Canada Post is preparing for a new record in parcel volumes this holiday season with thousands of temporary workers and other measures as the country’s e-commerce continues to grow at double-digit rates, with consumer shopping habits evolving over the years.
Canada Post expects December 14th to be the busiest day of the year for both delivery agents and retail stores across the country, with an anticipated 3,400 parcels delivered each minute while sorting centres are expected to reach their activity peak a few days later (December 16th) with 1,500 parcels to be handled each minute.
In November and December last year, Canada Post delivered more than 36 million parcels to Canadians.
To cope with the rising parcel volumes, the postal operator has hired more than 2,000 seasonal workers to complement the 49,000 staff in delivery and sorting operations from this month onwards.
Also from this month on, Canada Post has started delivering parcels on weekends in major urban centres. In addition, it has doubled its transport capacity to ensure timely delivery. Each day, its employees cover some 1.5 million km to deliver to 15.7 million addresses.
During the first half of this year, Canada Post’s parcel volumes from online orders grew 16% compared to the previous year. While large cities like Toronto and Vancouver continue to generate strong volumes, mid-size cities are now catching up with even faster volume growth.
As Canadians now shop more online, what they’re buying is also changing. Traditionally, mass merchants and fashion retailers have generated the bulk of e-commerce parcel growth. But with first-time shoppers gradually turning to frequent shoppers and eventually hyper shoppers (11+ times annually), they are now buying different kinds of items online. Meanwhile, three new e-commerce growth sectors have emerged with double-digit volume parcel growth: toys/hobbies (21%), office supplies (15%) and sports articles (11%).
“As Canada Post delivers two out of every three parcels we’re committed to supporting retailers to help them make the most of the online opportunity. To do this, we offer not only convenience-based delivery solutions, like FlexDelivery, but relevant research to help them better understand and maximize the current e-commerce growth opportunity,” Danielle Doiron, Director of Parcel Market Development, Canada Post.
Meanwhile, Canada Post has officially opened an innovative drive-thru parcel centre featuring self-service shipping stations and kiosks as well as a fitting room in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
The pilot store, the first of its kind in North America, allows customers to pick up their parcels without even having to get out of their car by simply scanning the barcode on their smartphone or paper pickup notice at the welcome kiosk and then driving ahead to receive the item at the pickup window. If the parcel is big or heavy, staff will place it in the customer’s vehicle.
In addition to picking up their ordered items, customers can send their parcels anywhere in Canada round the clock via ‘all-in-one’ self-serve shipping station. Via a touch screen, they can select their desired parcel service, scan their item for weight and size, pay by debit or credit card and print their shipping label. Once they scan the barcoded label and place the parcel in the drop box, a receipt confirms the item is on its way, and ready for them to track online.
The most outstanding innovation at the parcel centre is definitely the fitting room where shoppers can try on the outfit they bought online right away to see if it fits them. The 4.6 sqm private space is equipped with a full mirror and a small bench – like any retail store. If the item isn’t right for them, they can conveniently return it immediately at the centre.
The centre also features a self-service kiosk where customers can buy stamps, shipping supplies such as Priority Prepaid and Xpresspost Prepaid envelopes or bubble envelopes, gift cards and more. The user-friendly self-serve transactions eliminate the need for customers to queue up at the counter.
While the self-serve kiosks and shipping stations are open 24/7, the centre’s extended full-service hours for the drive-thru, the fitting room and more complex transactions with the help of staff are 9am-9pm from Monday to Friday.
The store offers free Wifi and larger postal boxes for customers. Canada Post can also rent space in the store to other retailers to open a pop-up store, or a short-term sales outlet which is an emerging retail trend.
“When consumers shop online, we aspire to be the storefront for thousands of stores who choose Canada Post as their delivery partner”, Deepak Chopra, President and CEO of Canada Post, said. “This pilot is our ongoing quest to find innovative solutions for a fast growing population of savvy online shoppers.”
For the first half of 2015, the number of parcels from fashion retailers delivered increased by 18%. In Toronto, this figure was even 28%.
Last month, Canada Post announced that it is temporarily suspending the future deployment of its programme to convert door-to-door mail delivery to community mailboxes following the change of government. The comprehensive programme is currently being put on hold as 460,000 addresses across the country are already in the process to be converted to community mailboxes.
All conversions planned for November and December 2015 and those announced for 2016 will be placed on hold. In neighbourhoods where the 10-month internal and community conversion process is complete, customers will collect mail and parcels at their community mailbox. “We remain focused on maintaining reliable postal service to all Canadians without disruption,” Canada Post said.
“We will work collaboratively with the Government of Canada to determine the best path forward given the ongoing challenges faced by the Canadian postal system,” the postal operator concluded. The Liberal Party, which won the election, had campaigned to stop the move to community mailboxes.
