Royal Mail Strikes hit Christmas sales for small Birmingham firm

Kerisa Harvey said the postal strikes had forced her to stop selling Christmas-themed items to avoid bad reviews

A woman running a small business selling customised clothing says she was forced to stop selling Christmas items due to the postal strikes.

Kerisa Harvey, from Birmingham, said she could not afford delays and the prospect of bad reviews.

Royal Mail staff are set to continue their strike action, in a row over pay and conditions, on Friday and Saturday.

It said it was doing everything it could "to deliver Christmas for our customers".

Ms Harvey said: "If they keep striking that is when I have to look at switching to a different service."

The 39-year-old runs Customisably and sells personalised clothing and customised gifts online through sites such as Instagram, Etsy and Facebook.

The business started in October 2021 and was going well this year until the strikes affected deliveries, she said.

"In the Facebook groups I'm in, there's so many people with businesses who have stopped early due to strikes," Ms Harvey said.

Ms Harvey started making customised clothing and gifts in October 2021

Other businesses have reported sending items in November and customers still awaiting them - leading to bad reviews, she added.

"Reviews are everything and lots of people have stopped [processing Christmas orders]."

Ms Harvey ended her sales of Christmas-themed items at the end of November and shifted to birthday and Valentine's Day products.

"I do support the strikers, everyone deserves fair pay and conditions and I would still rather use Royal Mail, I trust them," she said.

"We'll just have to work around it as small businesses and ask people to order well in advance."

Royal Mail said it operated in a competitive market, its customers "have choices" and continued strike action "will force our customers to make those choices sooner rather than later".

A spokesperson added: "We are doing everything we can to deliver Christmas for our customers.

"[We] would like to thank the increasing number of posties returning to work each strike day, temporary workers and managers from across the business who are helping to keep the mail moving.

"However, this task becomes more challenging as Christmas nears."