It’s not uncommon to see the dreaded Canada Post’s Attempted Delivery, Notice Card Left tracking status nowadays.
Funny enough, many recipients are home the whole day, and even when they look at their CCTV footage, there is no sign of the said delivery attempt.
For others, there is no Notice Card left despite the tracking page showing such.
What might be the issue? Is there anything I can do about it? For these, and many finer details, let’s get to it right away.
Table of Contents
What Does The Canada Post’s Attempted Delivery Update Mean?
When Canada Post says that they attempted delivery, they mean that one of their drivers tried to deliver a parcel but was unable to leave it there as there was no one available to pick it up.
What Does “Notice Card Left” Mean?
The ‘Notice Card Left’ Canada Post tracking status means that since they tried to deliver your package and you weren’t at home to pick it up, they left a notice in your community mailbox or under your door showing you to arrange for another delivery or which post office you can go to pick up your package.
Why Does Canada Post Say ‘Attempted Delivery, Notice Card Left’ But They Didn’t?
From our definitions above, you expect that Canada Post really attempted to make the delivery and left the notice.
But what if you were home the whole day or the CCTV cameras never captured any attempted delivery?
Well, from our experience and based on our audience, it happens sometimes that some Posties rush to just indicate that they attempted deliveries when they didn’t.
These are the reasons why Canada Post says “Attempted delivery, notice card left” when they didn’t attempt anything:
Over-assessed Routes
Some of the delivery routes, especially in huge towns and cities get over-assessed to ensure that everything flows efficiently.
Since the delivery agents have a set deadline to complete the deliveries, they sometimes don’t manage within the provided timeframe, making it easier for them to card whatever is left with the hope of completing the pending packages the following business day.
Carding such packages is a way of avoiding trouble, which is in the real sense inconvenient for most recipients, and amounts to fraud. Really.
Lazy Delivery Agents
As is the case with every other courier company, Canada Post is also prone to lazy delivery agents who card most of the shipments to relax or complete their cycle early.
What’s so unfortunate at this point is that they are under union protection, making it hard for them to suffer any dire consequences such as getting fired.
Something Unexpected Happened
Unforeseeable circumstances that call for some “me time” happen all the time and some of the Posties opt to card everything when they are having a bad day.
Seriously, this is bad behavior by all measures of standards and shouldn’t be excused. But it still happens anyway, and while at it, it’s beyond the recipient’s control.
Mis-scanning
For other recipients, it happens that there was no attempted delivery made or any notice card left, despite the tracking status showing so.
In fact, most of the recipients confirm that at the time they received that status, they were home the whole day and no postie came. Others say that none of the CCTV footage captured any delivery attempt or anyone leaving a notice.
When you confirm that none of this happened, it’s a classic example of mis-scanning.
Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for Canada Post to rectify such mishaps, especially when the sender gets in touch with them.
What Should I Do When Canada Post Says “Attempted Delivery, Notice Card Left?”
Look At What The Card Says
When the tracking page says that a notice card was left and you find it may be in the community mailbox or under your door, see what it says.
If they have left a number that you can call to schedule redelivery, please call them. If they ask you to go and retrieve it in your local post, do so.
If there was no notice card left, read our recommendation below.
Contact The Sender
Since the sender should ensure that you end up getting your package, we recommend that you contact them should what Canada Post says be the opposite.
When you contact them, they can take it up with Canada Post and see if they can shape up your redelivery.
If that is impossible for them, you can agree with the sender to send you a replacement package or a refund.
We mostly don’t recommend contacting Canada Post when you are the recipient as they don’t do much. They handle the senders better as they are contracted to them.
If you would rather deal with Canada Post no matter what gives, you can contact them and complain about their wrong scan until they solve the problem.
All in all, Canada Post posties shouldn’t card stuff whenever they feel like it. They are paid to ensure that they attempt deliveries. Anything like lying to recipients that they have attempted deliveries when all they did was to card everything amounts to fraud.