Canada’s federal government unveiled sweeping Canada Post reforms on Thursday, September 25, 2025, that will phase out door-to-door delivery for most households and reorient standard letter mail to travel primarily by ground. Hours later, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) launched a nationwide strike, signaling immediate disruption for shippers that rely on the crown corporation.
The plan lifts a long-standing moratorium on converting remaining door-to-door routes to community mailboxes, clearing Canada Post to transition roughly 4 million addresses over the next decade, with most conversions expected in three to four years. The government has given Canada Post 45 days to return with an implementation blueprint. Officials note that about three-quarters of Canadian addresses already do not receive door delivery.
Service standards will also change: non-urgent letter mail will move by truck instead of plane, stretching typical delivery windows from roughly three–four days to three–seven days. Ottawa says the shift to ground will save more than C$20 million annually, while eliminating door delivery is projected to generate close to C$400 million in yearly savings.
The government framed the overhaul as necessary to stabilize a financially distressed system, citing cumulative losses of more than C$5 billion since 2018, a C$1 billion loss in 2024 and a projected near C$1.5 billion loss this year. In its statement, Ottawa called the situation “effectively insolvent.” Canada Post, which publicly welcomed the reforms on Thursday, pointed to a record second‑quarter loss before tax of C$407 million this year as evidence of the urgency to change.
Why it matters for trucking: moving non-urgent letters from air to highway is a structural mode shift that should add steady, multi-day linehaul demand into Canada Post’s surface network and its contracted carriers. Longer delivery windows allow fuller consolidation and more predictable trunk runs between processing hubs, which can translate into higher trailer utilization and denser night operations. Carriers with reliable intercity capacity—especially on Ontario–Quebec and Prairie corridors—will be positioned to benefit as volumes rebalance toward ground. Meanwhile, the planned conversion to community mailboxes and potential consolidation of rural post offices could simplify some local handoffs and concentrate linehaul flows into fewer, larger nodes, further favoring surface optimization.
Near term, the strike heightens the stakes. When postal workers walked out Thursday, shippers began diverting mail-like parcels and returns toward private parcel networks and courier/LTL providers, a pattern that typically tightens capacity around major metros and border gateways. Fleet managers should anticipate short-notice spikes in volume and weekend sorts as retailers re-label flows away from the postal system until a deal is reached. Business groups are already urging both sides back to the table.
What to watch next: Canada Post’s 45-day plan will reveal where conversions begin, how ground transport lanes are reconfigured, and whether new RFPs emerge for interfacility moves. Keep an eye on the government’s parallel review of stamp-rate processes, which could further influence mail mix and volumes, and on strike dynamics that could reshape peak-season planning if the disruption drags on.
Sources: FreightWaves, Reuters, AP News, Government of Canada
This article was prepared exclusively for TruckStopInsider.com. Republishing is permitted only with proper credit and a link back to the original source.
