Privatize Canada Post?

[Rue]

Someone correct me if I am wrong but don't we already have private couriers? Why another? And doesn't Canada Post own Purolator?

At this point I would say just sell it off to UPS or another courier.

[fellowtraveller]

Simply put, a privatized Canada Post could simply cross certain areas off the list entirely.

Like I said, they have. Not only have they privatized the physical facilites, but they outright closed many more. Canada Post is a Crown Corp with a considerable degree of autonomy, and they have exercised it often. One of the things they do is use the massive amounts of admail to subsidize first class mail to Smalltown Canada.

The suggestion that couriers can supplant what Canada Post does is silly. There is no way that courier companies would have any reason to bring mail to rural Canada. They currently serve only larger communities, and a few places en route, because they are specifically profitable. CPC uses the volume and profit from large centers to subsidize delivery in small and remote places only because they must do so. They certainly cannot ever turn a dime in profit from the empty areas, and neither can the couriers.

[mcqueen625]

Just throwing an idea out there for you guys to debate. Should the federal government privatize Canada Post? Privatization was good for Petro-Canada, turning the once bloated and ineffecient crown corporation into a world renown money making company. Canada Post is one of the least effiecent crown corporations the federal government has, with workers being overpaid at their jobs and not being productive enough. Plus, privatizing Canada Post would make it non-partisan.

It would also turn good paying jobs that people can support a family on into jobs at the local phramacy where the employees are paid minimum wage and cannot afford to leave home and support themselves. I am no fan of allowing multinational chain stores to handle my mail. I would rather pay to have someone who is scrutenized and checked out by government to ensure they are not the local five-finger discount king or queen. Don't tell me that people with criminal backgrounds would or could not wind up handling our valuable mail, because I would in the Justice System for a number of years with young offenders and I have seen former clients handling cash at the local stores. There is no means that allows potential employers to check personnel for criminal records for theft related offences while the person was under the age of 18. I just think that there is much less chance that someone with a criminal background is going to be working for Canada Post, as opposed to the local pharmacy mail counter.

[mcqueen625]

I can't think of any country that allows competition in basic mail delivery.

To be fair, there is competition by courier services. There is also the competing force of email and fax. I understand that you mean "basic" delivery to include small envelopes and postcards and such.

Nevertheless, privatizing a corporation can still be done leave it as a monopoly.

Two of the courier services you refer to would be Priority Post, and Purolator Courier. In teh case of Priority Post it is 100% owned by Canada Post, and in the case of Purolator Courier, it is 51% owned by Canada Post. IN fact in many cases now if you send a parcel or letter by Purolator Courier to a remote location it is often being delivered by Canaada Post to it's destination.

Beside mail is one thing and courier service is something else again. To use a courier service you pay a very high price for extremely expidited service, while mail is much slower. For instance I can send a package Purolator Air from Saint John, NB to Vancouver, BC, and have it delivered by noon the next day business day, but the same letter by Canada Post will take a minimum of 3 - 4 business days to arrive. Coming West to East is another story because of the 4 hour time differential between the West and the East. Coming West to East takes and additional day, due to that time difference.

[Wilber]

Up until the early nineties we used to pick up our mail at the village post office and then it was closed. The upside was that we now had a mail box which is much closer to our home and not dependent on post office hours. The function of the post office was taken over by the village store but Canada Post insisted that the store keep post office hours year round so the store soon told them to get stuffed. The downside is that it is now four miles to our nearest post office which is located in a pharmacy. Abbotsford now has one actual "Canada Post" post office for a city of 140,000 people.