Canada Post Woes (merged)

[IKnowNothing]

You’re not giving seniors enough credit. Look if my 90 year old father managed with a stroke, tapping away with one finger on the pop up keyboard then I think most seniors can get by just fine. Most tablets are available with add on keyboards. Modern tablets and phones have voice and facial recognition. Hey Siri…. Hey Google…open my savings account.

We're rapidly reaching an inflection point when it comes to seniors and tech. Trying to enable my then 86 year old grandmother who never had a computer, a cell phone, or even a cordless- was... not successful. Even with a user interface designed specifically for seniors (large buttons, very flat operating system pathways with direct return to home at all times) it was unrecognizable to anything she'd ever handled before. Any form of modern compatibility required learning something new.

The next class up in their 60's and 70's now? Have had computers and emails for decades, facebook and smart phones for almost as long. That doesn't make them tech savants by any means, but keeping them online well into retirement won't require learning something new as long as there remains some backwards compatibility to the OS', UI's, and hardware they're comfortable with, and fonts/ buttons can be made larger.

 

[OldSolduer]

How is the new offer being sent?

A combo of Amazon, UPS and FedEx.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Rough back-of-envelope calculations: say about 2 1/2 million people in Canada over the age of 75, with some (many? YMMV) who can't or won't easily access online services. Does Canada continue to subsidize a public service, or at least the most labour-intensive bits, for them?

It's like transit. People that need it, need it bad. When funding is cut, service sucks more, and fewer people end up using it, leading to others who say, "see, nobody's even using the bus anymore." And so it goes.

I see people on the socials complaining that VIA was going to try a "pilot" where the passenger train from Toronto to Montreal would on longer stop at Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston and Belleville - and even VIA thought twice ....

Via Rail hits the brakes on nonstop Montreal-Toronto service pilot project

Via Rail has hit the brakes on nonstop service on some trains travelling between Montréal–Toronto due to “operational constraints” with CN, according to the Crown corporation.

www.ctvnews.ca

Besides, funny hearing people on the socials who are generally keen on privatizing the service more, or cutting a state service, also pushing 15-minute-city responses like "go to where the density is" and "sucks to be remote"

 

[kratz]

...<snip>

Besides, funny hearing people on the socials who are generally keen on privatizing the service more, or cutting a state service, also pushing 15-minute-city responses like "go to where the density is" and "sucks to be remote"

The same people advocating for a 15-minute city ect... hold a myopic worldview. I have a colleague who swears by the benefits of his electric vehicle. For his lifestyle within the urban area of the HRM, I can not disagree with him. Last spring, for work, he had to drive to Toronto and back. Despite the many issues and struggles he encountered throughout his return travel, his mind is made up and EVs are the way to go. Maybe if he drove through a winter storm?

 

[mariomike]

Last spring, for work, he had to drive to Toronto and back. Despite the many issues and struggles he encountered throughout his return travel, his mind is made up and EVs are the way to go. Maybe if he drove through a winter storm?

I prefer the sleeper train for a round- trip of that distance. 12070

Understood, may not always be practical.

Canada Post thing reminds me when they stopped picking our garbage at the side door. Now you have to wheel it down to the end of the driveway.

You get used to it.

 

[lenaitch]

You get used to it.

Unless I've missed it, nobody is saying that Canada Post will be wound up or privatized; just that service levels and accessibility will adjusted to bring the subsidies out of the stratosphere.

We're rapidly reaching an inflection point when it comes to seniors and tech. Trying to enable my then 86 year old grandmother who never had a computer, a cell phone, or even a cordless- was... not successful. Even with a user interface designed specifically for seniors (large buttons, very flat operating system pathways with direct return to home at all times) it was unrecognizable to anything she'd ever handled before. Any form of modern compatibility required learning something new.

The next class up in their 60's and 70's now? Have had computers and emails for decades, facebook and smart phones for almost as long. That doesn't make them tech savants by any means, but keeping them online well into retirement won't require learning something new as long as there remains some backwards compatibility to the OS', UI's, and hardware they're comfortable with, and fonts/ buttons can be made larger.

It will become easier no doubt, but every situation is individual. Lost/diminished eyesight, upper body paralysis resulting from a stroke, etc. Even we who grew up with it have different levels of comfort. I can 'get by' but my wife is fairly basic. Not bad once she learns the rote tasks, but little understanding of the processes in case something goes a little sideways or, as has happened, Microsoft et al decide to come out with a new version that does the same thing completely differently. The wrong button or icon selected that sends you off to never-neverland with no clue how to get back. Cognitive diminishment is a thing.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Unless I've missed it, nobody is saying that Canada Post will be wound up or privatized; just that service levels and accessibility will adjusted to bring the subsidies out of the stratosphere.

For now …

 

[RangerRay]

Unless I've missed it, nobody is saying that Canada Post will be wound up or privatized; just that service levels and accessibility will adjusted to bring the subsidies out of the stratosphere.


It will become easier no doubt, but every situation is individual. Lost/diminished eyesight, upper body paralysis resulting from a stroke, etc. Even we who grew up with it have different levels of comfort. I can 'get by' but my wife is fairly basic. Not bad once she learns the rote tasks, but little understanding of the processes in case something goes a little sideways or, as has happened, Microsoft et al decide to come out with a new version that does the same thing completely differently. The wrong button or icon selected that sends you off to never-neverland with no clue how to get back. Cognitive diminishment is a thing.

Never mind where I work, most of the Gen Z and Millennials are complete luddites compared to the Gen Xers like me. They can get onto TikTok and whatever other social media, but good luck getting them to use a desktop application designed specifically for their job without them acting like a Boomer struggling with AOL…