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During a rotating strike, mail keeps moving except in the affected regions on affected days, so most letters arrive late rather than never. A full national stoppage freezes lettermail in place until workers return, and the backlog can take weeks to clear. Plan around it: mail early, use a courier for anything urgent, and expect delays after.
| Strike type | What happens to your letter |
|---|---|
| Rotating strike | Different cities or regions walk out on different days; mail in unaffected areas keeps moving, mail into a struck region sits until the rotation ends |
| Overtime ban | Regular service continues but slower: sorting plants and delivery run at straight-time capacity only |
| Full national stoppage | Lettermail collection and delivery halt; items already in the network freeze where they are until service resumes |
| Lockout | Same practical effect as a full stoppage from your point of view: nothing moves |
Private couriers keep running, which is the obvious workaround for anything urgent. One catch people miss: Purolator is majority-owned by Canada Post, so it is not fully independent of a labour dispute there, and its workers have their own bargaining history. For bills and payments, switch to online payment or direct deposit rather than mailing cheques into a strike. And anything already delivered before the stoppage is fine; the freeze only affects mail still in the network. If you mailed something days before a strike began, it may be sitting in a sorting plant waiting: it isn't lost, it's queued.
Before a threatened strike, mail time-sensitive letters early and consider registered mail so you at least have tracking and proof of mailing if things stall. During the dispute, check Canada Post's service alerts before dropping anything in a mailbox. After service resumes, expect the backlog to clear slowly: mail is processed roughly in the order it piled up, so a letter mailed on day one of the stoppage may arrive well after a letter mailed the day service resumed. One honest note about LetterAgent: our print partner mails through the postal network, so a Canada Post stoppage would delay letters we send to Canadian addresses too. We can't route around a national strike, and we won't pretend otherwise.
Usually not. Tax agencies, courts, and lenders generally don't accept "there was a strike" as an excuse for a late filing or payment, which is why mailing early before a threatened stoppage matters so much. If a deadline falls during a dispute, use a courier, file electronically, or pay online, and keep the receipt. Registered mail helps here too: even if the letter is delayed, you have proof of when you sent it.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it's printed and mailed.
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