Has your business suffered from the Royal Mail strike held over the past two days? If your business relies on postal delivery to get products or correspondence to customers, then the answer will be a resounding yes. Worse news still, there are further strikes planned for late October.Of course, we have been gravitating away from traditional post ever since the birth of email. However, according to the BBC, the Royal Mail still delivers 75 million letters every day. So maybe we need to view the shift from paper mail to electronic mail as one of evolution rather than revolution?Paradoxically, online businesses are very often still reliant on the physical post. Sure your business can take and confirm orders online, but what if you need a customer signature? Also, in many cases organisations and businesses are reluctant to communicate important messages via email, for fear the recipient may have jettisoned the email address that they have registered for them.Unfortunately, businesses have a real lack of viable alternatives to Royal Mail. There are around 30 other postal services operating in the UK, but none of them can rival the Royal Mail’s vast infrastructure. This results in businesses deterrents, such as higher business costs and slower deliveries.For many businesses, private courier companies are too expensive to consider – and in these increasingly competitive times, companies can’t afford to put the burden of excessive delivery costs on the customer.So, is your online business affected by Royal Mail strikes? Do you have a contingency plan to continue your usual delivery schedule? And if so, does it involve excessive costs? Please share your experiences with us and your fellow readers.