2020 not the year to delay sending Christmas parcels, says Canada Post

Canada Post wants people across the country to get their Christmas shopping done early this year to avoid overwhelming the mail system with a flood of parcels all at once. 

More and more Canadians have been shopping online since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which means the postal service is already extra busy.

Shopping early and getting gifts in the mail as soon as possible will help avoid delays and disappointment.

"Typically we'll see a big surge after Black Friday or Cyber Monday or maybe the week before Christmas," said Hayley Magermans, a spokesperson for Canada Post.

"But if we see that this year, it may overwhelm our capacity and cause delays."

In the spring there were days the postal service was delivering 2 million packages a day. Normally those kinds of volumes are only seen during the height of the Christmas season.

All the extra parcel traffic led to delivery delays that sometimes lasted weeks.

Magermans couldn't estimate how many millions of extra parcels could be sent this year, but a Canada Post survey found 48 per cent of Canadians were considering doing most or all of their holiday shopping online. 

"This is not a typical year and we're expecting some pretty crazy parcel volumes," she said. 

"We're expecting a Christmas like no other." 

To prepare, the service has added more than 4,000 seasonal employees and 1,000 trucks to its fleet. Post offices are also extending their hours. Delivery agents will be out on the weekends trying to work through the pile of packages. 

Some people are already seeing delivery delays, including Ilonka Venier-Alexander of Port Maitland, N.S. 

She's originally from the United States and receives many letters and parcels from her family back home. Since the pandemic hit, it takes packages about a week longer than usual to arrive, she said.

Venier-Alexander said she's worried about what delays in Christmas deliveries could mean to her and the dozen or so parcels she sends to family in the U.S. and Europe. 

So this year, she came up with a workaround.

"I've ordered from companies that are in the U.S. and then I have had the package directly sent to the person instead of having to come to me," said Venier-Alexander.

It's a different story at The Loop in downtown Halifax. The yarn store mails out about a dozen packages a week to customers. 

So far Canada Post's deliveries have been arriving earlier than expected, said owner Mimi Fautley. 

She said if people can't get their gifts to loved ones by Christmas Day, they shouldn't feel bad.

"If this year has taught us anything so far, it's to be patient and to just kind of roll with it. Just roll with whatever happens and we'll all be OK," said Fautley. 

Still, Magermans said the best way to avoid disappointing people on your Christmas list is to be proactive and get items in the mail as soon as possible. 

"We know how important these items are at this time of year and we do want to deliver Christmas, so it does help everyone out to start early," she said.   

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