Where the heck is my wedding dress? And other burning questions about the Canada Post strike

financialpost.com:

While Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers try to find their way back to the negotiating table, the impact of their standoff continues to ripple across the country. With the holidays fast approaching, the number of parcels that remain unprocessed continues to grow, leaving their anxious owners waiting for some sort of holiday miracle — preferably one that involves packages arriving before the big day.

The strike has exacerbated Canada Post’s existing parcel backlog. Early estimates indicated 10 million items were delayed but that number has now ballooned to 12 million, according to the Crown corporation’s latest update. This includes packages, letters, and promotional mail, much of it linked to the bustling holiday season.

Most undelivered items are being stored at Canada Post’s 13 major distribution centres, the majority of which are located in the urban hubs of Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal. Mailboxes across the country are reportedly being cleared and emptied of letters and smaller parcels, which are then rerouted to these centralized facilities to await processing.

The financial toll on the Crown corporation is substantial, with an estimated revenue loss to date of $100 million, primarily due to unprocessed packages and cancelled shipping orders. Businesses and individual customers have increasingly turned to other couriers like FedEx, United Parcel Service Inc. and Purolator to ensure timely delivery, further cutting into Canada Post’s revenue.

Courier companies are feeling the strain. Purolator, a Canada Post subsidiary, expects to handle more than 43 million packages during the peak season, including more than 25 million in the month leading up to Christmas. To manage the overwhelming