‘Canada Post is in terminal decline’: Delays still being experienced by postal service after strike

CTV News Toronto spoke to frustrated Canadians and tested for ourselves just how long it would take for letters to be delivered. Pat Foran reports for Consumer

Canada Post is still struggling to catch up with mail service after a month-long strike derailed operations at the end of last year just before the holidays.

After Canada’s labour relations board ordered an end to the work stoppage on Dec. 17, the federal post office said things are back on track, although it still appears to be having some issues working through the backlog.

CTV News Toronto continues to receive complaints from Canadians experiencing issues with Canada Post and decided to test how long it takes for letters mailed across the country to arrive.

Consumer Alert producer Farah Chandani wrote six letters to our colleagues at CTV stations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, and to myself, Pat Foran, in Toronto.

On the morning of Jan. 9, we mailed the letters through Canada Post and asked each station to tell us as soon as their letters arrived.

CTV Halifax was the first to receive their letter in seven days, along with CTV Ottawa which also had theirs arrive in one week.

CTV Edmonton received their letter in nine days time and even though the letter addressed to me in Toronto was mailed within the Greater Toronto Area, it took 12 days for it to arrive to the Toronto newsroom.

CTV Vancouver didn’t receive their letter until 19 days later and CTV Montreal told us they are still waiting for their letter as it never arrived before the time of publishing.

When CTV News reached out to Canada Post, a spokesperson said in a statement, “We thank Canadians for their patience these past few weeks as we’ve worked to safely restore normal operations while managing significant holiday volumes. While we’ve stabilized our operations and taken care of the parcels in our network, we continue to work through higher volumes of mail.”

Canada Post also added that on-time service guarantees resumed for domestic parcels as of Jan. 6, 2025, and said it has returned to normal processing and delivery levels across the country, including in rural and remote areas.

The postal service also added they continue to process accumulated domestic transaction mail alongside newly inducted volumes and advises customers to expect “delivery delays of several days beyond our service standard for Transaction Mail such as letters, bills and statements.”

As for international mail, Canada Post said, “While we continue to work through accumulated international volumes at a good pace, customers should expect a delivery delay of several days for incoming international items.”

Moshe Lander, an economics professor at Concordia University, told CTV News he’s not surprised Canada Post has been running behind with its deliveries.

“When you have to deal with the backlog of all that mail that accumulated, it’s probably going to take a month or two months before things get back to usual,” said Lander.

Lander also said despite fewer Canadians using the postal service, the federal mailer continues to struggle to deliver in a timely manner.

“Canada Post is in terminal decline, there is no way around it. The volume is falling. It’s never going to go back to what it was even with a growing population. The end is near.”

Canada Post said its working to continue restoring normal operations, but if you are expecting something in the mail, its not clear how long it will take to arrive.

And while the strike ended mid-December, some viewers also told CTV News it took almost a month to get their Christmas and holiday cards. Many credit card statements and utility bills also arrived about a month later.