Is Canada Post really back on track after a lengthy strike and lockout? In OpenFile’s quest to find out, we’re tracking a package of six homemade maple almond-butter cookies as they make their way to OpenFile offices across Canada.

The journey started in Montreal, and its next stop is Halifax.

Montreal

Sent: Aug. 16

This recipe was easy to bake and produced cookies that are sweet, soft and chewy—and should withstand the bumps and bruises of a cross-Canada trip.

Sylvain, who runs the local postal outlet down the street from where I live, assures me Canada Post delivery is back to normal since the strike. He says my package will arrive at OpenFile's Ottawa office in three days.

Ottawa

Received: Aug. 18
Sent: Aug. 23

Here in Ottawa, the package arrived right on time. We added a pair of chocolate chip cookies—a basic recipe, sure, but a delicacy of wide repute, and one that's sure to have made countless trips through the mail (care packages to homesick students in residence, anyone?).

The man behind the counter assured me the package will arrive in Toronto by Friday, Aug. 26. We've marked the date on our calendar.

Toronto

Received: Aug. 30
Sent: Sept. 2

They were two days late, sure, but both Dominique and Nick's cookies fared the trip quite well. I'd have taken a picture of them when they arrived, but I just couldn't help myself. Note to Dominique: were those walnuts in the peanut butter cookie? Nice addition!

While on my way to pick up the cookies at OpenFile HQ I met Andrew Harmon, our CFO, in the hall. I asked him what he thought I should bake for the package's next stop.

"If you really want to test Canada Post," he said, "make something crumbly, like a shortbread. Otherwise, chewy cookies tend to hold up well."

So I made these. Hope you like, Sheryl!

Laila, who works the Canada Post counter nearest my home, says you should receive the package by Thursday, September 8.

Hamilton

Received: Sept.8
Sent: Sept.12

Chantal’s delicious choco-marshmallow cookies arrived right on time, six days after they were sent. From Toronto. I would just like to point out that it took three days for the cookies to travel from Montreal to Ottawa but six to get to Hamilton from Toronto.

I wanted to send Trevor treats with true Hamilton flavour. But not being much of a baker myself, I obviously hit up the Tim Horton’s down the block. Alas, Tim’s ginormous cookies were too big for our narrow, rectangular box.

So, Trevor, you will receive some grocery store bakery counter oatmeal-raisin cookies. The woman at the post office assured me they will arrive in six business days.

Calgary

Received: Sept. 20
Sent: Sept. 22

Visa bill. Ignore. Electric bill. Ugh. Watchtower newsletter… what the? Cookies! Finally.

Eight days. That’s 192 hours. Or 11,520 minutes. No matter how you calculate it, that’s a long time to be camped out next to a mailbox anxiously awaiting the arrival of box of cookies.

But that’s how long it took Canada Post to ship Sheryl’s oatmeal-raisin cookies from Hamilton to Calgary. It’s also two days longer than the six-day delivery Canada Post had promised.

For what it’s worth, Google Maps notes the roughly 3,300-kilometre trip from Hamilton to Calgary could be completed in one day and 16 hours by car; while a cyclist could (in ideal conditions I’m sure) pedal that distance in seven days and five hours. Just saying Canada Post. Just saying.

Now, Sheryl wanted to send us cookies with “true Hamilton flavour.” And as I noted while shoveling the baked goods into my mouth, you can indeed, “really taste the Hamilton.”

To which Zoey Duncan, OpenFile Calgary’s news curator replied: “Yeah, steely.”

So, while Hamilton’s oatmeal-raisin cookies apparently have a “steely” aftertaste, we await OpenFile Vancouver’s verdict on the white-chocolate-macadamia-something-or-other cookies procured from my neighbourhood bakery — which, according to Canada Post, should arrive in four business days.

Vancouver

Received: Sept. 27
Sent: Oct. 6

In five short days from shipment, I received a stack of Calgary-baked cookies that were so big they would have put any IHOP pancake breakfast plate to shame. That’s right. The chocolate and macadamia nut goodness took only three business days to arrive–one day before deadline! And the only thing that tastes better than cookies is early cookies.

The cookies were delicious–although I was hoping for a glass of milk, which Calgary editor Trevor Scott Howell forgot to pour into the box. I imagine I will get over it eventually.

For our OpenFile friends on the Atlantic, I wanted to send cookies that were quintessentially Vancouver, but Halifax editor Neal Ozano told me, “None of these no-fat no-sugar no-flour no-nuts no-chocolate no-dairy ones, right?”

The only other “stereotypical” Vancouver baked good I could think of to send would have gotten me into legal trouble. So instead, I mailed a collection of shortbread cookies from a French bakery around the corner from my house.

I will be shocked if they arrive in Halifax in any other form but powder. Their only hope is that they become too stale to crumble before they're completely man-handled.

Canada Post told me the package would take nine business days to travel coast to coast. Taking into account the long weekend, they should arrive on Oct. 19.

Why are we doing this?

It all started with mopheadf, an OpenFile member who posted a growing file on our site.

"I've been hearing a lot of reports through word-of-mouth and the #CanadaPost tag on twitter that there have been wild delays since the strike," Mopheadf wrote.

We've assigned the file to a reporter who will be talking to Canada Post about their recovery after the strike.

So, what do you think? Have you had any problems with Canada Post since the strike? Any delivery delays? Let us know by leaving a comment, and check back often to see how our cookies are doing.

Chocolate chip cookies. Classic.