Purolator, UPS pause shipments from couriers amid backlog from Canada Post strike

Amid an influx of packages that would normally be sent through Canada Post, Purolator and UPS have paused shipments from some courier companies in order to catch up. 

Purolator told CBC News on Thursday that severe weather and a surge in package volumes prompted it to freeze service for some partners, citing the need to “prioritize critical shipments.”

Couriers such as eShipper act as middlemen between smaller e-commerce businesses and large carriers. But now eShipper is among the outfits temporarily barred from sending packages through UPS and the Canada Post-owned Purolator.

In a notice sent to clients on Thursday and obtained by CBC News, eShipper stated that “no shipments will be processed or moved by these carriers” for 48 hours, starting Wednesday. The update came after eShipper informed clients on Wednesday that Purolator was considering a daily limit of 1,500 shipments. 

In a statement Friday, Purolator said that the timeframe didn’t come from it and that “this is a temporary measure that will be removed as soon as possible.” UPS did not respond to requests for comment. 

Imtiaz Kermali, vice president of sales and marketing at eShipper, told CBC News that the platform works with over 25,000 Canadian businesses, connecting them to various shipping options that they can offer to customers when selling products online. 

UPS and Purolator are some of their primary carriers.  

“It’s very, very important that we help them get back to normal,” he said. “After Monday, it’s a slowdown to a certain extent, and then the next two weeks going into Christmas are even more heavier.”

FedEx is also experiencing “increased volume demands” amid the ongoing Canada Post strike, spokesperson James Anderson told CBC News in a statement Friday. 

To manage this, “a temporary limit of five packages per drop-off has been introduced at FedEx retail locations,” he said. 

Canada Post said Thursday it was reviewing new counter-proposals submitted by the union representing more than 55,000 postal employees, who walked off the job three weeks ago.

Workers are striking due to conflicts over wages, which haven’t kept up with inflation, and disagreements over how to staff an expansion into weekend deliveries.

Canada Post wants to hire part-time workers at a lower rate for weekends — creating a lower class of workers with less job protection and potentially cutting into the job security of existing full-time workers who could staff weekend shifts, according to the union.

Clarence Woudsma, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a shipping logistics expert, said it makes sense that Purolator and UPS are limiting some shipments through third-party platforms.

“If you think about the volume of parcels that Canada Post was moving prior to the onset of the strike and the existing capacity that the courier firms have like UPS and FedEx, they just simply can’t absorb all this extra volume of parcels,” he told CBC News Edmonton.

 “It’s not surprising that they would press pause on some of their non-core delivery activity.”

Network is ‘saturated’

A business owner in Squamish, B.C., told CBC News that he first learned of potential shipping disruptions from his local UPS driver on Wednesday. 

The driver told them UPS was trying to accept fewer packages “because the warehouses … are essentially full and that the network is saturated at this point,” said Jon Thorpe, owner of Midnight Lightning, which sells climbing equipment, predominantly chalk.  

If disruptions persist for more than a few days, he’ll have to reschedule shipments and “it becomes much more of a burden.”

Most of their business is providing goods to retailers, but they also sell products to individual customers online, which usually goes through Canada Post. When Canada Post went on strike, they had to switch to other carriers at a higher price, scaring off some customers, Thorpe said. 

“When you’re ordering a $12, $15 product and shipping is $15, it’s pretty much a no-go.”

Thorpe added that his neighbour recently tried to open a new business shipping account with UPS, but was told that UPS is not bringing on new accounts right now because of they are at capacity. 

WATCH | Why are Canada Post workers striking, and why are negotiations failing? 

Why Canada Post and its striking workers can’t reach a deal | About That

Mediation talks between Canada Post and the union representing its workers broke down almost two weeks into the countrywide strike. Andrew Chang explains what the two sides hope to achieve, and why they’re still so far apart.

Not every shipping platform is affected by UPS and Purolator’s backlog yet.

Jay Pizzo, vice-president of sales at shipping platform Freightcom, told CBC News on Friday that while Freightcom and its e-commerce platform ClickShip are experiencing “an influx of business” during the Canada Post strike, they’re still able to ship through all their carriers, including Purolator and UPS. Freightcom and ClickShip support a combined 30,000 Canadian businesses, according to Pizzo. 

Kermali also noted that eShipper offers a number of smaller alternative carriers, many of which sprung up during the online ordering boom of the pandemic, and are now changing their approach to offer more coverage.  

But with shipping in Canada varying widely by region, the options are narrowing. 

Pantyhose maker Sheertex told the Canadian Press that some alternative carriers they’ve encountered have implemented “significant surge pricing” on shipments. And another Montreal-based company, gourmet cookie producers Felix & Norton, told the Canadian Press that they’re not even able to process orders right now “because there’s no shipping available.”

‘Canada Post has that market share’

Normally, the vast majority of personal mail and packages go through Canada Post, as well as shipments from smaller businesses, leaving companies like Purolator, UPS, FedEx and other private carriers the bandwidth to offer more specific shipping services such as oversized packages to fill niches. 

With Canada Post out of action, this balance is tipping, highlighting how essential the postal service is. 

“If it starts having this ripple effect through other carriers, then it’s no longer just an impact for companies that typically deal with Canada Post,” Thorpe said. 

“The fact that these other companies don’t have the capacity is proof that Canada Post has that market share,” Jim Gallant, the union’s negotiator, told CBC News Edmonton.

“These other carriers can’t handle what we handle. The infrastructure that Canada Post has is the largest infrastructure in the country as far as I know.”