A familiar tale continues to play out across Canada Post’s quarterly financial reports, the latest of which includes before-tax losses of $135 million “as ongoing declines in mail volumes were only partially offset by parcels volume growth.”
The loss for the third quarter (Q3), which ended Sept. 28, was $40 million worse than the same period a year earlier. For the first three quarters of 2019, the Crown corporation recorded a before-tax loss of $162 million; however, the current year-to-date loss is an improvement of $108 million over the same period in 2018, which included significant one-time costs related to a resolved pay equity dispute.
“Canada Post remains the leading e-commerce delivery company in Canada,” reads the report, which adds parcels volumes increased by four million pieces (6.1 per cent) and revenue increased by $22 million (3.9 per cent) in Q3 2019 compared to the same quarter last year.
Transaction mail volumes – mostly letters, bills and statements – fell by 80 million pieces (11.3 per cent) while domestic lettermail, the largest product category, saw volumes decrease by 76 million pieces (11.3 per cent).
Looking ahead, Canada Post is expecting to deliver “tens of millions of parcels” throughout the holidays.