Canada Post makes free pick-up offer for business parcels

For the next few weeks, businesses in Canada can arrange for a free pick-up for their parcels at the touch of a button, with a new promotion from Canada Post. The offer runs until September 30th to highlight Canada Post’s enhanced online capabilities, although pickups that include at least one Priority Next A.M. or Priority Worldwide package will continue to be free after the offer runs out.

Canada Post said its business customers can now schedule, modify or cancel On-Demand and Scheduled Pickup requests through the Canada Post website at canadapost.ca/pickup.

The Corporation has dispensed with minimum volumes for its on-demand parcel pickups, which are now available to business customers for all parcel services. Ordinarily, a pick-up fee of $3.50 applies to on-demand collections, and will return from October onwards if pick-ups do not include priority items.

A range of Electronic Shipping Tools is also available online to help prepare shipments prior to pick-up, and payments can be made with a credit card.

The Corporation is also hoping to encourage new business with the offer, and rebuild public confidence after the service disruption from this summer’s industrial action, by making it easier for smaller businesses to use its shipping services.

Smaller businesses

Jacques Cote, president of Canada Post’s Physical Delivery Network, said his company was extending on demand pickup to smaller businesses on Canada Post’s VentureOne loyalty program for the first time.

Canada Post told Post&Parcel that a small e-commerce company, for example, could sign up for the The VentureOne program and save up to 8% on shipping services using the Electronic Shipping Tools, and after preparing shipments online would then click the provided link to schedule an on-demand pick-up, paying for the shipment with a credit card.

“The free On-Demand Parcel Pickup is a great opportunity for a business to experience our parcel shipping services, domestically and internationally, and compare our very competitive prices,” said Cote. “The new online access makes it that much more convenient.”

Along with the promotion on On-Demand pickups, Canada Post said today that it has also improved the fee structure for its Scheduled Pickup service, “making the service free for more customers than ever before”.

Fees for the service now depend on the total parcel business a commercial shipping customer has with Canada Post over a whole year, rather than based on individual weekly volumes.