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Canada Post Cancels Its Holiday Delivery Guarantee

Canada Post Cancels Its Holiday Delivery Guarantee

By Kate Musgrove

The Canada Post Holiday Delivery Guarantee has been cancelled for 2018. After five weeks of rotating strikes, the cancellation does not come as a surprise. Canada Post says they have more than three times the volume of mail and parcels they normally would at this time of year.

If you've already put a parcel in the mail via Canada Post, there's no guarantee it will arrive before Christmas. But if you have yet to ship the parcel, you've got plenty of time. Here's a look at how long you have with some other shippers:

  • FedEx Ground will guarantee Christmas Delivery within Canada for packages sent by Thursday, December 13. If you want to upgrade to FedEx Economy, you have until Wednesday, December 19 to ship. And if you're willing to splurge on FedEx First Overnight, you can wait until Friday, December 21.
  • UPS Ground will guarantee Christmas Delivery within Canada for packages sent by Monday, December 17. If you want to upgrade to UPS Air, you have until Friday, December 21.
  • Purolator Next-Day Delivery will guarantee delivery before Christmas for parcels sent by Thursday, December 20.

As reported on Wednesday, the current backlog of parcels may not clear until March 2019.

16 Comments

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  • acheronbeach
    • I'm not surprised. They're messed up big time - I wonder if their own employees are sabotaging them, cuz my parcel got sent from China on Oct 30, tracking updated on Dec 1 that it was in my town (Richmond BC)... and bafflingly, the next update five days later is that it's in Edmonton (!!!)...
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  • nanoo777
    • Shock of the year -- said absolutely no one. It's pretty sad that they're not guaranteeing delivery of products that had a delivery standard and now this. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
    • Report Post
  • TheSlav
    • Canada post employees are a bunch of babies. Just like every other unionized place, it's all about ME ME ME. Let's screw over people who pay us by not delivering their packages.
    • Report Post
  • acheronbeach
    • I work in a unionized shop. That said, I realize that if I am completely incompetent, my work can go elsewhere. Literally, I asked the Canada Post help chat today if they could tell me why the package went to Richmond first, and then stopped tracking for 5 days, and next appeared in a random province... and "Ashton" told me that he couldn't answer, because I had to ask China Post.

      I literally asked him if he was saying I had to ask China Post to ask Canada Post why they sent a parcel to the wrong province and he said yes. Okay, just add on another level of bureaucracy and aggravation for the customer.
    • Report Post
  • Flunk
    • Canada Post employees need to get their union representatives under control before they lose their jobs.
    • Report Post
  • dyalect
    • YEP... my order placed in early nov 2018 is not arriving until jan 2019. awful.
    • Report Post
  • gloria67655
    • yes..of course my order will arrive in January 2019.
      Just perfect for Christmas.
    • Report Post
  • gloria67655
    • yes..of course my order will arrive in January 2019.
      Just perfect and on time for Christmas. hmmmmm
    • Report Post
  • Enlgma
    • I haven't seen any evidence of delays or disruption in the delivery of my mail or parcels except for one parcel that was delayed by two days. I think that this situation was more hype from Canada Post and the result of its directives than an actual effect from slowdowns or rotating strikes. Canada Post has been tracking worker compensation and worker conditions for decades and I do;t see why this particular leopard has changed its spots recently. Frankly, I believe very little of what Canada Post executives have to tell us.
    • Report Post
  • Enlgma
    • (darn autocorrect) I haven't seen any evidence of delays or disruption in the delivery of my mail or parcels except for one parcel that was delayed by two days. I think that this situation was more hype from Canada Post and the result of its own directives and alarmist communications to customers than an actual effect from slowdowns or rotating strikes. Canada Post has been attacking worker compensation and worker conditions for decades and I don't see why this particular leopard has changed its spots recently. Frankly, I believe very little of what Canada Post executives have to tell us.
    • Report Post
  • mrtvgame
    • Basically if you ordered something from out of country during the 5 weeks of rotation, you may not see it until March 2019. Not sure how this will play with places like Ebay were the customer only has so long to put in a no delivery claim. I have found there have been subtle delays with all carriers even Fed Ex, UPS and Purolator after the Black Friday rush.
      F*&! Canada Post moving forward.
    • Report Post
  • silverdare
    • I unfortunately agree that there is sabotage. I have several parcels locked somewhere (mississauga) , as I am receiving parcels sent after others sent from the same location! They do not have my support, this organization needs to be deunionized and rethought.
    • Report Post
  • granaero6
    • They could just be covering their asses for worst case scenario.
    • Report Post
  • Wyku
    • Is there a general consensus for the best alternative to Canada Post for sending parcels cost wise?
    • Report Post
  • Stunt_101
  • kiss0136
    • It's pretty pathetic. I live close to Mississauga, Ontario and something I ordered from Amazon.ca said it was picked up by Canada Post in Mississauga (from Amazon), and as I was waiting days for it, I checked tracking. It showed that it was in my town. Then the next thing I see, it was somewhere in Ottawa.
      Each consecutive day, it showed that it was scanned in Ottawa.
      Then suddenly, the tracking showed "Canada". Lol... not even any city in Canada. Just "Canada".
      Then it was scanned in Edmonton, Alberta.
      Then it came back to Ontario, where it was supposed to stay in, and says "Kitchener, Ontario". Then nothing.
      No more scans.
      Even Amazon had a pop up , when I checked on my order through them saying that it is "probably lost".

      I believe some unscrupulous Canada Post employees are deliberately delaying the mail, which by the way is a criminal offense. If this is the case, I hope they are found and prosecuted.

      The problem with these Canada Post strikes and then consequent delays is not usually the regular employees. It is the union reps, sometimes not even the local reps but the ones "higher" up who are the troublemakers. These kind of jerks don't care about what happens to Canada Post or the employees. They are usually almost ready to retire at 55 with a nice pension, so all they are concerned about is fighting with Canada Post and causing trouble.

      Don't anyone jump down my throat - this is my view and I did not say "ALL" union reps... it is some of them - the jerks!
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