Postal workers have just come through our busiest time of the year. Two out of every three parcels we deliver are delivered during the holiday season. Again this year, our union members were out in sleet, rain and snow to make sure important packages and gifts arrived in a timely fashion.
So this is a good time to think about what is at stake if Canada Post management and the Conservative government go ahead with their planned overhaul of the post office in Canada.
Last year at this time, they announced sweeping changes to postal services we all rely on, including the elimination of door-to-door mail delivery. These drastic and harmful measures have already begun taking place in communities across Canada. In the Lower Mainland, Delta is set to be the first place to have door-to-door service eradicated.
Rather than having mail delivered to your doorstep by a familiar and friendly face, the elimination of door-to-door will mean you'll have to trek to a Community Mail Box (CMB), often quite a ways down the road or around the block. In Delta, with so many retirees living in communities like Ladner and Tsawwassen, residents are rightfully alarmed. Senior and mobility-challenged customers will be inconvenienced or put at risk.
Before Canada Post announced its changes, CMBs were located in areas where people knew they were there when they bought their homes. What will the impact be on property values when they are introduced in established neighborhoods? Whose house are they going in front of? These boxes are not attractive; most residents are unlikely to want them in front of their property, not only for esthetic reasons but also the constant flow of traffic and litter that they will bring to the front of their homes.
The other clear and present danger from the CMBs is increased mail and identity theft. Already B.C. is known as the mail theft capital of Canada, and the switch to CMBs provides a one-stop shop from thieves. Although Canada Post claims new boxes will be built securely, experience suggests that criminals will find a way to take advantage of the new system. There have already been cases of thieves cutting the boxes off at the legs and putting the whole thing in the back of a truck.
Any way you look at it, CMBs just don't make sense for our customers and our communities.
We've heard a lot of concerns like this from our members and, most importantly, from our customers. That's why we've launched a public campaign, We Deliver Canada, that explains the high stakes and argues that we not only don't need to cut our postal services - we can actually expand what the post office does in Canada.
The campaign, which you can find at www.WeDeliverCanada.ca, includes a series of videos featuring postal workers themselves making the case for keeping door-to-door service.
Canada Post is a profitable Crown corporation. It belongs to all Canadians. Far from being a burden on taxpayers, our members deliver both a vital public service and a profit.
Management and the federal government have claimed that service cuts are needed because Canada Post is no longer profitable. They keep forecasting doom and gloom to justify the changes. The projections on which Canada Post based their postal restructuring forecast a loss of almost three hundred million dollars in 2014.
The reality, however, is that Canada Post have reported profits so far this year and, with the holiday rush, they are now headed for a "record-setting season." Canada Post has been profitable in eighteen of the past 20 years.
Rather than cutting services, Canada Post should be expanding what we deliver. Most industrialized countries offer some form of public postal banking. These financial services turn a profit and strengthen other public services. The same could be true in Canada.
With a national network of outlets larger than all existing banks combined, a Canadian postal bank, like the one Canada Post operated until 1968, would give the unbanked and underbanked options other than predatory money-lenders, and would force the existing banks to lower rates and improve service to compete.
It would be good news for everyone - except the banking lobby.
The truth is simple: door-to-door delivery is currently profitable. If we want to ensure it remains profitable for future generations we should join most developed nations in the world who operate a postal bank.
This year is a federal election year, and both the Liberals and the NDP have pledged to revisit or halt the planned cuts to door-to-door service. On top of that, already 423 municipalities across Canada have formally objected to the planned elimination of services.
With your help, there is still time to stop these cuts. With your help, we can keep delivering this quality and essential public service.
To see the campaign videos and to send a message to your MP about door-to-door mail service, visit WeDeliverCanada.ca.
Kim Evans is president of CUPW Vancouver, Local 846.
