It’s the busiest time of year for mail and parcel delivery services, but the light at the end of the tunnel is fast approaching.
For those still looking to send out Christmas cards and other festive mail, the important days are Wednesday – the last day to send a Christmas card for Canada Post to guarantee local delivery – and Friday – the day to get a package into FedEx in time for Christmas delivery.
FedEx Canada’s James Anderson says his company has already seen its busiest day of the year, when they shipped 19 million packages worldwide on Dec. 10.
“This is what FedEx Express Canada does. We live for this. It’s our peak season,” he says.
“This is our Super Bowl.”
Between Black Friday and Christmas, FedEx expects to ship 280 million parcels worldwide. The company adds 20,000 employees around the world to handle the extra workload in the holiday season.
Canada Post also adds seasonal staff. With over one million parcels heading to destinations across the country, Dec. 13 was their busiest day ever, and over the next few days, carriers will be ensuring every piece of mail gets to its destination before Christmas.
Mary Lou Gasparini stopped by a Cambridge post office on Tuesday to deliver a gift to her mother-in law.
“It was a parcel with maybe $25 worth of contents and it cost us over $80 to mail it,” she says.
“I want to make sure it gets there in time.”
In time and, in some cases, online – Anderson says the Internet is being used for shipping more than ever, with 55 per cent of Canadians doing at least some holiday shipping online.
