$748 million in losses by 2023: Course change needed for Canada Post

Canada Post will have to make major changes to its operations in the coming years, as a new report reveals losses of $748 million in 2023, or $200 million more than last year.

“This is a necessary step,” relayed journalist Marc-Antoine Le Moignon. “Otherwise the losses for the state-owned company could be even higher.”

The state-owned company published its annual report last Friday.

We learned that in 2023, about 2.2 billion letters will be sent. A system that delivered 5.5 billion letters in 2006 is no longer keeping pace with current needs.

An additional $11 million in operating expenses increased due to labor costs and an increase in addresses served nationwide.

An outdated model

In the report, Canada Post said it decided to invest to make the necessary change, increase competitiveness and simplify parcel delivery.

The state-owned company must constantly fight against the increasingly strong competition in the parcel sector, especially against the giants: UPS, Amazon and FedEx.

It made a big change in its parcel service in 2019 and despite this change and increase in packages about 5 years ago, the service recorded losses of $91 million.

Low demand

Do people still use post offices, still buy stamps and envelopes? TVA Nouvelles posted a question to citizens.

“As a French woman, when I send packages abroad, I use Canada Post, yes,” replied the first passerby.

“It's rare, it's unusual,” said the second.

One person explained: “Professionally, I use UPS services a lot. But personally I think Canada Post is still a good solution and it's still an available local service.

“We will see it used less, but I don't think it will disappear, because there are still people who send letters to each other, which we cannot do with Amazon”, underlined a young woman to our journalist.

“I never go to the post office, I can do everything on the internet now,” replied another man there. Is it outdated? “A little, yes,” he concluded.