Canada Post Cutbacks and Deceptions
Channel: Greg Neurolanis
Date: 2013-12-11

Canada Post is cutting back on service and on jobs and, as usual, they're not being entirely honest about it. Although it's true that many people are using emails today and therefore there is less profitability in surface mail, parcel delivery has exploded into an industry of its own. People are ordering things from Amazon, eBay and many websites today rather than going out to the mall. Many parcel delivery companies have popped up to compete with the mail service for a slice of the pie. Canada Post fought back by purchasing Purolator in an attempt to corner the market.

CUPW, the postal union, has made a number of suggestions to improve service and marketability, including the provision of banking services at Canada Post. This has worked very well for postal services in other countries, but Canada Post is too proud to take advice from a union which it has always fought to break apart and get rid of.

The goal here is simply to increase profit. They are claiming that sales are down for 2013, and that might be, if they calculate them before their busy season (Christmas!) Even by their own estimates, they made over 100 million dollars in profit last year. They've cried red before, anything to get the media and government on board to support their stripping back of union staff.

Deepak Chopra was placed as CEO of Canada Post by Stephen Harper, so when you hear Canada Post, or Lisa Raitt, claiming that these cutbacks are to "protect taxpayers," you can guess where that idea comes from. Yes, keep firing taxpayers! That'll really help us and our economy! 

Canada Post not only wants to remove delivery jobs but inside sorting jobs as well, replacing well-paid postmasters with minimum-wage-paid employees at local chain stores. Gee, that sounds safe, doesn't it? And how concerned can Canada Post be about money when they spend millions of dollars on a ridiculous reaching device which would not work for delivering small parcels to boxes and especially while in bad weather, and by purchasing right-hand-drive vehicles for employees? All this expense was done to deal with ergonomic problems, but the extent to which they've taken it, to design a hand-held contraption which has no application in reality, and then to redesign it, just makes their bottom line sound frivolous to them.

Now, elderly and handicapped people will have to travel further to get to their mail. People will have parcel cards in their community mailboxes and not even know it. The union had suggested increasing customer service, delivering more parcels to customers' doors to provide superior service to their competitors. But Canada Post has its mind set: CUT UNION JOBS, CUT SERVICE. Cutting service and raising stamp prices is not great business sense, but then maybe Canada Post doesn't feel too concerned about their competition after all.

LINKS/SOURCES:

Canada Post to phase out urban home mail delivery
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-post-to-phase-out-urban-home-mail-delivery-1.2459618

Canada Post tests right-hand-drive cars
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/canada-post-tests-right-hand-drive-cars-1.939500

RSMC Vehicle Types
(Union page on vehicles changes issues)
http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/14638/la_id/1.htm

RSMC Reaching Device - Update 10/12
(An idealic demonstration of the device)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUgd9lWHvq4

2012 Annual Report
http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/corporate/annualreport.jsf

Canada Post profit evaporates in 2011
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-post-profit-evaporates-in-2011-1.1217259

Canada Post Reports Highest Profits in History (2011)
http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/13565/la_id/1.htm

Banking on a Future for Canada Post
(CUPW Proposes Money-Making Strategies for Canada Post)
http://www.cupw.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/14891/la_id/1.htm

Poll shows 82% of those who voted say mail delivery to the door is "essential"
(and bear in mind, this is an online poll!)
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/