Would you miss the Post?
For almost a month, Canada Post has been on strike, off and on, and we’ve had no mail nationally for the last ten days of the strike. But last Wednesday, the government forced them back to work. And you know what? I didn’t really miss it.
I pay my bills online. I view my bank statements online. And I look at my phone credit online. I do correspond with a very few friends by letter, but nowhere near a frequency that would have me regret a month’s loss of postal service. The only thing I missed, actually, was one parcel of AAR review books.
I understand that charities and small businesses were hurt the most by the strike, but I don’t rely on Canada Post to conduct my personal business, and neither do a lot of Canadians. The strike, and the lack of backlash, has raised questions regarding the necessity of a national postal service.
I think there’s still a need, but it’s shrinking every day. The postal service is for communication, and there are so many other avenues now that don’t require a lick and a stamp. I’d be sad to see it go, but that’s nostalgia rather than practicality speaking.
Would you be affected by a nation-wide postal strike? Do you think there’s a future for the postal service?
– Jean AAR
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Given that 90% of the mail I get via the USPS is junk mail (credit card applications, store catalogs/flyers, etc). I don’t know that I’d miss anything if we didn’t have postal service any longer. In fact, it might be a blessing. The only thing I mail these days via USPS is my Paperback Swap books, and in theory I could send those using another carrier. I tend to send Gift Cards as gifts which could be sent as e-versions. Invitations tend to come as e-vites these days. And I pay all of my bills on-line.
All that said, there is something solid and reassuring about having a working postal system. Kind of like it’s a symbol of an organized and well-functioning society. So I guess doing away with it would bother me on some level.
Of course, being the people pleaser I am, I now feel bad that the young woman on the other end heard me griping about Canada Post, even though everything I said was the truth! But I was right, and I’m getting my $54.56 back!
Good for you. Sometimes it does pay to persist.
Further to my last comment… I called the number given to sort out problems with Canada Post, and told the young woman I spoke to my story, and she sympathized, but said that they would not/could not refund my money, even though they had guaranteed 6 days delivery and it is, um, three weeks now? I said, but it is Canada Post’s fault, since they locked the workers out. She said, sorry, still can’t do it.
I asked to speak to a manager, and she said, but they’ll tell you the same thing. I said fine, I’d still like to speak to a manager. She asked me a whole lot of questions and asked me to hold on for a few minutes. No problem, I replied. I was talking about the situation in the background to someone else, and said, “I don’t know why she didn’t just hand me over to a manager,” and the young lady came back on the line and said, “Because they’d still have to read through all this!”
I laughed. So she had been listening in the whole time I was bytching about Canada Post’s decision not to refund my money. Good! I then said, it wasn’t her fault, and I didn’t want her to feel bad, but I still wanted a refund.
The upshot is, I’ll get a refund cheque after all. Squeaky wheel, meet the grease!
As the mailer of said AAR books, I am a fairly heavy post office user. Mailing books is much cheaper through the post office than anywhere else, and almost everything I mail is a book. I am pretty good friends with the woman who owns the contract office near where I work.
But obviously, not everyone is in that position. Other than books, I mainly mail birthday and Christmas cards.
Well… the strike affected me. I’ve been going back and forth with my Italian publisher for months about what forms they needed to exempt me from tax in Italy. Hanging in the balance is many thousands of Euros for foreign language rights that they won’t send until we straighten it all out.
We finally figured it out, I went up to the tax office and got the correct forms signed and stamped – and spoke to a lovely woman, a wannabe writer… the conversation lasted far longer than the business part.. I do love our taxation people here at Revenue Canada – anyway…
So I needed to send it by courier or express mail of some sort. Checked prices… UPS wanted $82.00… gasp! I almost had a heart attack. So I took it to the post office. There had been rolling strikes, but the union was not threatening any full work stoppages, so I paid $54.00 for guaranteed six day delivery to Milan, Italy. That was Sunday, June 12th.
Then… on Wednesday, June 14th, the government LOCKED the postal workers out!! They didn’t strike, they were locked out. I am furious! There went $54.00 down the drain. It’s still not in Italy.
So the situation is this… Canada Post, a government agency LOCKED the workers out, and then the government forced them back to work, and are forcing them to take less than Canada Post’s last offer on the table. It’s outrageous.
I’m calling them today for a refund; it’s not my fault and it is not the postal employees’ fault that my package is still not in Milan.
If something happened here in the US with the postal service, I could see a privatization in this area. I personally have an affection for the USPS because my Dad was a parcel post driver with them for many, many years before he retired. He loved his work and the people with whom he interacted. So when I see our postal carrier delivering the mail (and, BTW, he’s a great worker and person), I’m reminded of my Dad doing this, just driving instead of walking).
On record, the postal workers cannot strike. However, in reality, it could happen. How would the government react? Maybe eventually by firing all of them for breaking a contract and going to privatization. Who knows? I would hate to see it, but I know the USPS is losing money, considering how the public uses so many different means for paying bills and communicating these days. How does one compete with that?
Point in fact. I needed to have an up-to-date bank statement sent to a lawyer to verify a balance for my mother-in-law. I went on-line to her bank account, printed one, sent it by attachment in an email to the lawyer and all was accomplished within 10 minutes. In the past, you would have needed to either go to the bank and get the statement or request one and wait for it to arrive by snail mail. Then you either would take it directly to the lawyer’s office or send it once again. How can you compare 10 minutes against four or five days? You just can’t.
I’m in a rural area of the US, and our local USPS is rather unreliable, but we do depend on it. While we can — and do — pay our credit cards on line, our utilities, taxes, and such we have to pay by check, either through the mail or by driving to the utility and hand delivering it. USPS is much easier for those tasks. Also, we have a few periodical subscriptions that we get through the mail, as well as “happy mail” ;-) that we send — and receive! — from friends and family.
My hubby and I are self-employed, and we also use the mail for marketing our business. (But rest assured, we are NOT one of the businesses that send out circulars and such!!)
I mean, let’s face it — while on-line stuff is great, a “virtual postcard” is so not the same as one received in the mail with a hand-written note/signature. And private couriers are much more expensive than the USPS. The fraud division of one of hubby’s cc’s called several weeks ago and, due to some suspicious (albeit it small) unauthorized charges, sent out a new card as a security measure. The new card would be shipped via regular mail at no extra cost, but for expedited (Private Courier) mail, they were going to charge something like $21.95.
We opted for the regular mail option. ;-)
Just from my own experience shopping, most online retailers arranged for alternative methods of shipping, and that includes Chapters, Amazon, L. L. Bean, Beyond the Rack (random clothing discount site), and lots more. I’m not sure how long they’d be able to sustain it, but I believe most used courier to provide the same shipping service at the same price, and with the retailer absorbing the cost.
If the post office loses its presence, might we see a complete privatization of delivery services? Just wondering.
Like Tee, I too am ashamed I didn’t know that Canada Post was on strike. I would miss the US mail Service. I send and receive cards for Birthdays, Get Well and Sympathy and just plain Thinking of you situations. My Christmas card list is massive,as is my Mother’s Day Card list (Fathers’ Day not so much). I am an avid Amazon/Online shopper, and receive things in the mail many times throughout the month. I would miss the USPS if they shut down, miss them very much.
And again, like LeeB, have had to get a new debit card thought the mail within the last 6 months, and ditto…you cannot do that online.
Being active at church, there are times when I cannot make a funeral or wedding or other special occasion, when I have to send a card or gift USPS is the way to go….Yeah, I for one, would miss the loss of a National Postal Service.
I would miss the mail because I get magazines and prefer to read them in print and not online. And sometimes all the content is not online.
Also, having misplaced a credit card recently, I needed to get a new one through the mail. You can’t get a credit card online.
Tee – I’m not sure I’d know if any other country besides the US was on postal strike, and the economic position between the US and Canada is different. I’m afraid, though, that the CP union workers might have shot themselves in the foot, because now they settled for even lower wages than what the union demanded.
Audrey – I think many Canadians underestimated the length of the strike, including me. I can see that you use the post more often than I do, and I certainly was grateful for the post when I moved back from overseas.
I think I could see CP eventually reduce and limit its services, to compensate for lower demand.
Red herring: Did you guys know the last telegram was sent by USPS in 2002?
I didn’t worry too much about the strike because I didn’t think it would last long, but then again, I’m not working so I only felt the impact of not getting personal mail. I hope that Canada Post does continue to operate because even though the need has shrunk it’s not gone entirely. For example, we own a cabin in another county and so to pay my taxes, I mail a cheque. If the post office wasn’t operating, I’d have to choose between driving all the way there or sending it by courier which is at least double or more of ExpressPost, many times the cost of a stamp. I also still send Christmas cards, though not nearly so many as back in the day, and I’d hate to let that go too. Another thing I love about Canada Post is that if you’re expecting a parcel, you don’t have to sit at home waiting for it in “three to five days”. It annoys me greatly when businesses use couriers instead of the post office for shipments to personal addresses.
That was very interesting, Jean. First of all (and I hate admitting this), but I didn’t know that Canada was in the middle of a postal strike. And, yet, I agree with you that I would probably not miss the mail all that much if it happened here. I too do much on-line, so some things would not be a problem. We wouldn’t receive our tax bills (and wouldn’t that be a shame?). The absence of advertising and insurance circulars (which I rarely even open) would be a welcome relief. Quite frankly, there isn’t really anything I receive through the US Post Office that is truly needed and maybe can’t be obtained on-line. I guess the Canadian Post Office may be second-thinking this strike and hope they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot by doing it. The lack of a Canadian citizens’ backlash is indeed something for them to be concerned about.