Canada Post asks Canadians to shop early this holiday season

A new video message outlines plans to help avoid delivery delays over the holidays

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 21, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada Post has released a new video message to Canadians, asking them to please shop early this holiday season.

In the video, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer Rod Hart says Canada Post is gearing up for a holiday season like no other. The continued shift to online shopping due to COVID-19, on top of the traditional late holiday surge of parcels, could result in significant parcel volumes and overwhelm capacity.

To help manage the rapid escalation in demand for parcel delivery, Canada Post is enacting a 2020 Holiday peak season plan, which includes scaling up its operations and working with major customers. It is also asking Canadians to break with tradition this year and shop earlier, which will help spread volumes out over the season and help businesses fulfill orders.

View the full video message to Canadians.

Quote

From Rod Hart, Chief Customer and Marketing Officer at Canada Post, in a video to Canadians:

"We know how important these items are to you and we want to deliver. We also know there are many retailers of all sizes gearing up for your early shopping. We're gearing up to help you and to help them have a great ending to a very challenging year. So this holiday season, please shop early. Support your favourite retailers. And most importantly, stay safe."

Background

Canada Post will continue to put the safety of our employees and the people we serve first as we respond to the significant holiday parcel demand. The learnings from providing an essential service throughout this challenging year have been applied to our peak holiday plans as we continue to follow the guidance of public health officials.

To scale-up, Canada Post is enacting a comprehensive 2020 Holiday peak season plan:

• We're adding more than 4,000 temporary seasonal employees, increasing our fleet by more than 1,000 vehicles and adding key equipment.
• We'll deliver on weekends in many communities, add more parcel pickup locations and hours at many post offices will be extended. Processing equipment has been added at key locations in our network and will be fully utilized.
• We've added enhancements to our tracking technology to provide customers with improved information as they follow the progress of their parcels.
• Canada Post is also working with major customers to manage demand, improve the flow of parcels within our network and encourage Canadians to shop early.

SOURCE Canada Post