Torontonians have it easy: a package awaiting delivery barely has time to collect dust in a Mississauga warehouse before it’s shipped. For those in St John’s, Newfoundland, however, the last stop for packages is Dieppe, New Brunswick, which is another province, an entire Gulf of St Lawrence and 1,500 kilometers away.

St. John’s Board of Trade’s “Don’t Get Dieppe’d” shop local campaign is having fun with the angst and frustration of waiting for packages to arrive from another jurisdiction can cause. With help from agency Target, it’s launching “Stallmark” greeting cards, recognizing the pain point that is a point at a distance, far far away, where packages destined for the island’s capital are always last scanned.

The greeting cards are a way to tell someone sorry that you won’t have a gift delivered in time. Each is designed by local artists and include a reminder to the gift giver that they should have bought from a local business instead. A case study video (see, below) has door-to-door carolers pointing out that Dieppe is even mightier than retail juggernaut, Amazon Prime.

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“Shopping local is key to the success of the city of St John’s, so it’s personal for us,” says TJ Arch, CD at Target.

There’s a “Stallmark Card” for every occasion, from birthdays to anniversaries and everything in between, which will provide the St John’s Board of Trade with digital content all year round, the organization says.

“Don’t Get Dieppe’d has provided us with a fun, light-hearted, and effective way to talk about why we should buy from businesses here at home,” says AnnMarie Boudreau, CEO, St. John’s Board of Trade. “Local businesses big and small are the backbone of our economy and we encourage everyone to recognize their immense value.”

The cards are available for purchase through the St. John’s Board of Trade, and while quantities last, at the local Hallmark retailer. Sharable digital copies are available for free online at DontGetDiepped.ca.