Canada Post begins accepting new deliveries, letters to Santa

Canada Post has begun accepting commercial letters and packages following a month-long strike and days working through it’s backlog.

The postal service has warned Canadians should expect delays into the new year as it works through a backlog of mail, after nearly 55,000 workers went back on the job Tuesday.

The Crown corporation says that all mail and parcels are going to be processed on a first-in, first-out basis to work through everything that has been trapped in the system since Nov. 15.

However with Christmas less than a week away, there remains questions about what this means for the Santa letter program.

Canada Post’s Santa Letter program

Canada Post says these letters to Santa are “handled with special care.”

All received Santa letters will be mailed by Dec. 23, delivered straight to the North Pole.

The scanners at the processing plants are set up to locate the letters right away with the “HO HO HO” postal code.

Although Santa won’t have time to respond to the letters, Canada Post says, “we want to let kids know that their letters will make it to him by Christmas Eve.”

“Santa is looking forward to reading all the letters he receives.”

Mail and parcel processing resumes, but customers should expect delays

In terms of other mail services starting Thursday, customers will be able to drop off mail at processing plants, depots and commercial deposit centres.

Neighbourhood mail delivery is also resuming Thursday.

Canada Post is also restarting the clock on items being held for customer pick-up, with the end of the year acting as the final deadline before items are returned to sender.

The Crown corporation says to be prepared for lineups and delays at those facilities for the first few days.

Canada Post will accept international mail starting on Monday, with delays expected into the new year.

For the time being, they have suspended their on-time service guarantees while they work to stabilize the network.

Customers should hold off on sending any international mail until Monday – that is when the company will begin accepting that mail.

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With files from The Canadian Press.