Council Supports Call for Canada Post to Continue Door to Door Delivery
Prince George, B.C.- Canadian Union of Postal Workers representatives Tami Brushed and Janet Watson say Canada Posts plan to eliminate door to door delivery and replace it with Community Mail Boxes, is flawed.
In their presentation to Prince George City Council, they say Community Mail boxes have become targets for theft, and are a prime source for identity theft .
They also say the plan has not taken into consideration the winter conditions. They told Council fractures, broken limbs and concussive injuries are not uncommon among letter carriers because of slips on ice and snow. They worry about what will happen with older customers.
The CUPW reps were calling on Council to pass a resolution asking Canada Post to reverse its decision to eliminate door to door service, a move that could cost 25 letter carries in Prince George, their jobs.
Council has opted to support a City of Burnaby resolution which calls for the UBCM call on the Federal Government and Canada Post, through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and other avenues as appropriate, to suspend the Canada Post delivery changes until a sustained, substantive consultation process with local governments and the public is completed and identified issues are addressed.
Councilor Frank Everitt says he thinks it is important to not only let the UBCM know how the City feels, he wants to make sure Canada Post knows how the City feels. Sending a letter to Canada Post is part of the overall resolution, so that’s covered as well.
Councilor Dave Wilbur would like to see the resolution presented to the North Central Government Association when it meets next week.
Comments
“They also say the plan has not taken into consideration the winter conditions. They told Council fractures, broken limbs and concussive injuries are not uncommon among letter carriers because of slips on ice and snow. They worry about what will happen with older customers.”
Good grief. Like anyone at CUPW gives a rats ass about their customers old or not. This is all about keeping their jobs – which is understandable but, their jobs are going. The world is changing and they need to change with it.
The city is opening up a can of worms here. Is the city now going to pay for home delivery for all those people in the city who currently have community mailboxes? Seems only fair to me.
There are global, federal, provincial and municipal matters which arise from time to time. Great that the council devoted some time and effort to this discussion, but basically I would suggest sticking to matters which concern the city, like potholes and broken or missing side walks.
Realizing that door to door delivery will eventually become history I would like to see community mail boxes inside the nearest grocery store, out of the weather and out of the temptation of break-in artists.
Every home owner eats and needs to buy groceries weekly.
Since I did not watch the council meeting I do not know if they made a sensible suggestion like that one, but maybe they did not.
They are going to send a letter to Canada Post….lol an e-mail guys??
I don’t doubt that mail carriers sustain injuries because of slips on snow and ice. That said, I suspect that the risk of injury with traversing unkept driveways or residential stairs is higher than it would be if mail was delivered to a community mail box . . .
I had a community box in PG and I have one here. No biggie. Does this REALLY come down to the union’s fear that seniors will be suffering broken limbs in record numbers because they have to walk to pick up their mail? They do realize that seniors walk and leave their house every single day to do other things without suffering catastrophic injury, do they not?
I agree with axman, good grief!
I work for Canada Post and I can tell you , as well as many of my fellow workers, do care about seniors and people with disabilities. Yes, we want to save job but I have elderly parents in living in Prince George. My father who is on warfarin ended up in hospital for three weeks have falling while walking on our streets in bad conditions. If you had been at City Council meeting you would have heard other facts that were brought to the city’s attention. Locks on CMB sites cost $29 to replace if they freeze or you lose your keys. Canada Post has only been unprofitable 1 out of the last 18 years. That year they locked workers out. Canada Post is not paid for by tax payers but has given back dividends and taxes to the government in the billions. We however are taxpayers and if you consider the loss of jobs across the country that is a concern to all municipalities. Canada Post just announced record breaking deliveries of parcel and packets for the 2013 Christmas season. Yes, some letter mail is on the decline but other deliveries are up. Canada Post is reducing service but increasing the cost of stamps. How is this a good business model? Canada Post did not have a consultation with Canadians about stopping door to door delivery and also announced this the day after parliament recessed for Christmas. Very sneaky! Our CEO, Deepak Chopra received a 33% bonus on top of his 500,000$ wage last year. As well as 7400 management receiving bonuses, 12 Vice Presidents were topped up. This and they are stating Canada Post is in the red. Who needs 22 Vice Presidents anyways? I work with letter carriers who have helped people who have fallen in their homes and have had broken bones and if the carrier hadn’t have been there, who knows how long it would have been til someone had found them. Some have reported house fires. We are not the selfish people on looking out for our jobs.
On another note. Who doesn’t care about their job? We are tax payers, we are mothers and fathers who have to feed our children, we are home owners! We lose job then we must take someone else’s. We should all care about all jobs for fellow Canadians.
One door closes, another door opens.
Posted by: Nikim on April 29 2014 10:11 AM
On another note. Who doesn’t care about their job? We are tax payers, we are mothers and fathers who have to feed our children, we are home owners! We lose job then we must take someone else’s. We should all care about all jobs for fellow Canadians.
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No one is saying you shouldn’t care about your job; losing a job is a very stressful situation- been there, done that and I still have the T-shirt. But to expect your employer to maintain a position for the sole purpose of giving you a job is an unrealistic expectation. If your position is no longer necessary then it’s reasonable to expect that your position will soon be ending. As for the post office? The writing has been on the wall for a decade or so now; people are not sending and receiving letters as much these days.
We will be the only G8 country without mail delivery door to door there is still a need for door to door delivery. Mail has not declined enough to warrant the actions from Canada post and the government the government has wanted to privatize Canada post for a long time and this is the way they’re going about it
Posted by: Nikim on April 29 2014 11:03 AM
We will be the only G8 country without mail delivery door to door there is still a need for door to door delivery.
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I’ve been in this country for a long, long time and I’ve never had mail delivered to my door – even when I lived in the city. I’m surviving, my neighbours are surviving (even the older ones!) and my neighbour’s neighbours are surviving. There is no need for door to door delivery.
If you think there is a need and a market for door to door delivery, now’s your chance. Opportunity is knocking.
WOW! normally they have to do a study to see if they need to do a study before they do the study….to study if they want to do it….
I guesss they want to make it look like they are getting on the ball so we don’t complain too much when they take a 10 % or more raise…
90% of the mail that is delivered to our mailbox is advertising and unsolicited letters from charities, the ones we never contacted. All our communications are by email. As often as twice a month we get letters which are addressed to one of the neighbors – we take a walk to deliver the mail to them.
A mailbox inside the hardware store/pharmacy would be fine or one at Jimmy’s grocery store.
My mother is 89 years old. She lives in Ottawa with winter conditions similar to here, except they do not clear the driveway entrance, but for that they clear the streets, including all residential street within 24 to 36 hours.
She lives at home. She can do that because she has people helping her do heavy chores – shoveling snow, mowing laws, cleaning house once a week, even helping here with buying major groceries and fixing her computer and I-pad when something is wrong with them.
She still drives a car, having just passed her driver’s test once more. She could pick up mail if she needed to, but not very well on a daily basis. But, she has neighbours who would do it for her. It removes one more vestige of independence as well as privacy from her.
By living on her own rather than moving to an old age home, she is saving taxpayers a ton of money, keeping businesses that cater to those who cannot do things themselves, or do not want to, in business at no cost to taxpayers, and giving other neighbours who are retired but still in their late 60s and seventies a chance to earn a bit of pocket money on the side.
I think most people can adjust. Perhaps new services will pop up on a more formal basis which help those seniors at home who are not quite as mobile as they used to be. Those who provide some help, may add getting the mail every few days to their service.
The reality is that most of the mail these days is junk mail. More and more seniors will have computer skills and have the ability to keep in touch with friends by phone, tablet, computer or whatever, including doing banking on the net, making payments on the net, and buying âstuffâ on the net delivered by couriers.
I would think that Canada Post will continue to compete for that business. If not, also not a big deal.
I don’t think we need to adjust. I think this is a service that is historical and is expected in every other civilized country. The service does not cost tax payers a dime and is much needed by many people and so it should continue.
The privatization push is on by CEO, Deepak Chopra. Harper appointed him for his history in this regard and that is the end goal… its treasonous. Without a national postal service many communities will be left out.
I for one order a lot of stuff online that gets delivered via Canada Post and this is a growing trend and a valued service. Also the only private mail is through Canada Post, so where is our privacy once Canada Post is gone?
This is part and parcel of the globalized monopoly capitalist mentality of privatizing essential public services to for profit private investors. Canada Post played a large part in building this country as a community where we all receive the same level of service… and to turn your back on Canada Post with petty vindictiveness is akin to turning your backs on your country.
Lots of people willing to sell their own mom for selfish ideological myths IMO.
The argument that someone can start the service Canada Post provides is a cop-out.
Fex Ex is not going to open a depot in Watson Lake, or Tumbler Ridge, or even Mackenzie. If we want to have national postal service that covers the whole country than we need to support Canada Post in its traditional role serving all Canadians with world class postal service.
Some services will make more money than others and some will cost a little more than others and in the end if they can produce profits essentially every year for the last two decades, then why run a wrecking ball to destroy a good service that we already have. Its ideological treason is the only answer.
Posted by: Eagleone on April 29 2014 2:15 PM
The argument that someone can start the service Canada Post provides is a cop-out.
Fex Ex is not going to open a depot in Watson Lake, or Tumbler Ridge, or even Mackenzie. If we want to have national postal service that covers the whole country than we need to support Canada Post in its traditional role serving all Canadians with world class postal service.
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No one is arguing to shut Canada Post down; it still serves a useful purpose. What we don’t need (regardless of it’s role in shaping this country) is door to door delivery. This country was founded in part on the fur trade; shall we go back to those days as well?
What’s next? Are those who reside in rural settings going to start getting their mail dropped off in the quaint little mail boxes at the end of their driveways?
“I think this is a service that is historical and is expected in every other civilized country”
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Personally speaking, I haven’t had mail delivered to my door since I moved out of my parent’s house almost a couple of decades ago. I, therefore, don’t expect it.
I also don’t think anybody is suggesting we get rid of Canada Post as there is still a need. I still use Canada Post for parcel shipments and for the odd letter. I find the service to be good and I have no problem with the charges. No complaints from me there.
I, don’t, however, really see the need for a letter carrier to bring junk mail to my door, when they can drop it off 100 feet from my door instead. I don’t think this is an unreasonable approach in an urban setting where shared mail boxes are easily accessible.
In cases where this doesn’t work (rural settings for example), then yes we need to ensure that mail service is still available. I think that goes without saying. If there were a way to continue door to door service for people with mobility issues, then I also don’t have a problem with that and I think it should at least be looked to as a possibility.
Who is ‘we’ Axman? You seem to make a lot of assumptions speaking for everyone else.
Lets face it you are a very selfish person and are always speaking for yourself irregardless of consideration for anyone else. It shows a lack of consideration for others and their view points to assume you speak for everyone. Vindictiveness and selfishness are not good qualities when trying to assume you speak for others.
Your hypothetical scenarios about quaint mailboxes and fur traders misdirects the issue. Why can’t you just say that ‘you’ don’t support home delivery of mail? Why do you have to always assume you speak for others and make up misdirecting hypothetical scenarios that are often ludicrous? If you yell the loudest it still doesn’t make your point more relevant.
So if you have never had home delivery and so by extension you don’t think anyone else should get it either… then fair enough. Point made.
As PG noted, well over 90% of what I receive is junk mail. I don’t have door to door service, and I don’t need a well paid postal employee to deliver it. Time for Canada Post to get up to speed with what’s happening in the 21st century.
Maybe it’s time to privatize Canada Post, like they did in Great Britain, or at least make people pay extra to have the mail deivered to their door.
The mail I get delivered to my door is 95% junk mail. Soon to be 100% once last bill is electronic.
There is no need for door to door anymore, we are a electronic people now, snail mail is becoming obsolete. The recent rise in the price of a stamp has sealed the fate of canada post.. It should stick to parcel delivery and that’s it. Yes it hurts with the loss of jobs but that happens in a world evolving.
Posted by: Eagleone on April 29 2014 4:56 PM
Who is ‘we’ Axman? You seem to make a lot of assumptions speaking for everyone else.
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“We” is the majority of people. We don’t need door to door delivery. Nobody needs door to door delivery. It’s a luxury who’s time has passed.
People resent change. No more penny. The sky didn’t fall.
Eagleone I agree with you. So some of you don’t want door to door delivery then what is the next thing they will get rid of? The Liberals want to privatize everything in this Province and I believe they also want to privatize Canada Post. Privatize it and in the future you can pay someone at your door twenty dollars to deliver you a registered letter.
Oldman1:”Privatize it and in the future you can pay someone at your door twenty dolars to deliver you a registered letter.”
That would be the sender who pays, not the recipient! BTW, the last time I sent a registered letter via Canada Post I paid about ten bucks! And that was here in town!
Next time I will hand deliver it myself and get a stamped receipt!
Posted by: oldman1 on April 29 2014 7:23 PM
… The Liberals want to privatize everything in this Province and I believe they also want to privatize Canada Post…
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What the heck does Canada Post have to do with the Provincial Liberals? Talk about a stretch! At least you didn’t chock it up as a Mossad conspiracy. :)
Funny, the only time I’ve had mail theft was when it was delivered to my door. I have no issues with the community mailboxes.
Did not intend to say canada Post had anything to do with Liberals.-need to proof read. And by the way I used to go seven miles to town to pick up my mail and that is why I like it delivered to my front door now.
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