Canada Post is ready for the holiday season

December 13 will be busiest day of the year

OTTAWA, Nov. 27, 2012 /CNW/ - With expected volumes of one billion pieces of mail to be delivered to homes across the country between now and the end of the year, Canada Post is ready with extra staff and vehicles.

"Throughout the year, Canadians rely on us to deliver important documents and items and the holiday season is no different," says Jacques Côté, Group President, Physical Delivery Network at Canada Post. "As Canada's home delivery company, we travel 1.5 million kilometres to deliver mail and parcels to 15 million addresses across the country every business day. During the holidays, we will add to our resources to continue meeting our customers' expectations."

During the holiday period:

• Canada Post expects to deliver up to one billion cards, letters and parcels in Canada.
• An additional 75,000 kilograms of mail will be flown daily; 10 tractor loads of mail will be moved daily by train; and the number of trucks carrying mail will grow to 1,330;
• Close to 1,000 seasonal workers will join the 69,000 people already employed at Canada Post this season;
• 25% of the year's retail transactions will occur during the holiday season.

Each year Canada Post delivers some 45 million kilograms of mail sent to Canada from countries around the world and nearly 20 per cent of that comes into Canada during the holiday period. The top five countries in terms of international volumes coming into Canada during the holidays are the United States, Great Britain, China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

This year, the busiest day for processing letters and parcels is projected to be December 13, and the heaviest day for delivery will be December 21.

The holiday season doesn't stop on December 25 at Canada Post. Again this year Canada Post will be the biggest supporter of Boxing Day shoppers and those Canadians who shop online adding extra logistics on December 26, 27 and 28 to deliver online purchases.

SOURCE: Canada Post