Canada Post on strike...again!

[RGM81]

What travelling is involved? Most community mailboxes are on the same block as the residents or at most a block away. Are people that lazy and entitled that they can't step out of their homes and walk a block or two to get their mail?

Senior citizens with mobility issues

This is the correct answer. I've got a community mailbox on my street, it's great not a problem at all for me. But that being said, there's some donkeys in our neighbourhood that sometimes park their oversized vehicles right up on the sidewalk which would make it very difficult if not outright impossible for someone in a wheelchair, scooter, etc. with limited mobility to get around/through without being at risk for their safety. Throw in the winter conditions that aren't far off, we've also got some donkeys who don't shovel their sidewalk in a timely manner. It is only a couple hundred metres, but for those with physical limitations you don't want it to be a treacherous journey.

Don't forget also that in some more remote areas of the country there is ONLY Canada Post as a delivery service to those areas. They're the only ones with the infrastructure and capacity to deliver to all Canadians. They need to transform the model of the business itself so that it isn't regarded in the same way as a for-profit business. It isn't that and it should never have been intended to be that. It's an essential service. That doesn't give them carte blanche to be reckless with the spending but it needs to exist because if it goes away, there will be millions of people who suddenly won't have any access to regular delivery because the alternatives, who are for-profit businesses and thus care predominantly about the bottom line and not people, won't fill that void since it's not consistent with the business model.

[theboxbreaker96]

Yup RGM; delivering to large portions of canada is a massive loss on any company. Canada post takes a huge loss delivering to these places as does USPS in large areas of the US. USPS is an essential service and its losing record money aswell. Neither company can or will be successful going forward while still delivering letters. until they shift to focus on packages which wont happen these massive losses will continue to accrue

[30ranfordfan]

This is the correct answer. I've got a community mailbox on my street, it's great not a problem at all for me. But that being said, there's some donkeys in our neighbourhood that sometimes park their oversized vehicles right up on the sidewalk which would make it very difficult if not outright impossible for someone in a wheelchair, scooter, etc. with limited mobility to get around/through without being at risk for their safety. Throw in the winter conditions that aren't far off, we've also got some donkeys who don't shovel their sidewalk in a timely manner. It is only a couple hundred metres, but for those with physical limitations you don't want it to be a treacherous journey.

Don't forget also that in some more remote areas of the country there is ONLY Canada Post as a delivery service to those areas. They're the only ones with the infrastructure and capacity to deliver to all Canadians. They need to transform the model of the business itself so that it isn't regarded in the same way as a for-profit business. It isn't that and it should never have been intended to be that. It's an essential service. That doesn't give them carte blanche to be reckless with the spending but it needs to exist because if it goes away, there will be millions of people who suddenly won't have any access to regular delivery because the alternatives, who are for-profit businesses and thus care predominantly about the bottom line and not people, won't fill that void since it's not consistent with the business model.

I've heard the argument against community mailboxes being exactly that. Mobility issues (seniors, etc). The one counter point I would add is this. If the few hundred meters is that big of a problem, I would imagine that the resident in question is getting help with many other things around the house too. This is just one more thing they'll need help with. If they can't get to the mailbox, they probably can't shovel their driveway, or mow their lawn either.

I've been using one of them for the better part of 30 years. Yes, sometimes there's a car in front of it, or a big puddle - but it's not all that frequent. Dummys put it on the side of the road with no sidewalk though, which has always been kind of annoying to me.


I also very much agree with your stance on Canada Post, and what they need to do. In my mind, it's an essential services. It does not need to make money. The idea that it "loses" money is an overrated one in my mind too. Hospitals and Schools and Roads don't make money either, and they cost the taxpayers a lot more than the postal service does.

The model that worked for 100 years doesn't work anymore. The volume of letters & direct mailers is a small pittance, compared to what it was 30 years ago. It's only going to continue to shrink. They could charge more for postage (and probably should) but that's only going to help so much. IMO, the need for daily residential delivery expired 20 years ago. We could reduce it to twice a week, but continue with daily commercial delivery. If Canada Post wants to be competitive in the parcel / product delivery market - so be it, but I don't see how they're ever going to compete with Amazon (or others like that).

They need to figure out what their core business (or businesses) is, focus on that, and do away with the fluff.

[RGM81]

I honestly wouldn't get too bothered about mail day being a split on Tuesday/Friday, unless there's something time-sensitive that I'm anticipating (hello new Taylor Swift album LOL) but even with stuff like that, they could go on a hybrid model where regular mail only gets done those days while the premium services get delivered as necessary. With the volume of Dragonfly vehicles out delivering Amazon packages daily, there is likely no shortage of volume in that capacity to keep things rolling.

i dunno - I learned early in life that the further away you are from the decision-making table, the easier come the solutions. These are likely all things which have been bandied about at Canada Post for a long time now, and it's all coming to a head because of the ongoing labour strife and the increased competition in the market for delivery services.

[Canadian Kid]

Canada Post runs 24/7. The trucks going from Vancouver to Toronto ... should they stop 3 days a week while enroute to their destinations? Should the Plant workers only come in 3 days during the week. Should the retail stores get more storage for the extra mail? Don't think the letter carriers would like to do 5 days a week of work in 2 days. You are looking at 55,000 people on strike, there is another 20,000 folks doing their jobs as well. Once the letter carriers realize they don't own their routes, they bid on them thru seniority. They don't want weekend workers since that will take away from them getting overtime during the week on these routes. What ever happened to let the bosses make the decisions and the workers do the work? It is going to get very nasty ... very shortly.

[FallenAngel]

I am glad usps normally gets thinks done to avoid mail stoppage even though it normally means a higher price to ship packages. Used be under $5 for a bmwt last one I sent was like $7.50. I hope they can get it resolved quickly for you my Canadian friends.

[theboxbreaker96]

I am glad usps normally gets thinks done to avoid mail stoppage even though it normally means a higher price to ship packages. Used be under $5 for a bmwt last one I sent was like $7.50. I hope they can get it resolved quickly for you my Canadian friends.

USPS arent allowed to go on strike our dogs$it union signed that away a long time ago. We worked without a contract from May 2023 to August 2025.

[discomike]

So if I'm reading this story correctly, Canada Post is now offering less than the last offer, which was soundly rejected by the union?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/can...cupw-1.7650456


This isn't ending anytime soon.

[discomike]

So does this mean we can start mailing again?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canad...rike-9.6934289

Sounds like the union's strike fund may be drying up.

[RGM81]

Well, that's good news. Maybe I'll be able to get my Demidov GDM's signed after all.