NORTH BAY - While Canadians wait for vaccines to put an end to the pandemic, postal workers believe there is no cure on the way for the current online shopping epidemic.
Lisa Davis is a rural-suburban mail carrier for Canada Post in North Bay. She says so far they are 75 per cent above normal parcel volume during the month of January.
"Usually we get a slowdown and I range around 50 to 55 parcels for about a month before they start going back up and yesterday I had 130 so it is a big difference," she told BayToday.
She says the new lockdown orders are not helping to bring those high parcel numbers down.
It has become a struggle for many.
"We just do what we do and put our nose to the ground and go," she admitted.
"I mean our bodies hurt after and with the weather we have to be very careful as my last shift was super slippery.
"A lot of the RSC's are in the older generation so they range from the age of 50 to 70 so for their bodies it is really hard. We were all hoping for a break after Christmas and it is just not coming and we were told today it is just going to get worse."
The only relief the mail carriers have received in 2021 so far is the mild weather.
"It has been nice," admitted Davis about the January weather so far.
"This is the first January in 10 years that I have not had to wear gloves, so that's been nice but I think we are going to pay for it in February."
However, as mentioned, Davis realizes they will likely continue with a storm of activity in the coming months.