UPDATE AS OF MONDAY, DECEMBER 16:

As Canada Post has announced work will resume starting Tuesday, December 17, The Tofield Mercury will resume mailing subscription papers via mail as per usual starting with this week’s (December 18) edition as well as with the Monday, December 23 (Christmas) edition, which will be the last of 2024.

As of right now, there is some mixed messaging regarding when Canada Post is accepting new mail. One online update Monday morning stated that to help with the backlog, nothing new would be accepted until Thursday, December 19. However, some post office employees locally have been told they are expecting to be able to accept new mail starting Tuesday, December 17. We are looking for some clarity at the moment, but it will make little difference to the1 outcome. We are fully intending to mail out the December 18 edition via Canada Post this week. However, there is a possibility that it will be delayed a day depending on post office interpretations of the current rules at the time. But rest assured, normal subscriber distribution methods will be resumed effective immediately.

We sincerely thank all businesses and organizations that helped to host our papers during the Canada Post strike. It was an unprecedented length that affected 4 issues. But thanks to the kindness of our hosts and their willingness to see the local news continue on, a good percentage of regular readers still grabbed their papers at those pick-up locations. Additionally, single sales at stores increased and online readership more than quadrupled during the impacted weeks. Thank you to everyone who helped make the best of a bad situation.

For the remaining issues of 2024, we will continue to allow people to read them free of charge on Patreon and Issuu to make up for any delivery delays due to Canada Post’s backlog. We want to ensure there are still alternate ways to enjoy your papers, specifically all the holiday greetings that will appear in the December 23 edition.

Finally, we are committed to serving our newspaper subscribers to the best of our abilities going forward. While Canada Post remains the best option for distributing weekly editions, we may explore some new subscriber options in the future. As it will with millions of Canadians, Canada Post will have to earn back our trust and the trust of our industry. Our four newspapers spend hundreds of thousands per year with the crown corporation. The ease at which Canada Post and its union CUPW felt they could play games with the livelihood of millions of small businesses and Canadian citizens during what is supposed to be the busiest retail time of year showed a staggering disconnect toward customers big and small – the lifeblood of their struggling business model. It behooves our business to evaluate and diversify our subscription model going forward.

Eric Anderson
Publisher