challenges facing express delivery services in canada's urban centres

Institute of Housing & Mobility
Challenges facing the EDS industry in Canada's urban centres
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Couriers and same-day messengers deliver 700 million letters, parcels, and packages every year
to millions of businesses across Canada. The nearly $8 billion industry serves businesses,
households, and other institutions that would not be able to conduct their operations without the
value-added services provided by the Canadian couriers and same day messengers.
Imagine buying or selling a property, which requires legal documents along with property keys to
be shipped back and forth between lawyers on the very same day. Imagine a local business
whose operation depends upon the timely arrival of a critical computer or assembly component.
Imagine retailers, who depend upon just-in-time deliveries of small packages of goods from many
different suppliers. Without same-day shipping services, the buyers and sellers would end up
paying hundreds of dollars (at times additional thousands of dollars) in bridge financing. Imagine
buying a gift on E-Bay one day and being unable to get it delivered to your home the next day.
These transactions would not transpire if there were no couriers and same-day messengers. The
industry behaves similar to infrastructure; hidden but working silently to ensure flows of goods
and services continue to reach their intended destinations.
Despite the important role played by EDS in economic growth and social cohesion, the industry
continues to struggle for recognition of its contribution in enabling the globalized economy.
Instead of being facilitated by planning authorities, the EDS faces censures and parking fines as it
strives to deliver time-sensitive material to the consignees who generate value and wealth in
Canada.
This report has therefore been prepared for policymakers, media, and the general public to:
1. document the scope and contribution of EDS to the Canadian economy,
2. ascertain potential impediments to efficient deliveries in urban cores,
3. identify any conflicts between a city’s desires to promote business growth with regulation,
policy, facilitation, and enforcement,
4. review parking regulation, administration, enforcement, and penalties, and
5. provide recommendations for practical short-term and longer-term solutions to urban
mobility challenges faced by EDS in Canada.
This report concludes that while the importance of couriers and same-day messengers to
businesses, hospitals, and households is paramount, their utility is not recognized by municipal
transport planners. While billions are being spent in improving accessibility for workers to the
business districts across Canada, almost no infrastructure is being dedicated for couriers and
same-day messengers. Their presence ensures that businesses that choose to locate in central
business districts are able to receive packages and parcels on time so that they could continue to
be competitive in a global marketplace. If billions could be spent on bus and LRT stops in
downtowns, which also take road space away from, why is no dedicated infrastructure being
planned for couriers and same day messengers whose delivery model measures time in seconds
and minutes.
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