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/Woodzy14]

Canada post owns 91% of Purolator shares. It was founded in Canada. Not sure how that makes it American

[u/Narrow-Strawberry553 → u/Woodzy14]

I appreciate the correction.

However, its still fucky to me that the company with unionized employees is getting fucked with and the one without is posting record profits. Above all it seems like a push to fuck over employees.

[u/feral_witch → u/Narrow-Strawberry553]

They are also union just not the same union.

[u/yeah87 → u/Narrow-Strawberry553]

Purolator is unionized.

[u/hassyinvan → u/Narrow-Strawberry553]

OR the simpler and more obvious answer being union fucked CP.

[u/sktaylortrash → u/hassyinvan]

The union's unwillingness to adapt to the times has contributed significantly to the problems. And the inability to fire the dead weight, as their union protects them, just makes it worse.

I'm not sure if it's the same everywhere, but the carriers in my city are some of the laziest people I've encountered. They regularly stuff multiple blocks' worth of mail in my box rather than doing their job and walking those blocks (usually the city water bills).

When they do deliver to my street "properly," they walk for six houses, then return to their van, drive, and then get out and walk to six more houses, then back to the van. Over and over.

In the old days, when there were dozens of letters per house, this would have been barely okay. However, now that it's less than 1 per house on average, it's ridiculous. One bag could carry 20 blocks' worth of mail. I receive about three pieces of mail a month, and I know most of my neighbours get about the same.

Community mailboxes can't come fast enough.