The union representing Canada Post workers said Edmonton would be among the first four cities impacted by rotating strikes on Monday morning.
Canada Post is the major delivery service used for legal cannabis orders across the country.
READ MORE: Canada Post union workers to begin rotating nationwide strikes Monday morning
However, if the strike happens, Albertans will still have a way to get their cannabis deliveries, albeit with some potential small delays.
“Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis is primarily working with Canada Post,” AGLC’s Heather Holmen said. “We also have Purolator on as a delivery agent.”
READ MORE: As Canada Post prepares to strike, Ontario Cannabis Store considering alternatives to meet demands
In some provinces, a postal strike would take out the only method of delivering online pot orders. Alberta has a backup plan.
Holmen said if the AGLC is forced to switch to just using Purolator, orders might be delayed a day or two but they’d be able to catch up.
“We’ll certainly work to make sure that there’s as limited a disruption as possible.
“But, understandably, if the capacity switches over to one sole delivery provider versus two, there may be some slight delays but we don’t expect it’s going to be a critical issue,” Holmen said.
READ MORE: Postal union official ‘not very confident’ strike with Canada Post will be avoided
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) announced Sunday that it will begin rotating strikes on Monday morning at 12:01 a.m. in Victoria, Edmonton and Windsor, and at 1:01 a.m. in Halifax.
According to the union, the strike will last for 24 hours with each location listed striking daily. All times listed are in local time. A strike may still be avoided if last-minute deals are reached Sunday evening, CUPW said in a statement.
READ MORE: High demand continues at Edmonton pot shops 4 days after cannabis legalization
Holmen said the pace of online orders has calmed down a bit since the first day of legalization.
“We definitely saw the peak of interest in business on Wednesday,” she said. “In the last couple of days, things have started to level out.
“We’re not seeing the high numbers on the website right now but now that there’s some brick-and-mortar retail options, actual stores that consumers can go into, I think people are interested in going to explore what the storefronts look like as well.”
In the first 24 hours, Holmen said the official cannabis website was processing 200 orders per hour.
READ MORE: How much weed was sold on Canada’s legalization day, province-by-province
Still, consumers are receiving their pot packages quite quickly.
“We are advising albertacannabis.org consumers that they can expect their packages within one to two business days,” Holmen said.
“I’d actually spoken with someone earlier who said they were order number 85 in the queue (from early Wednesday morning) and they received their package in southern Alberta in their hands by mid-afternoon Thursday.”
Normal shipping time is one or two business days.
— With files from Scott Johnston
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