Ombudsman’s report

The Office of the Ombudsman is independent of Canada Post staff and management in that it reports to the Chair of the Board of Directors. It gives Canadians another avenue if they feel Canada Post did not live up to its service commitments. It investigates customer complaints and recommends fair and equitable solutions. By identifying trends, focusing on prevention and recommending changes as needed, it also offers Canada Post another perspective to improve service.

In 2019, the overall number of appeals filed with our office fell 29 per cent. This is the fourth consecutive year they declined, despite the significant increase in parcel volumes over that time. In 2018, the number of appeals declined by 11 per cent, in 2017 they fell by 8 per cent, and in 2016 they fell by 2 per cent.

Compared to 2018, we saw a decrease in nine of the top 10 most common kinds of appeals.

The number of appeals related to the Canadian Postal Service Charter decreased by 698, or by 25 per cent over last year. This decrease was due primarily to fewer reported issues reaching customer service.

The average number of issues raised per individual appeal form has also been falling steadily over the past five years. It went from 2.3 issues per appeal form in 2015 down to 1.4 in 2019.

In 2019, we received 3,449 appeals, compared to 4,855 in 2018. Of the 1,678 cases for which we completed an in-depth investigation, 45 per cent resulted in corrective action. In the rest, our investigation supported Canada Post’s actions. Corrective action was also needed in 45 per cent of cases in 2018.

Slightly more than half the appeals did not result in an in-depth investigation because customers withdrew their submission before our investigation concluded, or they had reached out to us before Canada Post had time to fully address their issue.

The Office of the Ombudsman’s Annual Report will be available at canadapost.ca/ombudsman.