Sending your holiday gifts by mail may have to wait as Purolator and UPS temporarily suspend shipments amid the Canada Post strike.
In an email to Daily Hive on Friday, Purolator said that its network is “currently experiencing service disruptions due to severe weather and a significant increase in volume.”
The courier, mainly owned by Canada Post, said it recently decided to pause service for some select partners, including third-party platforms.
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“This was necessary to maintain the integrity of our network, ensure the health and safety of our employees and allow us to prioritize critical shipments,” stated a spokesperson.
Purolator added that it’s assessing the condition of its network hourly and will try to resume service “as soon as possible.”
Companies like eShipper are among the couriers temporarily blocked from shipping with Purolator and UPS. These couriers act as the middleman between smaller e-commerce businesses and large carriers.
The Canadian Press obtained a notice from eShipper to clients that “no shipments will be processed or moved by these carriers” for 48 hours, starting on Wednesday.
This comes on the 26th day of the Canada Post strike. Over 55,000 Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) members began the nationwide labour disruption on November 15.
Shortly after, Purolator began offering Canadians major discounts on shipping to meet the increased demand amid the strike.
Negotiations between Canada Post and CUPW were temporarily suspended last week.
“The union has been ready to return to the mediation process since it was suspended by the Government’s special mediator,” the CUPW said in a statement on Wednesday.
“As such, our counter proposals contain movement on both our demands and Employer demands to help bring the parties closer to an agreement.”
Last week, UPS also temporarily suspended accepting mail going into Canada due to the strike. It’s advising customers to hold off on mailing packages addressed to Canada until further notice.