By Gary Screaton Page
Now, let me see. Do I have this right?
Canada Post is saying it is losing money. Therefore, they have decided to reduce service and increase cost to consumers. What other business works with this logic driving the enterprise? Surely, increasing service, and decreasing cost to consumers is a better option.
Dr. Gary Screaton Page
I remember when I first moved into a house where a trip to the local post office replaced home delivery. Being in a small town, the local post office is where I often met with neighbours and chatted. That works in a small town. However, when I moved to a house where there was a collection box down the street, I met fewer neighbours and in the winter certainly didn’t stop to talk. The handicapped neighbour needed someone to get the mail in the winter as getting to the mailbox was impossible as snow removing often came a day or two after a heavy fall of snow.
When Canada Post took home delivery away from my city neighbourhood, they still home delivered mail to neighbours with older homes. I was not happy. We got less service for the same tax dollars as our nearby neighbours. I quit sending mail, too, when the price went up. Now I send only a few letters per month — mostly to pay bills. With the increased postage rate — a dollar for single letters — I will turn to online bill payment saving myself nearly $60 per year.
The less service I get for increased fees for that service, the more I turn to other sources, which, by the way, seem to be more efficient. They get “mail” to and from me in a day or two. Canada Post has taken up to two weeks to get mail sent to me, to my home.
Less service for more money? What organization can stay in business and break even, let alone make money, with that business philosophy. Duhhh!!!
Canada Post needs to rethink its priorities and be the best at what others cannot do and not be second-rate compared to other companies that do more for less.
Seniors need mail delivery in many cases. How much better would it have been to reduce delivery days rather than increase prices and reduce home delivery even further?
Frankly, there was a time I’d have been quite happy to pay $200 per year for front door delivery and a more reasonable price for postage. Ah, perhaps there is another alternative. If indeed, the annual cost of home delivery is $200 per household and drop box cost is somewhere around $125 per household per year, why not choose the former and let us pay directly for the service.
Let us pay that per year, and not increase postal rates. Canada Post then could continue home delivery even where neighbourhood boxes are now located, and help seniors out at the same time. Wouldn’t that keep more people employed and off welfare or unemployment? Wouldn’t that encourage greater use of the service? Wouldn’t that make better business sense? Or, did I miss something?
When one factors in the increase in the price of postage, add the box charge, paying directly for better service is a good deal. More people would keep jobs. Canada Post would better serve its customers, and who knows people might continue using the service. As it is, if other customers are like me, they will use the service even less or not at all. They’ll turn even more to other alternatives.
Ah, but then, that may well be the government agenda in the long run—rid itself of Canada Post. However, that is a discussion topic for another time.
Dr. Gary Screaton Page is the author of ‘Being the Parent YOU Want to Be: 12 Communication Skills for Effective Parenting’. He has served, for years, as Chaplain with the Niagara Regional Police Service and he has provided counselling and other assistance to many newcomers to this region of Canada. He has also been an ongoing supporter and contributor of commentary to Niagara At Large.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
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This is what is going on in the US too!
It used to be that we developed Government to do those things that we ourselves cannot do. So those agencies like the Post deliver mail so we don’t have to walk across town to get a message to friends.
But poor management and gaming what should be a simple system males it unaffordable so you end up having to do it yourself
But sadly the highest paid vestiges of the abandoned system remain in place. The workers are abandoned.
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Looks like this “Sky-is-falling” report “supposedly” prompting these cuts is a setup getting part or all of Canada Post privatized at a fraction of its real value. A corrupt gravy train for party supporters.. Canada Post has not lost money over the last 10 years. The exception was the 2011 self inflicted lock out.
The Postal Worker Union site points out some better options. See: http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/1165/la_id/1.htm
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Dr Page (or is it Screaton-Page?) makes some very good points. I am taking a slightly different view.
When I first heard about the cutbacks, I wondered if Canada Post was doing what the hospitals do when the government says it is going to cut funding for hospitals – announce dismissals of front-line workers so the taxpayers will get up-in-arms and scream at the politicians. The hope being, of course, that the politicians will shy away from the public outcry and reinstate the funding.
Is Canada Post management threatening to get rid of door-to-door delivery in the hope that we, the taxpayers, will scream at our MPs, who in turn will scream at the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (Harper & Flaherty) in the hopes the government will give Canada Post money to maintain delivery?
We live in a semi-rural area outside Hamilton. At least half of the people in our little subdivision are retired. Some are well into their 80s. The main road is about 6/10 of a kilometre from our house. There is a Canada Post mailbox there — where we can drop outgoing mail. In the winter, it is almost impossible to drop mail because the city plows bury the box. What will happen if they put the group mailboxes there? Poor old Harold, who lives four doors away and is 83 is going to have a hell of a time getting his mail. It will be worse for his wife because she has trouble walking. Don’t suggest driving to the mailbox – the main road I am talking about is a two-lane highway that serves several very large quarries. There is a steady stream of large multi-axle tractor-trailer dump trucks all day and most of the night. On a day like today, where the temperature was 16F (-9C) It is cruel to expect a senior citizen, who worked for years to pay his taxes and keep society going, to struggle for a kilometre only to find he cannot get at the mailbox — or to find that Canada Post has failed to deliver on time!
Has Canada Post considered the possibility of going to every-other-day service? That would mean delivery Mon-Wed-Fri one week and Tues-Thurs the next. That would reduce the number of delivery employees needed in half.
I very rarely send out mail. I pay all my bills online. I receive most of my bills online as well. But I am very much aware that many people, especially older folks, are not comfortable with that. Why should they be penalized by having to pay $1.00 for every bill they pay by mail?
If Canada Post insists on reducing service, they damn well should reduce their prices!
As a small-c conservative, I am appalled that our federal government would even consider allowing this to happen. I also find it interesting that they waited until all eyes were on South Africa and the death of Nelson Mandella to make this public. The Prime Minister should be ashamed. This is the type of stunt I expect from Liberals!
If and when this comment is posted publicly, I will send the link to my local MP to let him know how I feel.
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Looking at the G20 countries and how they are handling the issue tells us that Canada is banking on private industry to do the job while other countries have innovated and increased their mail service. This is just another way the Harper government will divest themselves of anything to do with government services. This way don’t wont have to take the blame if anything goes wrong and can point the finger and say what they usually say, “it’s their fault no ours”.
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Excellent CBC interview:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/audioplayer.html?clipid=2423904756
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