By Bill Wilson
BBC News Online business reporter |
 Vital cheque payments are stranded in sorting offices |
As striking Royal Mail staff return to work, small businesses are hoping the huge backlog of mail is quickly cleared and that they are soon able to get back on their financial feet again.
As the wildcat strikes, which affected London, the South East, South West, and Midlands, come to and end, many small and medium concerns are facing real financial difficulties.
With the postal system still gridlocked and huge backlogs building up, orders and invoices are not getting to customers, and much-needed cheques, which could make or break small companies, are not being delivered.
But as well as these straightforward transactions, the dispute, which initially flared in the capital, has hit firms in many other ways.
Alongside the estimated backlog of up to a million cheques, legal papers have not being delivered, and vital tax and accountancy documents are gathering dust in sorting offices.
 |  I do not imagine there is much sympathy among small businesses for the postal workers - their behaviour has been anything but first class  |
And companies could face charges if their own payments to banks or credit card companies are late, and fines if their tax returns or company accounts are filed late. The Federation of Small Businesses' (FSB) policy chairman, John Walker said: "Small firms still rely on the post for vital documents such as invoices, contracts, legal forms and most importantly cheques.
"A delay of a couple of days in banking a cheque from a major customer may mean that a small business is unable to settle its own bills or pay wages to staff."
Cash flow problems
Sean Worrall, who runs small independent music label Org Records, based in London, agrees.
"This strike could make us go under - it is really affecting cash flow, and we are living hand-to-mouth.
"We are only a small underground outfit and rely on cheques regularly coming in.
"Payment from customers is not getting through, but I have to pay bills to pressing plants, to my business landlord, and to a courier company - which is now threatening legal action against me."
Mr Worrall said an estimated 700 packages he had posted to customers were now stranded in postal no-mans' land.
He added: "Oversees customers have been making electronic payments online for items, but are getting angry that their orders haven't arrived.
"They have been blaming me, and I have been trying to explain there has been a strike on over here in London."
'Uncertain future'
Mr Worrall said he worried about the long-term effect on his business' image for reliability and prompt delivery, observing "customers might decide not to use us again when this is all over".
And Stevie Dean, of small London-based party-organising firm Elgordo, said: "We have just started out and spent over �1,000 of borrowed money making beautiful invites which we posted out for our first event, a Halloween party.
"Small companies that are working really hard are in danger of being sunk by this action.
 The postal strike could be a boost for online banking |
"I do not imagine there is much sympathy among small businesses for the postal workers - their behaviour has been anything but first class".
Courier service
Jane Boot, of London-based AVS Distribution, said they had been sending everything by courier.
Film processing firm Bonus Print said its normal daily postbag of 25,000 films had been reduced by half because of the strike.
Managing director Anthony Ward said many of his 300 workers had no work for long periods of the day.
The firm, based in Hertfordshire, was losing tens of thousands of pounds and taking a "huge profitability hit", he added.
Cash flow problems are also being exacerbated by the fact that the end of the month was when many financial documents and papers had to be submitted.
Accountant Andrew Michaelides, of London-based accountants Michaelides, Warner, and Company, has many small business clients.
He said: "We need to prepare tax returns, VAT returns, and accounts for small firms.
"Clients have posted their information to us but a lot of it has not arrived, which is causing problems now and will also cause a huge backlog later on."
He said Customs & Excise was taking the current postal situation into account if returns were arriving late, but that Companies House was still triggering fines for late-arriving annual accounts.
'Automatic fine'
Paul Reynolds, head of corporate affairs at Companies House, said: "Company directors are legally responsible for delivering their companies' accounts to the registrar of companies within the time allowed by the Companies Act.
"When accounts are delivered late, an automatic late filing penalty is levied.
"The fact that accounts are in the post is not normally accepted as an excuse for late filing, and the registrar of companies does not have the authority to override the automatic system in cases where the postal service is disrupted."
He said company directors could use a complaints procedures including reference to an impartial complaints adjudicator, in cases where complainants were not satisfied with decisions made by the Registrar.
 Strike action has spread from London to other parts of the country |
Meanwhile, yet another worry for small businesses is getting their own payments to banks and credit cards.
Barclaycard has said the standard �20 fine will automatically be applied to all accounts with late payments.
But it said if customers miss payment deadline due to the strike and then complain, "requests for refunds will be dealt with sympathetically".
The HSBC has said it would refund its automatic �20 charges for late payments due to the strike.
NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland, would not make any promises over late payment refunds.
Stephen Alambritis, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Our advice is to contact your bank manager and explain the cash flow problem. They should be sympathetic."
Small firms can also pick up cheques from local creditors, rather than rely on the post, or use a courier service.
Online payments
The postal strikes have reminded small and medium businesses how much they still depend, in the age of the information superhighway, on "snail mail."
However, as struggling firms try to work around the strike-induced problems, in may well be that the stoppages are a watershed moment in the way they do business.
As well as looking at private couriers, businesses are also looking at taking and making payments by telephone and online methods, such as Paypal.
As Dan Bridgett, press officer at London Chamber of Commerce, says: "An inevitable outcome of this dispute is that businesses will never want to be in this situation again.
"Firms are now going to look at new methods of payment and delivery. That process was already underway, but these wildcat strikes have given it new impetus.
"It is ironic that these strikes could end up being counterproductive for the postal workers who have taken this action."
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