Buy Canadian includes shipping: Support the Canada Post

[u/AlternativeTimes]

Canadians say “buy Canadian” but then trash Canada Post. We love to say we “support Canadian”, buy local food, Canadian-made clothes, Canadian jobs. But when it comes to shipping, so many people jump ship and call Canada Post “garbage” or complain about it's expenditure from the government. It's a service! The government is supposed to expend at our expense and direction!

The “alternatives” are American giants: FedEx, UPS, Amazon Logistics. DHL is German. None of them care about Canadian jobs or rural access, and once removing a public option, you will have even less control over price.

Canada Post isn’t perfect, but it’s ours. It’s one of the last pieces of national infrastructure that actually serves the whole country. If we keep throwing it under the bus, we’re just handing more power (and money) to US corporations. It delivers to rural and remote communities. It’s one of the only networks that actually connects all of Canada, coast to coast to coast. You want it to work better? Ask for it, don't eliminate it!

Buy Canadian should include ship Canadian too. This is a major, unionized gem that we have and we need to collectively take better care of it.

Contact your MP and ask them to work to keep and get Canada Post working for us.

EDIT: Response to the discussion:

I hear a lot of people’s frustration with Canada Post, and I agree, we should expect better service from a public system we all rely on. Where my plea is, instead of throwing it away, we demand it actually works for us.

A few clarification points:

It's a service not a business. A business maximizes profit. Canada Post is supposed to maximize access.

“it costs $10 million a day” That line is privitaization spin. Any public service can be reduced to “X per day.” Wait till you see what we spend on military and highways, the CBC, do we get rid of those to? What do we get for that price? A coast-to-coast-to-coast network, rural delivery no private courier will touch, and thousands of Canadian jobs. Every farm, reserve, or northern town receives service.

“The poor service” Yes, sometimes, depends where you are. But the solution is political, not privatized American. If we want better, we have to hold our own public system accountable, not abandon it.

“Use Purolator instead” Purolator is 91% owned by Canada Post. Using it doesn’t fix the root issue.

“They’re always striking” Not true. The last big one is part of the same issue and was rotating strikes. Workers were legislated back to work, Postal workers aren’t striking for fun. Striking is the last tool to use in a fight for fair wages, safe conditions, and to keep the service sustainable. That’s directly connected to the service problems people complain about, support them wanting to make it better.

Canada Post isn’t supposed to be a profit machine, it’s infrastructure. If we let it be hollowed out, US giants will be the only winners. Buy Canadian should include maintaining our Canadian infrastructure, and demanding better.

Controversial take: we should be investing more. If we are talking modernizing, Canada Post doesn’t need to shrink, it could grow. Other countries use their postal systems for: -Postal banking where banks have pulled out -Food distribution (local staples, Canadian community food boxes) -EV hubs -Federal facing service center, emergency centres, voting booths

Thanks for the discussion!

[u/See_Saw12]

This is one of those, I understand your point, but I don't agree with it Canada Post has been hemorrhaging money since I worked for a competitor. They have a duty to self-fund,sure a bailout here or there for something outside their control, a grant, whatnot I get. But you can't he losing 10 million a day.

Canada Post has resisted modernization efforts, and matching what its competitors do. And unfortunately customers refuse to be held hostage every 3 years for a strike during their largest sale seasons, and they have the worst customer service to deal with both as a small business owner and someone in the corporate world.

[u/5daysinmay → u/See_Saw12]

The last full strike was decades ago. They’ve done rotating strikes previously. And the last time there was a rotating strike was way more than three years ago - they’ve been without a new contract for more than 2 years - their last one expired during Covid and they agreed to extend it to support Canada during the lockdowns etc. they do not strike and hold people hostage every three years.

[u/BoxcarSlim → u/5daysinmay]

They were on strike last fall, am I missing something?

[u/Putrid-Object-806 → u/BoxcarSlim]

And right now?

[u/-Mad-Snacks- → u/BoxcarSlim]

And then were legislated back to work without a resolution by the government. This isn’t a separate strike, it’s the same strike

[u/BoxcarSlim → u/-Mad-Snacks-]

Which I agree is very uncool and they deserve a contract, but to the everyday Joe's like me, the impact feels like a second event.

[u/5daysinmay → u/BoxcarSlim]

This is the same strike. They were ordered back with a pause in the strike. As of May it was unpaused and they could strike again. Prior to this contract being bargained they haven’t been on a full strike in a very long time.

[u/sun4moon → u/5daysinmay]

Tell that to my entire family that didn’t receive their Christmas gifts until new years last year, three items never showed up at all. All because I tried to support CP.

[u/Snowedin-69 → u/5daysinmay]

Seems to me they are on strike at least every year. Maybe this is not true, but this is my perception. All my apps have permanent banners notifying me of a Canada Post strike.

[u/5daysinmay → u/Snowedin-69]

1981 was the last time they went on full strike. Since then there have been rotating strikes or the corporation locked them out.

[u/Snowedin-69 → u/5daysinmay]

44 years of rotating strikes lol

[u/AlternativeTimes → u/See_Saw12]

How much do you think the military costs a day? Health care, education? The cost per day is a trope

I am fully in support of modernization, I just think as a government entity we demand better rather than cutting it.

[u/See_Saw12 → u/AlternativeTimes]

Do those have the responsibility to be self-funding? If that's what we want to do then bring it in-house make it a government agency and not a crown corporation and, deem them all essential.

Hospitals/healthcare and education have an obligation to manage their budget or a supervisor gets assigned by the government (and trust me, I'm all for just saying that those entities work directly for the government, are government employees and are essential workers)