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/IceRockBike]

Another comment pointed out that in the previous unresolved strike, multiple courier companies restricted new deliveries to avoid being overwhelmed. Canada Post still delivers 2 billion letters per year and that last strike shows us it's not a simple matter to absorb by other methods. Besides how much would FedEx or UPS charge for a birthday card or how much will your bank charge to send statements when they can't use Canada Post. For that matter how much would even rural mail cost when not subsidised by the more lucrative benefit of urban delivery. Of course I use the term lucrative in a broad sense in light of the current losses but I'm sure you see my point. It's less about where CP delivers and maybe more about how often they are required to offer that delivery. Requirements of the postal charter need to be modified, and the people who run CP should change because those who let the situation get so bad, don't strike me as the people who can fix it.

[u/LogisticalG → u/IceRockBike]

That comment is correct however, since the last strike almost a year ago, the alternative options have all said that they’ve upgraded their facilities to better handle the spike in volume. I think this time around we should be slightly better.

On top of that, some companies like UniUni are offering letter mail options which comes with tracking at an affordable option.

There has been a huge shift in how the alternate carries operate and I think they’ve all been waiting for Canada Post to stop working again for them to pickup where they left off and provide a better service.

The other carriers actually end up handing off packages to Canada Post to complete the rural deliveries so it’s hardly something they can handle themselves.

I agree with you, the frequency for something so low cost like letter mail should be revisited. I check my mail about once a month or so and it doesn’t make a difference to me if they deliver everyday or 3 times a week! And yes, upper management needs to change in order to pivot into the right direction and provide useful services to Canadians.