Canada Post said Friday it recorded a loss of $205 million before tax in the first quarter of 2026, continuing its financial freefall as it struggles with revenue and business headwinds and seeks to transform its operations.
The financial report was released a day before the final day of voting by unionized postal workers on whether to ratify a tentative deal for new contracts.
In a statement, the company partly attributed the latest quarterly loss to that ongoing labour uncertainty, which has contributed to continued declines in letter and parcel volumes as customers seek more reliable carriers.
It said parcel revenue alone fell by $79 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the year prior, with volumes down 17 per cent from 2025.
“Collective agreements with CUPW had not yet been ratified in the first quarter, which resulted in uncertainty for customers and pushed deliveries to competitors offering stability,” Canada Post said.
“Parcel volumes will be slow to win back, reinforcing the critical need to transform in a competitive market.”
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The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has been holding ratification votes on the tentative agreements since April 20.
While union leadership is urging members to approve the new contracts, it is also holding strike votes in case the ratification votes fail.
The strike votes “will help to give us more leverage at the bargaining table, where we will return if either offer is rejected,” the union said earlier this month.
The new contracts for rural and urban postal workers are set to put in place some of the business transformations announced by the federal government last fall. Those include reductions to workforces, a phase-out of door-to-door mail delivery and the return of weekend parcel deliveries.
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Canada Post is undergoing a transition to community mailboxes it says will take five years and multiple phases across the country.
It has also moved to shrink its executive workforce and close some post offices in communities once considered rural, but have since grown to become suburban or urban and are no longer necessary.
The government and the company have said mail services in rural, remote and Indigenous communities will be protected, and that door-to-door delivery can be requested by Canadians with mobility issues or disabilities.
“Canada Post has begun a critical transformation that will strengthen the postal service, better support businesses and enable national commerce, while helping the Corporation meet its dual mandate of delivering for all Canadians in a way that is financially self-sustainable,” the Crown corporation said.
“The multi-year transformation is essential for the company to move away from taxpayer-funded cash injections.”
This business is a total failure and a huge money lose for the tax payer it should have been closed years ago.
I wonder how much money libraries lost in the same time frame.
For goodness sake! When will we end this dying dinosaur?
Keep voting for strike, then we will soon say good bye to all of you.
Goodbye so long
3 main reasons for this:
1). Top management needs to be severely reduced. Over paid and useless.
2). Become more competitive.
3). Make the Union understand what their constant striking has done.
I’m not sure if anyone really understands but can the post is a service it’s not supposed to be about profit
My job I ship a lot of parcels. FedEx and DHL. Canada Post has NEVER EVER come calling to get our business…and it’s in the 10s or 1000s of dollars every month. Right now, it is poorly run.Where is the advertising? Where are the sales people? Why is a CEO and his minions that have lost Billions still employed? It needs to be overhauled from the very top down, before we lose sight of the public service and sell it off to American based vultures…once again.
Se we are looking at another year near a billion dollars where they need money to stay afloat. Great. I refuse to support a company that has employees constantly striking and horrible service.
Time to end the insanity before the backs of all taxpayers are broken
Well, here comes another 205 million from the feds.