Losses of $748 million in 2023: Change of course necessary for Canada Post

Canada Post will have to make a major change to its operations in the coming years, as a new report reveals losses of $748 million in 2023, or $200 million more than last year.

“It is a necessary step,” journalist Marc-Antoine Le Moignan said on air. “Otherwise, the losses could be greater for the state-owned company.”

The state-owned company published its annual report last Friday.

We learned that approximately 2.2 billion messages were sent in 2023. So the system that delivered 5.5 billion messages in 2006 is no longer adapted to current needs.

There is an increase in operating expenses of an additional $11 million, due to labor costs and increased addresses served across the country.

Outdated model

Canada Post said in the report that it is determined to make the change needed to increase competitiveness and investment to facilitate parcel delivery.

The state-owned company must constantly fight against increasingly strong competition in the parcel sector, especially against the giants: UPS, Amazon and FedEx.

It made a major transformation in its parcel service in 2019, and despite this change about 5 years ago and the increase in delivered parcels, losses were recorded for this service amounting to $91 million.

Ask for less

Do people still use post offices, still buy stamps and envelopes? TVA Nouvelles posted the question to citizens.

“As a French woman, when I send parcels abroad, I use Canada Post, yes of course,” a passerby replied.

“It's rare, it's exceptional,” said another.

“Professionally, I use UPS a lot,” one man explained. But I personally think Canada Post is still a good solution, and is still a local service that can still be accessed.

“For sure we see less use of it, but I don't think it will disappear because there are still people sending messages to each other, which we cannot do with Amazon,” a young woman confirmed to our journalist.

Another man there replied: “I never go to the post office, now I can do everything online.” Is it outdated? “A little bit, yes,” he concludes.