Postal services ready for wave of cannabis deliveries
TORONTO — Legal cannabis is set to usher in a wave of high-value, age-restricted parcels in the mail system, and delivery companies say they’re ready.
The test of the system will come as Ontario relies entirely on the postal system for deliveries when pot is legalized today while other provinces expect to see a fair portion of sales from online.
All provinces will require strict age verification for deliveries, but a combination of existing practices and new systems will help Purolator with the challenge, said Ramsey Mansour, vice-president of corporate strategy and marketing at the company.
“We have set up the appropriate technologies, training and processes in place to be able to address this growing market. So we feel that we’re adequately prepared.”
Parcels will have to be sealed and not state they contain cannabis to reduce security risks, but they will be marked as needing age verification. Those delivering the packages will also be notified that an age check is required.
Purolator, which has contracts to deliver cannabis for Alberta and Prince Edward Island, already delivers medical cannabis for about half of the producers so it is familiar with the added demands of delivering the product, Mansour said.
The volume is only expected to make up a percentage in the low single digits of overall parcels, and shouldn’t bog down the system, he said.
“I consider the volume to be sizable, but in relation to the overall growth and our overall volume, not as substantial.”
Canada Post Corp. will be dealing with far more parcels as it has numerous agreements in place with Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, Nova Scotia, and Quebec.
While the corporation expects to see an increase in volumes, it will be able to handle it, spokesman Phil Legault said in an email.
“We have the capacity to handle any expected increase at this time.”
Canada Post has been delivering medical cannabis since 2013, but is still working to ensure those involved are trained ahead of legalization, Legault said.
“Our focus at this time is on ensuring our employees understand the expectations in terms of proof of age, handling the product from pickup to delivery and how to deliver safely.”
Canada Post declined to provide an estimate on expected volumes, but Quebec’s Société des alcools du Québec set a required capacity of between 20,000 to 30,000 parcels a week in its tender for delivery contracts.
The actual volume could well be different since it’s such an untested market, Société des alcools du Québec spokesman Mathieu Gaudreault said.
He said the Société des alcools du Québec expects about a third of cannabis sales to go online, but that they’ve been selling alcohol online since the early 2000s with Canada Post so already have experience with age verification.
“Obviously, it’s a big concern for us. Our mission is not a commercial mission, it’s a public health mission. So being able to have strict sales ethics is one of our main concerns.”
Security concerns about the high-value cargo are real, but no worse than for other pricey goods, said Lori Posluns, chief legal officer at Traffic Tech Inc, which does bulk medical marijuana deliveries and bid for the Société des alcools du Québec contract.
“There’s no issues. For us it’s business as usual and we do this every day. So whether the commodity is alcohol or cannabis or electronics or pharmaceuticals, everything’s high value.”
One of the biggest threats to deliveries is a potential strike at Canada Post, where workers have been in a strike position since Sept. 26 after voting in late summer to support a walkout option.
Purolator, which is largely owned by Canada Post, declined to comment on whether it will be able to step in if a strike goes ahead.
Major U.S. delivery companies won’t necessarily be available to help step in.
United Parcel Service said that while it delivers medical cannabis within Canada, it has no plans to extend its service beyond that. FedEx’s service guide bans shipments of cannabis by default and a spokesman declined to say whether the company makes exceptions.
OTTAWA — The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said Tuesday it has given strike notice to Canada Post that workers could walk off the job as early as next week.
The union representing 50,000 Canada Post employees said rotating strikes will begin Monday if agreements aren’t reached with the Urban Postal Operations and Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers bargaining units.
The scale of the job action will depend in part on how talks go in the coming days, but union president Mike Palecek said they would look to avoid inconveniencing the public.
“Our aim is not to disrupt the public, it’s not to disrupt the service that we provide, that we’ve been defending for years, so we’re trying to come up with ways to put some pressure on Canada Post without impacting the public.”
The union decided to issue the strike notices after the nearly year-long talks stalled with the two sides fairly far apart, said Palecek.
“We’ve said we would remain at the table as long as progress is being made, and we’ve reached a point where we’re not seeing a lot of progress.”
He said the union, which provided five days notice rather than the 72 hours required, hopes the threat of job action will help the Crown corporation take the issues seriously.
The union has been pushing for 3.5 per cent annual wage increases but has been met with offers of increases below inflation, while health and safety concerns have also yet to be addressed, said Palecek.
Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said in a statement that the service has found common ground with the union on several issues including workload concerns and has made meaningful offers. “Canada Post has made significant offers to CUPW which include increased wages, job security, and improved benefits and has not asked for any concessions in return.”
The postal service will still be operational in the event of a strike, said Hamilton. “Canada Post will remain open for business, continuing to operate if the union decides to conduct rotating strikes across the country next week. We will notify customers of any disruptions planned by the union as soon as we are aware, however customers may experience some minor delays.”
The possibility of a work stoppage has hovered over Canada Post since Sept. 26 after postal workers voted overwhelmingly in late summer in support of a potential walkout to back their contract demands.
Canada Post is the biggest parcel shipping company in the country, having delivered about one million parcels per day during the holiday season last year — an increase of 20 per cent over the same period in 2016.
The postal service also has contracts with numerous provinces to deliver the legal online cannabis sales that begin today, including Ontario where online sales will be the only source of the product until next April.
Legal cannabis is set to usher in a wave of high-value, age-restricted parcels in the mail system, and delivery companies say they’re ready.
All provinces will require strict age verification of deliveries, but a combination of existing practices and new systems will help Purolator with the challenge, said Ramsey Mansour, vicepresident of corporate strategy and marketing at the company.
“We have set up the appropriate technologies, training, and processes in place to be able to address this growing market. So we feel that we’re adequately prepared.”
Parcels will have to be sealed and not state they contain cannabis to reduce security risks, but they will be marked as needing age verification. Those delivering the packages will also be notified that an age check is required.
Purolator, which has contracts in place to deliver cannabis for Alberta and Prince Edward Island, already delivers medical cannabis for about half of the producers so it is familiar with the added demands of delivering the product, Mansour said.
The volume is only expected to make up a percentage in the low single digits of overall parcels, and shouldn’t bog down the system, he said.
“I consider the volume to be sizable, but in relation to the overall growth and our overall volume, not as substantial.”
Canada Post Corp. will be dealing with far more parcels as it has numerous agreements in place with Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon, Nova Scotia, and Quebec.
While the company expects to see an increase in volumes, it will be able to handle it, assured spokesman Phil Legault. “We have the capacity to handle any expected increase at this time.”
Canada Post has been delivering medical cannabis since 2013, but is still working to ensure those involved are trained ahead of legalization, said Legault.