth or appetite to enforce the rules in recent years.
“There is certainly a meaningful risk,” said Chandimal Nicholas, partner at Cassels who specializes in intellectual property and regulatory issues. But, he said, “the government doesn’t really have the bandwidth to try and completely oversee everything, so things slip through the cracks.”
“It may well be that they’re just not aware of it,” he said.
As it stands, however, any alcoholic beverage sold within most provinces has to go through provincial licensing and regulators such as the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario and the province’s LCBO.
The process can be onerous, including a review of product packaging and labelling compliance, lab testing and a “sensory” assessment of taste, sight and scent – even if the product is widely available in another province.
The Nova Scotia brewery owner said she’s reached out to other couriers to inquire about intraprovincial and cross-border alcohol shipping, but most, including FedEx and UPS, responded that they don’t have the systems in place to allow it.
FedEx spokesperson James Anderson told The Globe that the courier ships alcohol between provinces “where permitted,” but “only under strict conditions.” He said FedEx has “long supported the removal of interprovincial trade barriers within Canada.” UPS did not respond to a request for comment.
Even when other couriers are available to deliver within the province, “it can cost an arm and a leg,” said the Nova Scotia brewer. And the couriers are often unable to hit every address.
During Canada Post’s strike last December, the brewery lost a chunk of its interprovincial alcohol sales and some direct-to-consumer sales within Nova Scotia, amounting to annual sales losses of tens of thousands of dollars.
If the strike continues, it will soon lose just as much. Switching to another courier is unfeasible.
Revel Cider's losses in the past week and the coming days alone could amount to tens of thousands of dollars, Mr. Ahmed said.Nick Iwanyshyn/The Globe and Mail