There is no doubt that the role of any modern day post office has been greatly diminished in the last ten to twenty years. Advances in modern technology, and more specifically the rise of the internet, have provided a viable alternative to the paper mail that has dominated the globe for centuries. The recent postal strike did little to underline the need for a national postal system, but instead forced companies to make use of alternative methods of conveying information and paying bills. Many of these alternatives, including scanning, faxing and making electronic payments are in many ways more convenient than the conventional postal system, and the strike further highlighted this convenience. In fact, many companies have stated that they have permanently switched to electronic billing and invoicing in the wake of the postal strike.The statistics support these suspected trends. Canada Post has stated that letter volumes have declined 17 per cent per address over the last five years. Major banks have pushed customers to move to online banking, with ING recently announcing that 350,000 of its customers are moving exclusively to online banking. This move alone will cost Canada Post $2.3 million a year. Although Canada Post has managed to turn relatively sizable profits in the past five years, the loss of business due to the strike will leave a hole in their finances that may turn these profits to red ink.The next question is; do we really need a nationalized postal service? The last thing this country needs in a time of fiscal uncertainty is a nationalized mega service that loses money, is unreliable, prone to labour strife and of little relevance to modern life. Although it is obvious that we will always need a delivery service of some kind, if not for letters then for parcels and the like, there are many alternatives to Canada Post. When electronic means do not suffice, many companies turned toward privatized delivery services such as FedEx and UPS which provide reasonable and reliable service.It is up to our government to decide if we need a nationalized postal service. However, if the answer does not lie in privatization, then it certainly lies in modernization, and at the very least a major reality check. A struggling, largely irrelevant government service relying on taxpayer dollars should not be subject to labour strife. It wastes too much money and only underlines its lack of importance in today’s society. Ultimately, Canada Post will decide its own fate. If it chooses to modernize and compete with other services in the same industry, it could remain a profitable enterprise. However, any more petty labour disputes or a refusal to change and it will become another fatality of globalization and modernization. Times are changing, and unless Canada Post wants to become Canada Past it must also change.
The Future of Nationialized Postal Service
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There is no doubt that the role of any modern day post office has been greatly diminished in the last ten to twenty years. Advances in modern technology, and more specifically the rise of the internet, have provided a viable alternative to the paper mail that has dominated the globe for centuries. The recent postal strike did little to underline the need for a national postal system, but instead forced companies to make use of alternative methods of conveying information and paying bills. Many of these alternatives, including scanning, faxing and making electronic payments are in many ways more convenient than the conventional postal system, and the strike further highlighted this convenience. In fact, many companies have stated that they have permanently switched to electronic billing and invoicing in the wake of the postal strike.
The statistics support these suspected trends. Canada Post has stated that letter volumes have declined 17 per cent per address over the last five years. Major banks have pushed customers to move to online banking, with ING recently announcing that 350,000 of its customers are moving exclusively to online banking. This move alone will cost Canada Post $2.3 million a year. Although Canada Post has managed to turn relatively sizable profits in the past five years, the loss of business due to the strike will leave a hole in their finances that may turn these profits to red ink.
The next question is; do we really need a nationalized postal service? The last thing this country needs in a time of fiscal uncertainty is a nationalized mega service that loses money, is unreliable, prone to labour strife and of little relevance to modern life. Although it is obvious that we will always need a delivery service of some kind, if not for letters then for parcels and the like, there are many alternatives to Canada Post. When electronic means do not suffice, many companies turned toward privatized delivery services such as FedEx and UPS which provide reasonable and reliable service.
It is up to our government to decide if we need a nationalized postal service. However, if the answer does not lie in privatization, then it certainly lies in modernization, and at the very least a major reality check. A struggling, largely irrelevant government service relying on taxpayer dollars should not be subject to labour strife. It wastes too much money and only underlines its lack of importance in today’s society. Ultimately, Canada Post will decide its own fate. If it chooses to modernize and compete with other services in the same industry, it could remain a profitable enterprise. However, any more petty labour disputes or a refusal to change and it will become another fatality of globalization and modernization. Times are changing, and unless Canada Post wants to become Canada Past it must also change.