THUNDER BAY - People on the city’s north side are having to wait a few extra days to receive packages in the mail as Canada Post transitions to a new courier service.
The original contract with Norpel Courier recently ended and Canada Post will soon be using International Shunting Service as its courier service provider. But this transition has resulted in some disruptions to service.
“The drivers that were with Norpel were not offered employment with the new employer until recently, so in the past couple of weeks, they’ve quit, looking for new employment, which you can’t blame them,” said Joanne Nowosad, president of Thunder Bay Local Canadian Union of Postal Workers. “So what has happened is there are less drivers.”
The shortage of drivers has resulted in parcels piling up at local post offices on the city’s north side and Canada Post workers are carding packages, meaning it is up to the customer to come to the post office to pick them up.
“Last week we had about 500 or 600 parcels that were not delivered,” Nowosad said. “But once the new courier service comes in, hopefully it will be resolved.”
On Tuesday, Canada Post workers sorted more than 700 cards, Nowosad said, adding retail post offices are going to be extremely busy.
“They are going to be overloaded but we want the parcels to get out to the customers,” she said. “Any cards that we sorted last night, the parcels will be ready for pick up on Thursday.”
The contract for the new courier comes into effect on Feb. 1, but Nowosad said there could still be delays of up to three days for the next week while the transition takes place.
“Customers are upset, however, there is a transition period when two different companies are taking over,” she said. “Canada Post is trying to deliver as many parcels as possible, but they are not in charge of the courier service. They put a tender out and the courier service is responsible for the parcels. But they don’t have the drivers at this point.”
“Canada Post has taken the initiative and said: okay, we are going to card the parcels and have the customers pick them up.”
Only customers living on the north side of the city are being impacted, as letter carriers working on the south side of the city have vehicles and trucks that they use to deliver parcels.
A spokesperson with Canada Post said as many parcels as possible are being delivered, but as a temporary measure, parcels are being sent to postal outlets.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused our customers as we transition from one parcel delivery contractor to another,” the spokesperson said. “We expect this to be resolved soon and see a return to normal parcel delivery for our customers.”
“We are out delivering as many parcels as possible, but as a temporary measure we are sending parcels to postal outlets to ensure our customers get their parcels as quickly as possible.”
Anyone who wants a parcel delivered to a postal outlet can do so by registering with Canada Post’s FlexDelivery program or change delivery preferences through the Canada Post tracking tool online or the app.
