It is disappointing to those who continue to use Canada Post to send and receive mail.
However, the Crown corporation’s decision this week to do away with door-to-door delivery in urban areas is anything but a surprise.
Canada Post is only the latest in a long line of institutions caught in the technological revolution that is the Internet.
As publishers of this newspaper, we know better than most the challenges the technology has presented.
However, the Internet is not going anywhere, so we adapt or die — and that includes Canada Post.
While the postal-workers’ union continues to point to the 2012 profit realized by Canada Post, it often neglects to add the fine print found in Canada Post’s 2012 annual report.
Yes, Canada Post’s annual report notes a $127 million profit — but it points out clearly that profit would have been a $25-million loss had reductions in sick leave and post-retirement health benefits not been agreed to in the latest collection agreement with its union.
And, it adds, those reductions were one-time realizations, not recurring.
In fact, the future looks bleak for the venerable institution, with the Conference Board of Canada predicting Canada Post will lose $1 billion each year by 2020.
Even with last week’s dramatic decision, the Conference Board estimates annual losses of about $500 million per year by 2020.
Mail delivery is not a growth industry and the continual decrease in revenue and pieces of mail sent and received highlights that fact.
If this is indeed “an opportunity for the Conservatives to take a leadership role in the extinguishing of union jobs,” as claimed by Kamloops and District Labour Council president Peter Kerek, and if there is indeed money to be made on the existing Canada Post model, surely a private company will step into the breach and realize the profit.
As we do with that long-lost letter from afar, we suspect we will all be waiting in vain for such a company to fill the door-to-door role being vacated by the Crown corporation.
– Kamloops This Week