OK...Canada Post sucks, I surely have to agree....and its going to suck more!
UPS (not the USPS) is planning on venturing into a wider range of mail options in Canada....but they're planning on softening up the market a bit before they come here.....get this...in January, under NAFTA (Yeah....there's that ugly word!!...), UPS is challenging Canada Post (And it's a behind closed doors hearing, of course) under section 13 of NAFTA, I believe it is, that Canada Post has an unfair trade "advantage" in that its subsidized, especially in "courier" related services.
Now I don't know if any of you pay advantage to NAFTA, but like softwood lumber, to name the most obvious case, the Americans have yet to yield, or lose on any initial NAFTA ruling (Oh yeah....after 7 WTO rulings that the tariffs & duties imposed were unsubstantiated...billions of Canadian dollars already paid to the Americans...and a couple of years later...they finally agree to "reduce" the tariffs...I could go on)....
Anyway, if you think 15% for small packet increase is bad, just wait until next year, (after a NAFTA ruling that will see some of Canada Posts revenues reduced )unless Canada Post applies to the Government to lift it's rate increase schedule (They are only allowed increases once a year), and watch small packet and Expedited and ExpressPost go skyrocketing through the roof, as all trade analysts seem to agree that UPS will win initially. It's felt that Canada Post really has little to lose as the "courier" part of their business is not their primary revenue driver, so they won't put up much of a fight.
Better believe that then I'll be doing scheduled 1 1/2 drives south of the border to send my parcels!! Right now it's an iffy proposition to do that, gas prices affecting that decision, but just a little bit bigger slide on costs and I'll be flying south with my mail, and think a lot of business near the border will do the same.
I hear rumblings in the Small Business Associations, looking for a system to use small couriers to run mail south of the border. Not sure how that will work, but if Canada Post keeps having a drain of revenue going south increasing, things could get ugly for them, MAYBE just maybe then they'll listen to small businesses and start to treat us with a little more respect for the amount of money we pour into their pockets. Most of us can't get the discounts on contract because our item volumes aren't high enough. But put all of us little folks near the border together going south to use the U.S. mail system and we'll hear Canada Post howling to bring us back......You think????????
