Canada Post Woes (merged)

[dapaterson]

This is a perfect example of why public sector unions should have no right to strike. The union is hoping their favourite political party will bail them out while ignoring the fact that major structural changes need to happen to retain a majority of the jobs and service in Canada Post. These guys are going to strike themselves right into the collapse of Canada Post.

The structural changes have been repeatedly overridden by the GoC.

Suspending labour rights to stop workers is not a viable solution; abandoning the idea that public services must make a profit is.

 

[PuckChaser]

The structural changes have been repeatedly overridden by the GoC.

Suspending labour rights to stop workers is not a viable solution; abandoning the idea that public services must make a profit is.

They should break even but we shouldn't be dumping tax dollars into a failed business model so we can keep some cushy public servants jobs around.

 

[lenaitch]

They should break even but we shouldn't be dumping tax dollars into a failed business model so we can keep some cushy public servants jobs around.

I'm not convinced the impetus to keep the current business model flows solely from concerns over public servant jobs. The government would have to expend political capital convincing Canadians that they can no longer mail a Christmas card to Aunt Martha across the country for the same price as around the block. From what I have read, CP parcel service either breaks even or shows a small profit (not bad considering they only compete on a Monday to Friday basis) but their standard mail service is heavily subsidized.

 

[dapaterson]

They should break even but we shouldn't be dumping tax dollars into a failed business model so we can keep some cushy public servants jobs around.

So... remote / rural areas should pay a large premium to send /receive mail then?

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

So... remote / rural areas should pay a large premium to send /receive mail then?

And its amazing how many small business count on it. I have a buddy who sell led's and roms for pinball machines who can't survive without it, and even a larger place like Pinball Medics in Ottawa has already stopped shipping orders because of all the f#ckery from last time.

I don't think anyone wants it status quo eating our tax dollars, but Canada needs CP to deliver at least twice a week. That'd still save a ton of money.........well, except like an organization this website is dedicated too, does anyone think they'd shrink the HQ's?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I get my bills by email. 99.9% of my packages come by courier. All my postman brings is flyers and ads for lawn care and junk food.

I don’t have any lawns and I don't eat junk food.

I can't get excited for Canada Post, their budgets or their workers.

carney could always give them the 1.5 billion he gives to the CBC.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Edited

 

[daftandbarmy]

From 2023... this current situation is not a big surprise

Our financial picture​

As a Crown corporation, Canada Post has a duty to report its financial results to Canadians. This process is an essential part of our accountability to Canadians and Parliament. It includes our responsibility to report about the company’s financial picture on a going-concern basis and our ability to operate in a financially self-sustaining manner. Canada Post’s operations are funded by revenue generated by the sale of postal products and services, not taxpayer dollars.

Canada Post’s financial situation is unsustainable. The Corporation has recorded significant annual losses since 2018, fuelled by rapid changes in the postal and parcel delivery sectors and legacy regulatory measures that impede the company’s ability to evolve and compete.

For 2023, the Corporation recorded a loss before tax of $748 million, compared to a loss before tax of $548 million in 2022. From 2018 to 2023, Canada Post lost $3 billion before taxes. Without changes and new operating parameters to address our challenges, we forecast larger and increasingly unsustainable losses in future years.

Canada Post is at a critical juncture in its history. With financial pressures mounting, its long-standing role as a vital, publicly owned national infrastructure for Canadians and Canadian businesses is under significant threat.

Our financial picture | 2023 Annual Report

Canada Post’s financial situation is unsustainable. Get a high-level overview of the corporation’s financial challenges.

www.canadapost-postescanada.ca

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I'm not convinced the impetus to keep the current business model flows solely from concerns over public servant jobs. The government would have to expend political capital convincing Canadians that they can no longer mail a Christmas card to Aunt Martha across the country for the same price as around the block. From what I have read, CP parcel service either breaks even or shows a small profit (not bad considering they only compete on a Monday to Friday basis) but their standard mail service is heavily subsidized.

The good thing about CP is it cannot just abandon rural Canada. The private companies will, unless you pay a lot of money for crappy service. So you get milked by the companies instead of workers who will send their money in the communities they serve. Not to mention, it's often those government jobs which the spouse has that keeps a lot of small rural businesses functioning through the hard times and a lot of the farmers and ranchers depend on their spouse having that steady job.

 

[lenaitch]

I get my bills by email. 99.9% of my packages come by courier. All my postman brings is flyers and ads for lawn care and junk food.

I don’t have any lawns and I don't eat junk food.

I can't get excited for Canada Post, their budgets or their workers.

carney could always give them the 1.5 billion he gives to the CBC.

Good for you, but a lot of small business rely on CP. I don't buy a lot of EBay but my last two - one domestic, one from the US - came via CP. There are people, often the elderly, who don't want/trust electronic business or banking transactions. It's not that many years ago we were on DSL Internet service and a lot of websites, including government ones like the CRA, don't play well with slower speeds.

 

[lenaitch]

The good thing about CP is it cannot just abandon rural Canada. The private companies will, unless you pay a lot of money for crappy service. So you get milked by the companies instead of workers who will send their money in the communities they serve. Not to mention, it's often those government jobs which the spouse has that keeps a lot of small rural businesses functioning through the hard times and a lot of the farmers and ranchers depend on their spouse having that steady job.

This is part of a 'death by a thousand cuts' to many smaller communities. Although it's not within the mandate or budget to directly support a local economy, as various government departments retreat from smaller communities, it has a direct impact. In Ontario, the OPP, MNR, MTO have slowly migrated away from offices in smaller towns. Banks are doing the same. When these good, steady, incomes go, so follows the grocery store, drug store, maybe the school.

 

[Brad Sallows]

More contracting. More PO and community boxes in low-population and high-density areas; many fewer deliveries-to-door. More flexible hours. More realistic rates.

There are no complete solutions, but there are mitigating solutions.

 

[AmmoTech90]

More PO and community boxes in low-population and high-density areas

So suburban, single family homes keep door to door? Rural and inner city and row house plebs get community mail?

 

[Halifax Tar]

So suburban, single family homes keep door to door? Rural and inner city and row house plebs get community mail?

I'm in an inner city single family home and we have community mail boxes.

 

[dapaterson]

I'm in an inner city single family home and we have community mail boxes.

In the last community mailbox implementation they brought them in for the next street over, but the program was stopped before they could bring them to my street.

There is a culture of entitlement that government has deferred to, rather than taking a short term hit and making the decisions needed to reorg Canada Post.

TL;DR make me walk to pick up my mail.

 

[QV]

I'm in an inner city single family home and we have community mail boxes.

I've lived in several municipalities over the last few decades and I can't remember when I last had home delivery mail from CP. Community mailboxes since at least 2004 and probably longer.

 

[Brad Sallows]

So suburban, single family homes keep door to door?

Probably not. My suburban single family home neighbourhood is all community mailboxes, and has been for at least 17 years. It isn't a hardship.

Rural and inner city and row house plebs get community mail?

Nice fishing expedition. See above.

 

[RangerRay]

In the last community mailbox implementation they brought them in for the next street over, but the program was stopped before they could bring them to my street.

There is a culture of entitlement that government has deferred to, rather than taking a short term hit and making the decisions needed to reorg Canada Post.

TL;DR make me walk to pick up my mail.

The last time they tried to do away with home delivery, all I heard was “what about the old folks?” My Facebook feed was full of memes of old people walking to the mailbox in a snowstorm. It made it sounds like all the old folks would die of isolation or exposure if they had to walk to the mailbox. It was crazy.

 

[Remius]

There might be a private business model to be had in remote areas in a service that goes to your communal box and brings you your mail.

 

[Halifax Tar]

The last time they tried to do away with home delivery, all I heard was “what about the old folks?” My Facebook feed was full of memes of old people walking to the mailbox in a snowstorm. It made it sounds like all the old folks would die of isolation or exposure if they had to walk to the mailbox. It was crazy.

We need to stop pandering to that demographic.