[lenaitch]

Yet we spend 1.2 billion on police in just one city that have the same reputation of being unreliable. Why are they not supposed to run revenu neutral but the post office should?

The difference being a police service, or a fire or ambulance service, has virtually no income (absent a few cost recovery fees for some services). Canada Post, like many other Crown corporations such as VIA Rail and Parks Canada, generates income. Just not enough to even come close to covering costs.

*****

CP isn't winding up tomorrow. I read or heard somewhere that some or many of the business model changes will be implemented over the next nine years. I'm not expecting that everyone currently employed will keep their job but over that time frame, attrition can have a significant impact.

Rural mail service in many areas will be tough to adjust. Most post offices don't have the space to install a large number of boxes and community boxes have to go somewhere that is accessible. Unlike urban and suburban streets, many rural roads lack adequate shoulder space. In some cases they could culvert ditches, but that takes time and municipal involvement. Same if they plan to put community boxes at a park, community centre, etc.

I'm not one to worship at the alter of technology but the last couple of strikes plus Covid drove me into the arms of electronic invoices and payments. Like many others here, I get very little of any importance via mail, certainly not anything that is particularly time-sensitive That couldn't wait for a few days.

 

[DirectionNorth]

I am sensing here there a number of posters here who are in a financial position who don't need or rely on PC. And perhaps assume everyone else is in that same boat...

...what was it I said once? One of great crimes against humanity is taking the position of what is good for you is good for everyone else It's not.

Either way, I am not convinced that PC needs to be done away with based on personal anecdotes and opinions. I agree, that it needs improvement. I don't agree it needs to be trashed or scaled back to bare minimum and/or Randian essentials. That's not being progressive, that's going the other way, IMO.

We're not trashing Canada Post though. Its subsidy is not being eliminated, there is no privatization scheme announced like with Royal Mail, and it is not going to 2x/monthly delivery or something like that. These are changes that (IMO) should have and would have happened in 2015 had Trudeau not blocked it for political points.

Three days/week isn't a bare minimum service. I don't know that this is "Randian essential." If you ask me, they should move to two days/week, but I assume that was examined and discarded for reasons I am not privy to.

Eliminating door-to-door delivery is simply leveling services for the last (established, lucky) 25% who still have door-to-door delivery. The majority of people use community mailboxes, we'll be fine. Canada Post's program to deliver to the door of disabled people is acceptable.

Canada Post has too many redundant post offices. Closing some that are not needed is responsible. Perhaps Canada Post should set standards ("X% of people within Y distance of an office in Z circumstance") to ensure we're not blanket closing offices across a region.


--------------------------------------------------------------
I do not understand the urge of many people to always turn to the "it doesn't have to turn a profit line." It's true that services don't need profit, but they need to deliver services, not just burn cash in a giant incinerator with no return. I also don't expect the TTC to profit, sure, but I expect the TTC not to go all New York on us and break the world record on the cost of installing platform screen doors, among other things. The fire service doesn't need to return money to coffers, but they should not be allowed to (and as far as I am aware, do) spend whatever they like with no limits. Public services should be expected to provide a reasonable rate of return on their services, and I don't believe door-to-door delivery meets that criteria. I, for one, basically only receive government IDs in the mail these days. Everything else is just junk.


If nothing else, this is $400 million that can go elsewhere, from healthcare to military buildup to simply reducing the deficit so we're paying less on interest. There are wiser ways to spend money than on what is being called "Randian essentials" and "treating Canada Post like a business (editorial note: as it should be)".

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

^To be clear, trashing it is one of the horror examples I used. I also mentioned the scaling back...to which I expressed deep concerns...

...but thank you for mentioning that they could of Thatcherized (privatized) it, but thankfully our government is not going down avenue as you have indicated. And I hope they never will.

But I think we can all agree, since this keeps coming up despite our disagreements on how, that they most certainly need to improve their services. My position is that you can't really do that by scaling it back, IMO.

 

[lenaitch]

Three days/week isn't a bare minimum service. I don't know that this is "Randian essential." If you ask me, they should move to two days/week, but I assume that was examined and discarded for reasons I am not privy to.

I don't know what level of actual analysis the government has undertaken, if any, but they might have determined that there is a line of delivery frequency under which services are negatively impacted beyond recovery, particularly for small businesses. Or they threw a dart.

 

[DirectionNorth]

^To be clear, trashing it is one of the horror examples I used. I also mentioned the scaling back...to which I expressed deep concerns...

...but thank you for mentioning that they could of Thatcherized (privatized) it, but thankfully our government is not going down avenue as you have indicated. And I hope they never will.

But I think we can all agree, since this keeps coming up despite our disagreements on how, that they most certainly need to improve their services. My position is that you can't really do that by scaling it back, IMO.

The truth is that Canada Post is delivering fewer letters despite an increase in population. Unless the internet goes up in flames, and that is really beyond the abilities of Canada Post, the utility of mail delivery will continue to decline. Canada Post is just not an essential service for as many people as it once was, and no improvement in service can fix that. Cutting back* on Canada Post to spend on, say, broadband access or simply deficit reduction (interest payments) makes sense to me. It's not about services provisioned, but about the utility of those services to the public.

*as outlined in the previous post, I think the savings are well-worth the costs, which is what really matters. These are very small "sacrifices" to make.

 

[kEiThZ]

High speed internet has been around for nearly three decades in Canada. Smartphones have been around for two decades in Canada. Let's be honest. The percentage of people who find mail essential is declining every year. And unless changes are made to CP, the required subsidy will keep rising.

Going to community mailboxes makes sense. It's ridiculously privileged that older homes which are now in more expensive areas get mail to their door while the plebes who made the mistake of being born later have to trudge to a box. Leveling service makes sense.

As does cutting back to 3x per week. 2x per week would have worked too. Honestly, I check my mail box maybe once every 2 weeks. Even when I was in a condo I literally walked by it every working day and still checked it no more than once a week unless I was expecting something. Let's face it, anything that needs to be delivered urgently is going by courier or priority post. Anything else can take a week to get there.

What they should be doing is offering commercial areas daily service. And residential area twice weekly service. Instead of this blanket 3x/wk standard.

How many of you check your mail daily when not expecting anything? Be honest.

 

[picard102]

Rachel Gilmore (@rachelgilmore.bsky.social)

Kneecap was never actually banned from Canada and the Liberal MP who announced it has GONE ROGUE?????? What the fuck!!!! This is unhinged!!!!

bsky.app

 

[UtakataNoAnnex]

The truth is that Canada Post is delivering fewer letters despite an increase in population. Unless the internet goes up in flames, and that is really beyond the abilities of Canada Post, the utility of mail delivery will continue to decline. Canada Post is just not an essential service for as many people as it once was, and no improvement in service can fix that. Cutting back* on Canada Post to spend on, say, broadband access or simply deficit reduction (interest payments) makes sense to me. It's not about services provisioned, but about the utility of those services to the public.

*as outlined in the previous post, I think the savings are well-worth the costs, which is what really matters. These are very small "sacrifices" to make.

"Small sacrifices" along with "throwing things under the bus" always seem to be a recipe for things not going to end well, IMO...

But I digress, I am not as confident in scaling back what is still an essential service for many as you and those in agreement seem to be. As I said, we seem to disagree what it is that needs to be changed...and I don't think making workers and services redundant is one of them.

 

[picard102]

I'd like to hear from @picard102 on why he feels so strongly that Canada Post, and in particular, to the door, daily letter delivery are so crucial to quality of life as to merit a subsidy.

If the government doesn't subsidise it, it will be privatized. That's the path this is setting us on. The cost of a stamp isn't going to lower now that the service levels are being cut. But consumers will shift away to other private services, like maybe Intelcom that the Minister of Industries brother is the CEO of.

 

[lenaitch]

I think there is a lot of headspace between no government support at all and being propped up by public funds to the tune of about $1Bn per year. VIA Rail, the TTC and all sorts of other agencies receive government support yet are still not privatized. I don't know that the federal government wants to get out of the game completely, but they have signalled that they do expect the Corporation to streamline and rationalize its operations to better reflect current realities.

Services like reliable and affordable high speed Internet have changed the game, and perhaps the more recalcitrant of the population should be 'encouraged' to move away from things like paper invoices and towards things like online bill payment and banking, but a reality is reliable and affordable high speed Internet is not yet available for many rural and remote Canadians, no matter how much they may or may not want to and, the last I looked, our federal government is supposed to represent the interests of all citizens.

 

[zang]

I think there is a lot of headspace between no government support at all and being propped up by public funds to the tune of about $1Bn per year. VIA Rail, the TTC and all sorts of other agencies receive government support yet are still not privatized. I don't know that the federal government wants to get out of the game completely, but they have signalled that they do expect the Corporation to streamline and rationalize its operations to better reflect current realities.

Services like reliable and affordable high speed Internet have changed the game, and perhaps the more recalcitrant of the population should be 'encouraged' to move away from things like paper invoices and towards things like online bill payment and banking, but a reality is reliable and affordable high speed Internet is not yet available for many rural and remote Canadians, no matter how much they may or may not want to and, the last I looked, our federal government is supposed to represent the interests of all citizens.

In reality then, we should build out Canada Post to be an ISP to service rural (ultimately) all communities, instead of relying on profit-driven corporations to do it (and who end up resisting the whole time and reluctant to follow through in a timely matter).

Furthermore, postal banking should be a thing.

 

[lenaitch]

In reality then, we should build out Canada Post to be an ISP to service rural (ultimately) all communities, instead of relying on profit-driven corporations to do it (and who end up resisting the whole time and reluctant to follow through in a timely matter).

Furthermore, postal banking should be a thing.

I suppose there are arguments for and against having the government being a player in the free market of goods and services like being an ISP. We have done so in the past. I'm not convinced.

I am more sold on providing basic rural banking services. This has been recommended once or twice in the past and is an area that the banks continue to abandon.

In reality, there will always be a need for the delivery of physical correspondence, by somebody. Case in point: I just received renewal credit cards in the mail. No doubt a courier could fill in the void if CP was no longer, but at what cost (a cost that will always be borne by the consumer)?

 

[txlseries4]

The Hill Times reporting from sources that Freeland is expected to resign her seat in the coming months, and expects the MPs in Scarborough-Southwest and North Vancouver-Capilano will also trigger by-elections

Coming byelections in at least three safe Liberal ridings will mark first test of Carney government’s popularity, say political players

The Carney Liberals should use the upcoming byelections to recruit some young talent to strengthen their caucus and front bench, says pollster Darrell Bricker.

www.hilltimes.com

 

[guavadelic]

Services like reliable and affordable high speed Internet have changed the game, and perhaps the more recalcitrant of the population should be 'encouraged' to move away from things like paper invoices and towards things like online bill payment and banking, but a reality is reliable and affordable high speed Internet is not yet available for many rural and remote Canadians, no matter how much they may or may not want to and, the last I looked, our federal government is supposed to represent the interests of all citizens.

Hopefully they use the savings to invest in high speed internet infrastructure in rural and remote communities.

The Hill Times reporting from sources that Freeland is expected to resign her seat in the coming months, and expects the MPs in Scarborough-Southwest and North Vancouver-Capilano will also trigger by-elections

Liberals should take it as an opportunity to recruit some experienced female candidates. Rightly or wrongly, there is a growing perception that Carney is running a boys club.