Customers are being urged to collect their parcels from the City Link's depots as soon as possible after the delivery giant entered administration on Christmas Day.
Customers and those expecting deliveries should collect their packages at one of the firm's five Scottish depots from Monday.
It follows the announcement on Thursday that almost 3,000 workers are facing redundancy as a result of years of "substantial losses".
The timing of the move was branded "disgraceful" by the RMT trade union, who said it was a "brutal and callous" way to treat staff.
The RMT said it believes there may have been "more cynical motives" behind the decision to "delay" the announcement until Christmas Day and demanded an investigation.
It said it had been told City Link was in administration on Christmas Eve, a fact neither the company or the administrators were prepared to confirm publicly until the following day.
Mick Cash, the RMT General Secretary, said: "The delayed timing of the announcement that City Link was in administration to tea time on Christmas Day stinks to high heaven.
"Not only was it the most brutal and callous way to treat nearly 3000 staff, but RMT believes there may have been more cynical motives behind it which we want the Government to investigate.
"The disgraceful timing of the City Link announcement at the start of the festive season must not be allowed to delay and hamper efforts to rescue the jobs. That is why RMT is demanding urgent meetings with both the administrators and Vince Cable, we will tolerate no dragging of heels. "
Mr Cash vowed the union would "do everything within its power to mobilise a political and industrial fight" to save jobs.
City Link operations have been suspended at all its depots until Monday, when customers who placed parcels with the company on Christmas Eve and those who have been notified of a failed or pending delivery are urged to retrieve their parcels.
In Scotland they can do so at the firm's depots in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Motherwell or Glenrothes, which will remain open for a short period of time.
A telephone helpline will be available today and from Monday, December 29 onwards. Online tracking is also still available.
City Link, owned by investment firm Better Capital, called in administrators Ernst & Young because no buyer could been found to save the company.
Join Administrator HUnter Kelly, of Ernst & Young, said: "City Link Limited has incurred substantial losses over several years.
"These losses reflect a combination of intense competition in the sector, changing customer and parcel recipient preferences, and difficulties for the company in reducing its cost base.
"The strain of these losses became too great and all but used up Better Capital's £40 million investment, which was made in 2013 and intended to help to turn around the company.
"Despite the best efforts to save City Link Limited, including marketing the company for sale, it could not continue to operate as a going concern and administrators were appointed."
The administrators added that a number of staff will be retained to help return parcels to customers and help with winding down the company.
Better Capital, led by veteran venture capitalist Jon Moulton, bought the courier group for just £1 in April last year from previous owner, pest control firm Rentokil.
Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna said on Twitter: "Feel terribly for City Link workers subjected to Christmas uncertainty. It's inexcusably cruel allowing things to reach this point at this time.
"I very much hope that a buyer can be found for as much of the City Link business as possible so the maximum number of jobs can be saved."
Founded in 1969, City Link said on its website that it had annual revenues of approximately £300 million, a fleet of 1,700 vehicles and delivered 60 million items across the UK and worldwide each year.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article