Canada Post just reported the “largest loss” it has ever seen in a single quarter.
The news comes amid ongoing labour unrest for the Crown corporation as the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) is still without an updated contract and is maintaining its overtime ban.
On Tuesday, Canada Post reported during the second quarter of 2025 (April through June) that it saw a loss before tax of $407 million compared to a year prior, and noted this came as “parcels results declined sharply due to labour uncertainty,” according to a news release emailed to Global News.
“The second-quarter loss of $407 million marked the Corporation’s largest loss before tax in a single quarter,” the Crown corporation said in a statement.
In the same period a year prior, Canada Post saw a profit before tax of $46 million.
The loss was the largest ever reported in a single quarter, or three-month period for the company, and 50 per cent of all of the losses so far this year occurred in the month of June, which Canada Post says was a time “when labour uncertainty was at its peak.”
The company has been facing warnings since last spring that it could “go the route of Blockbuster” and is facing a “critical juncture” with “unsustainable” finances.
The Crown corporation has been struggling to compete against e-commerce platforms and faces dropping demand from consumers.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The current labour turmoil began in November of 2024, when Canada Post’s unionized postal workers went on strike for several weeks after being unable to reach an agreement with the company.
Then-labour minister Steven MacKinnon requested the CIRB force an end to the strike action and put workers back on the job amid the busy holiday season in December 2025.
Canada Post and the CUPW returned to the bargaining table with the help of federal mediators, and as a separate study by the Industrial Inquiry Commission was launched, which concluded the company was “effectively insolvent.”
The study analyzed the economic challenges faced by Canada Post and suggested possible fixes, including doing away with daily deliveries and reducing the amount of individual address drop-offs by expanding community mailboxes.
In May, Canada Post tabled its “latest and final offers” to the union, which was rejected in a vote several weeks later by both the Urban and RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) bargaining units.
The CUPW sent Canada Post a detailed response to the offers tabled in May, which Canada Post is still reviewing as of publication, and no further meetings between the two sides have been scheduled.
In its earnings report, Canada Post said the federal election in April helped to boost what it calls Transaction Mail during the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough to offset a sharp decline in parcel deliveries.
The company said this is because the strike activity and labour uncertainty drove customers to other carriers for their deliveries.
During the first half of 2025, Canada Post said its total revenue from parcel deliveries fell by nearly half a billion dollars compared to a year prior.
Although 2025 hasn’t ended yet, Canada Post is suggesting it is on track for another losing year.
The company notes in its release that 2024 saw a total before tax loss of $841 million, and marked its seventh straight annual loss. This year, Canada Post says the losses could be even larger.
Canada Post says parcel delivery “volumes fell sharply,” in May 2025.
“After CUPW started strike activity (overtime ban) on May 23, 2025, revenue fell significantly compared to the previous-year periods as the strike activity and general labour uncertainty impacted all channels (domestic, inbound and outbound) by driving parcel volumes to competitors that could offer delivery stability,” Canada Post said in its release.
Canada Post says the negotiations between the parties remains unresolved, and there is an “urgent need to modernize and protect this vital national service.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
