Canada Post has reported a $205 million loss before tax in the first quarter of this year due to declining mail volumes. This marks a $164 million decrease in revenue compared to the same period last year when the Crown corporation posted a $41 million pre-tax loss. Revenues also dropped by $181 million, a 14.3% decline year-over-year in the first quarter.
The loss comes amidst an ongoing labor dispute with workers, which Canada Post partly attributes to the downturn in its parcel business. The company stated that customer uncertainty continued to impact parcel results in the first quarter.
During the quarter, Canada Post delivered seven million fewer parcels compared to the same period in 2025, resulting in a 17.2% decline in volume. Parcel revenue also fell by $79 million as a consequence.
A ratification vote on the collective agreement between Canada Post and its workers is currently underway, set to conclude on Saturday. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, representing the employees, has not responded to CBC News’ request for comment.
Transaction mail revenue saw a 13.7% decrease compared to the same period the previous year. The figures were influenced by the high volumes of letter mail in the first quarter of 2025 due to the federal election and strike backlog.
Direct marketing revenue also declined by 13.4%, impacted by the previous year’s backlog that made the first quarter of 2025 particularly strong.
These financial challenges follow Canada Post’s record loss of $1.57 billion in 2025 before tax. The postal service emphasized the necessity for a transition to address these weak numbers.
Canada Post expressed the need for a critical transformation to strengthen the postal service, support businesses, enable national commerce, and achieve financial self-sustainability. This transition aims to reduce reliance on government cash injections by implementing changes such as ending home delivery for some addresses and expanding the use of community mailboxes.