Canada Post reported Monday evening that its pre-tax loss widened by 87% in 2025 to US$1.15 billion as strike activity by mail carriers drove parcel volumes to competitors, sharply reducing revenue collections. It was the eighth consecutive annual loss for the government-owned corporation and the largest loss before tax on record.
Revenue for the year fell 4.7% year over year.
The postal operator blamed the labor dispute for delaying modernization of outdated work rules and policies it is now implementing as part of a comprehensive turnaround strategy after reaching a tentative contract agreement with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in December.
Canada Post last week announced a timetable for phasing out residential home delivery and shifting to centralized community boxes. It also has begun planning for closing rural and other post offices to improve efficiency, save money and make the national post self-sufficient. The Canadian government loaned Canada Post $755 million last year to help cover operations through March 2026. The funding was insufficient, and early this year the government approved another loan of similar amount.
Other planned reforms include building more flexibility into pricing for letter mail and diversifying revenue sources.
In 2025, parcel revenue and volumes fell by more than 30% compared to the prior year. Management said it must overhaul the way it operates to become more competitive and have a chance of recapturing shipper business.
Regular mail revenue rose 26% to $412 million as volumes increased 2.4% from the prior year. While mail continues to be in a secular decline, the business line benefitted from a postage rate increase in January 2025, as well as a volume bump related to election mailings and a temporary surge following a national strike in late 2024.
Direct marketing mail revenue declined 4.5% as volumes fell by nearly 10%, which Canada Post attributed to the labor disruptions such as a ban on the delivery of bulk mail in the second half of the year. Businesses also reduced volumes to avoid having time-sensitive mail stuck in the postal network.
Purolator, Canada Post’s express parcel subsidiary, recorded a pre-tax profit of $187 million, down 12.9% compared to the prior year.
Since 2018, Canada Post has lost $4.5 billion
Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.
Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.
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