Canada Post has reported a third-quarter loss of $315 million as a postal strike drags on across the country.
The third-quarter loss was nearly 10% greater than a loss of $290 million recorded a year earlier at the Crown corporation.
Canada Post said the number of packages it delivered in Q3 of this year declined by six million year-over-year as it faces an increasingly competitive environment.
The financial results put Canada Post on track for another significant loss in 2024, which would mark the seventh year in a row that the postal system has lost money.
Since 2018, Canada Post has lost more than $3 billion as fewer people and businesses use the postal system.
The deteriorating financial situation comes as Canada Post deals with an ongoing shutdown of its operations after more than 55,000 workers across the country walked off the job on Nov. 15.
Management and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) have been negotiating over wages and contract work, as well as job security, benefits and working conditions.
The strike has led to a spike in shipping volumes at Canada Post’s competitors, with courier FedEx (FDX) saying it has had to implement a contingency plan to manage higher volumes.
Canada Post’s share of the parcel market has declined from 62% before the Covid-19 pandemic to 29% today, as Amazon (AMZN) and others execute same-day and one-day deliveries.
The last postal strike occurred in 2018, when employees carried out rotating strikes that lasted 31 days.
That strike ended when the federal government in Ottawa passed back-to-work legislation, forcing employees back on the job.
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