Introduction of UPS Saturday ground delivery to select locations in Canada.

Introduction of UPS Saturday ground delivery to select locations in Canada.

Traditionally, UPS parcel pickups and deliveries for ground services on Saturdays in Canada had incurred an extra fee. But starting in February 2024, UPS Standard services now include free Saturday deliveries for a number of select locations within Canada, typically the country’s larger urban centres. While this is very good news for UPS customers, shipping remains a significant cost to businesses and private citizens; however, Secureship can provide Canadians substantial savings to their shipping costs whether a parcel is bound across the country or around the world.

The following blog explains which Canadian regions are now eligible for free Saturday services and describes Secureship’s shipping and information services available at no cost to everyone.

Table of Contents

• UPS’s Saturday Service Regions in Canada
• One-Day and Two-Day Transit Origin Zones
• Secureship’s Services
• Conclusion

UPS’s Saturday Service Regions in Canada

One in two Canadians expect their online purchases to be delivered within two days, even if it includes weekends. So in early 2024, UPS started a no-extra-charge Saturday ground residential deliveries in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) when customers use UPS Standard Service. This large, densely populated region comprises Burlington on the west, Caledon Village and Newmarket in the north and as far east as Oshawa.

Soon afterwards, this practice was extended to include other Canadian urban areas in the Quebec regions of Montreal and Laval, Calgary, and Greater Vancouver.

One-Day and Two-Day Transit Origin Zones

As shown on the map below, UPS has also created One-Day and Two-Day Transit Origin Zones in Canada. In the One-Day zones, parcel pick-ups on a Friday will be delivered the next day on Saturday at no extra charge.

The One-Day region is for the Ontario and Quebec areas encompassed by Ontario’s Windsor, Sudbury, and Ottawa plus Montreal and the surrounding communities of the upper St. Lawrence Valley, but not Quebec City.

Communities in the Two-Day zones are guaranteed a Saturday delivery if the parcel is picked up on the previous Thursday.

The service regions of the Two-Day zones include:

• In Manitoba, a large oval-shaped area from west of Brandon, enclosing Winnipeg and lands south to the American border
• In Ontario, the city of Sault Ste. Marie and a thin band stretching eastward almost to Sudbury
• In Quebec, a very large swath from Rouyn-Noranda to Saguenay and Quebec City, and including the entire Gaspe Peninsula
• In the Maritimes, all of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and the New Brunswick cities of Fredericton, St. John, Moncton, and the Acadian Coast

Secureship’s Services

UPS’s announcement of expanded Saturday delivery services is a boon to its customers, but Secureship remains a key component helping Canadians save money on their shipping costs. With Secureship’s bulk buying agreements with UPS, FedEx, and Purolator, you could save up to half of the retail cost of a parcel’s shipping cost to anywhere in Canada or the world in general.

Further, Secureship’s website maintains a vast amount of shipping information freely available to you and your company. For instance, under the Support tab you will find four categories of help and information:

• Help Centre – a Gurubot with answers to 5,000-plus questions and an Instant Help option
• Learning Centre – 16 articles covering beginner and intermediate classes on shipping-related topics
• Country Shipping Guides – overviews of the importation rules regulations to more than 140 countries
• Blogs – more than 60 articles like this one that answer a range of questions about shipping in general and to specific countries like the USA, England, India, Australia, and New Zealand

Conclusion

In 2024, UPS started a free Saturday ground delivery service for several major Canadian cities and their greater urban regions – Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver. In addition, UPS has added One-Day and Two-Day Transit Origin Zones that will deliver a parcel on a Saturday when picked up on the previous Friday or Thursday, respectively. These zones cover the regions of southern Manitoba and Ontario, southern Quebec and the Gaspe Peninsula, and most of the Maritime provinces.

The new Saturday services are great for businesses and personal shipments, but remember that Secureship has substantially reduced its customer’s shipping costs (typically at least by half) during its 17 years of business. And during that time it has built a bank of articles on dozens of shipping-related topics and instant help to thousands of your shipping questions.