Canada Post

[Frances]

Hi,
I am hoping someone can help me please. I sent a package to a P.O. box number in Alberta from the U.K. The post office / postal outlet there put a redirection label on it and sent it on it's way. The new address was a residential one, but still in Alberta. There was also a Canada Post tracking label on it, which also had the name, address and telephone number of the postal outlet . Would the package have been delivered direct to the residential address or would it have gone to the postal outlet first? It is a large outlet within a large drug mart and not a small one in a rural area. The reason I am asking is because the package has been returned to me as unclaimed.
I checked the tracking number and it said:
"Item has been transferred to the post office for pick up as a carded item" but transferred from where?
The next entry was 50 minutes later and it said:
"Item has been received at the post office for pick up as a carded item"
From first sending it until it was returned to me was about 6 weeks. In the meantime I had sent another package to the P.O. box number.
I rang the postal outlet on the tracking label and a very helpful lady told me that she remembered returning the package to me. I asked whether the second package had arrived. Even allowing for redirection, it should have arrived, but it hadn't. I rang the lady back about 2 weeks later and it still hadnt arrived. I forgot to ask the lady whether it would have gone to her postal outlet first or to the reidential address on the redirection label first.
Just one other thing. The redirection label had an expiry date of only 3 months. I thought you couldnt redirect in Canada for less than 6 months.
I am unable to contact my friend directly as they do not have a telephone or email access, so I am trying to piece it all together.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks indeed
Frances :canada:

 

[dj03]

Just guessing here but in my experience Canada Post does one of two things:

Some areas have "Super Mailboxes" that have a small locked box for each resident's mail and then two larger box where a package can be placed. If you get a package that will fit in one of the larger boxes they will put the package there and then put the key in your smaller box so you can get the package. If you don't pick it up after a certain amount of time they will take the package out of the big box, the key out of your little box and then leave a card saying you have 90 days (iirc) to pick up the parcel at the local post office.

I have received packages in the past that were not delivered to the nearby "Super Mailbox" but instead received a card in my box indicating that there was a package waiting for me at the post office.

Not sure which applies to your package or if there were other possibilities.

 

[Frances]

Thanks for that djo3,
I know they don't have one of the "Super Mailboxes" as ordinary mail is delivered to the house and as long as it fits through the letter box that is fine. Also the lady at the post office said that she was only allowed to keep the package 15 working days before returning to sender. The tracking number bore this out.
I was wanting to find out if parcels/packages are attempted to be delivered first before going to the P.O. and then a card is left if no one is home, or whether the parcel/package goes straight to the P.O. and the mail man delivers a card along with ordinary mail saying there is a parcel/ package awaiting collection at the P.O.

 

[spaminator]

Canada Post paid bonuses last year despite record losses; Looking at stamp cost increase
The price of a letter stamp in Canada has gone up 35 per cent in the past 18 months

Author of the articleostmedia News
Published Jun 22, 2026 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read

Canada Post vehicle
Canada Post vehicle Toronto Sun files

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger told a Commons government operations committee that it paid bonuses in 2025 while losing a record $1.57 billion according to Blacklock’s Reporter.


“We have cut a lot of costs on the management side,” Ettinger testified last Thursday.

“We’ve taken more than 10% out of our management and executives. We got out of the guaranteed pension many, many years ago. We took $200 million over the last two years out of our discretionary spending, travel, those kinds of things.”

Still, Conservative MP Andrew Lawton (Elgin-St. Thomas, Ont.) raised the issue of bonuses.

“Are you still paying executive bonuses?” asked Lawton.

Ettinger said Canada Post has two bonus programs.

“We have a corporate team incentive, that’s the bonus program,” he said. “It’s called CTI. It hasn’t paid a dime since 2011, so, 15 years.”

“And the at-risk program?” asked Lawton.

“One of the things I lose sleep about is keeping the good people who are with us. In the broader compensation program, to keep that talent, we paid a bonus last year – sorry, at-risk pay.”


“How much?” asked Lawton.

“I don’t have the number at hand,” replied Ettinger.

“Will you provide it to the committee?” asked Lawton.

“Yes,” replied Ettinger. “That at-risk program has 7,000 people in it. Almost two-thirds of the 7,000 people are union members and it’s in their contract, so this is something we’ve had there.”

MP wants to know what executive bonuses were paid in 2025
Responded Lawson: “We’re not after what you’re doing to unionized workers. We want to know how much you and your colleagues are getting while posting a billion-dollar deficit.”

“I hear you,” replied Ettinger. “We’ll provide you with the total numbers.”

Meanwhile, Canada Post is signaling more stamp rate hikes in 2026 says Blacklock’s Reporter.

The price of mailing a domestic letter has increased 35% in the past 18 months, from 92¢ to $1.24.

“While the rate increase is helpful, rates are underpriced,” management wrote in a Third Quarter Financial Report.

“Canada Post is on track to post its eighth consecutive year of losses. The 2025 losses are expected to be the most significant of any annual losses in Canada Post’s history.”

The post office said it would be insolvent without a $1.034 billion line of credit approved by cabinet last Jan. 24, said the report.

Management blamed losses on a long-term decline in letter mail revenue and the growth of private sector parcel couriers.

Canada Post paid bonuses last year despite record losses; Looking at stamp cost increase

Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger told a Commons government operations committee it paid bonuses in 2025 while losing a record $1.57 billion

torontosun.com