'4 or 5 day backlog': Christmas shipping deadline nears for Vancouver Islanders

Christmas Day is a little more than a week away, and if you’re still needing to send a gift to loved ones, you most likely have until Friday to do so.

There was a long line up on Thursday inside the Canada Post building in downtown Victoria. People were cutting it close but are confident their gifts will make it to their destination before Christmas Day.

"I shipped a large box, about 15 pounds," said one women. When asked if she thinks her package is going to make it to it’s destination on time, she replied with confidence.

"Yes it will," she said.

Another man wasn’t so sure.

"I tried to cut it pretty close to the wire I guess but, yeah, we managed to get it in on time, hopefully," he said.

If you’re looking to send a parcel through Canada Post locally, you have until the 21st. Regionally, you have until Friday, and if you're hoping to send one nationally you’ve already missed your deadline. That is, unless you choose to pay for Xpresspost or Priority, when the deadline is the 21st.

"If you want to send something out to the Interior, I would say today or tomorrow is your last day to send it out," said Al Hasham, president and CEO of Maximum Courier Freight and Logistics.

"There is about a four or five day backlog already."

That backlog is being blamed on a number of factors including flooding that severed transportation routes in the Interior, ongoing staffing shortages and an increase in people shipping goods due to the pandemic.

"I recommend to everybody that is wanting to get anything done locally, buy local and have us deliver it," said Hasham. "It will get there by Christmas."

Locally, Maximum Couriers will be delivering right up until the 24th.

"It’s busy," said Alex Fieger of Geazone Eco-Couriers.

The zero emissions courier service delivers packages using electric and hydrogen-electric vehicles in Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.

With the popularity of their services increasing among environmentally conscious clients, business is brisk. It’s deadline for shipping regionally is almost up as well.

"I would say probably anytime now, so today or tomorrow," said Fieger.

It's a common message on Vancouver Island.

"We’ve gotten a lot busier with Christmas deliveries," said Josh Goldstein, co-owner if NomadEx Bike Cargo. "It’s kind of nice to play Santa."

NomadEx makes its deliveries by using peddle power in Victoria's core.

"We have a lot of deliveries in downtown Victoria as well as Oak Bay and Esquimalt," said Goldstein. "It’s kind of why we operate with more of a 'cargo style' bikes (because) we’re able to carry almost as much as a van can without having any emissions being a part of it."

NomadEx’s cut-off date is the 23rd with final deliveries going out on the 24th.