Canada Post Government Study

[mr.elmwood]

"The House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) would like to invite you to appear before the Committee in Winnipeg on Friday, October 21 from 8:30 a.m. until 9:30 a.m. in view of its study on Canada Post."

I get five minutes for a presentation and then they ask me questions.

Input. I need input. I really do not care what it is as I want all angles.

[cumos55]

How does the person behind you feel  when you deliver a mass of parcels to the post office?

Many times  when I go shopping and I am ready to pay for purchases  there is a lineup in front of me...

and...

When I am finished paying... There is .... NOBODY behind me......  How did that happen?

[momcqueen]

I could see that in rural locations there would be need for a federal government presence in their local post office -- Service Canada-style -- but with the franchise counters in urban locations, it seems like a bad idea to me. Certainly, nothing I'd want to see. And definitely nothing I would use. Like I said earlier, some of the unfortunate souls hired at my nearest ones have been dumber than a bag of hammers. I have to remind them Santa Cruz is in the USA and not Mexico, I wouldn't trust them to withdraw funds from my account. 

And to answer you question about depositing cheques, the last one was actually FROM Canada Post for missed delivery standard. Irony. 

As to bankers' hours, those are on the increase. In the 1980s, the banks were open short days maybe 10 am to 4 pm Tuesday to Saturday where I lived. Today, I could get an appointment to talk about my mortgage at literally any time of the day or evening, any day of the week. And the mortgage specialist would come to my house at my request. 

Edit: Oh, I bring a bag into the outlet sometimes but they are all pre-paid for acceptance scans only. I once saw a gentleman at the counter who loaded up two shopping carts full of outbound parcels from his weekend of ebay sales. I said a few prayers that morning. 

[momcqueen]

Page 69 of 133 now. Thick into the financial statements, my least favourite area.

I will also note I am somewhat surprised by how much of a threat the study deems uber-style parcel delivery of the future will pose.

As a seller, would you trust your parcel deliver to some Uber guy? 

I cannot imagine that I ever would. 

[momcqueen]

Page 93 of 133. Now we're talking about sweet mary-gee-wanna distribution. 

Maybe that's the value-added synergy that they can bring to postal franchise counters: reefer sales with your commemorative stamps and Canadian Mint coin sets. 

Edit: Oh wait, I was joking but that's actual option 2 here of section 7.6. Hah hah. A 'trip' to the post office just got a heck of a lot more interesting. 

[momcqueen]

Page 110 of 133: 

Most Canadians are satisfied with alternate day delivery for Lettermail™ but

parcels at least five days a week; marketers want Admail™ delivered toward

the end of the week. Not only is Canada Post's infrastructure and routing not

set up for this but its negotiated labour contracts do not allow for smooth

flexing and its labour rates outpace those of its competition.

[momcqueen]

I'm finished reading the report. My breathless-by-the-minute updates will now cease. 

As you were. 

[momcqueen]

I'm reviewing my speaking notes for the session on Friday in Winnipeg and I'm already 24 seconds overtime (I've been warned they cut the mic at precisely five minutes) so I have some fat to trim. And I haven't even gotten to the part about maintaining to-door delivery. Does anyone aside from me feel strongly about that? Should I rework this to fit that into it? I have to submit my speech (for lack of a better term) to the Committee no later than tomorrow morning so that it can be translated into French in advance of the hearing so I need your feedback asap, please. 

[recped]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

I'm reviewing my speaking notes for the session on Friday in Winnipeg and I'm already 24 seconds overtime (I've been warned they cut the mic at precisely five minutes) so I have some fat to trim. And I haven't even gotten to the part about maintaining to-door delivery. Does anyone aside from me feel strongly about that? Should I rework this to fit that into it? I have to submit my speech (for lack of a better term) to the Committee no later than tomorrow morning so that it can be translated into French in advance of the hearing so I need your feedback asap, please. 

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I feel strongly about door to door delivery..........it should be ELIMINATED!

[pjcdn2005]

I feel the same as recped.  If you read earlier in the thread there are other comments about it so not everyone feels the same way.  To me, this is one way that costs can be cut in a big way.  I don't have much hope in getting low cost tracking but if door to door delivery stays the same, it's more likely that they won't be adding any lower cost services.

[momcqueen]

Well, I disagree and for good reason.

After reading the House of Commons Standing Committee report, I can predict a few things are already 'decided' in the minds of the powers-that-be. 

One is that everyone seems willing to accept that we don't need lettermail delivered every weekday but that we do expect parcels to come at least five days a week. 

The second is that NO ONE supports the end of to-the-door delivery for those Canadians who cannot actually collect their mail form Community boxes. There were stats to back that up. It's on page 41: 

However, the social value of Canada Post is also an important consideration.

Canadians are near unanimous in supporting the view that door-to-door

delivery is essential for people with mobility issues and other health

problems, including some elderly. It is also worth noting that 84% of

businesses support the maintenance of full delivery service for the elderly,

people with mobility issues and other health problems. Views and opinions

of Canadians on community mailboxes vs door-to-door delivery

Agree  vs   Disagree

Increase the number of community mailboxes to make the

system sustainable    69%    25%

Maintain door-to-door for those who currently have, even

if it costs more            60%     38%

Door-to-door is essential for people with mobility and

health problems, including some elderly    92%      8%

When I looked at the list of witnesses in other sittings in front of this committee, there is a great deal of representation from seniors organizations which tells me this will be impressed upon the commiittee members plenty of times. There is almost as many appearances from seniors groups as there is from union leaders both on the list of witnesses as representing their union as well as representing themselves as individuals. Mic hogs. 

That sets my mind at ease about this somewhat, although I do think it's very shortsighted of sellers to talk like the end of to-door is no bg deal to their customers. My tracking shows my Canadian customers are getting to-the-door delivery, not using a Community Mailbox nine times out of ten. That tells me that people who get their mail delivered to Community mailboxes are not online shoppers. I am an online shop, I need online shoppers. 

Also from page 42: 

[pjcdn2005]

I could be wrong but I thought that if they switched to door to door delivery that there would be exceptions made for housebound people.  I though that recped mentioned that before although I couldn't find the post so I can't confirm that.

Anyway, you asked a question.  I'm not trying to change anyones mind...just replying to the question. 

[momcqueen]

That was mentioned in another thread but I found no evidence of it in the study other than that the people who prepared the report did that public opinion survey cited above that says no one want to-the-door service to end for people who really require it. 

I know you were only answering the question that I had asked, I don't take offence and hope I didn't come back as offensive.

I'm walking a thin line trying to represent the wishes of a collective of ebay sellers at the same time as my own. I want to both be fair to how we feel, but also speak to how I feel about things since I'm the one dancing at the dog-and-pony show. 

Be that as it may, I do have only five minutes to say my piece, and I was running over time already. I sent my speaking notes to the committee although I may still edit for time on review as the day wears closer. 

I'll be back on Friday with a full report. 

[dinomitesales]

I also agree with the others who say five-day-a-week door-to-door delivery should be eliminated. There is no reason why mail needs to be delivered every day. Absolutely none.

I would support maybe 2-or-3 day a week delivery, and I also fully support community mailboxes. I've had a community mailbox for 28 years and have never had it be an issue. The mailbox is down the street instead of at my front door; I stop and pick it up on my way home from work.

I also don't see what exactly the impact of door-to-door delivery has to do with your presence at this meeting - weren't you selected to represent small businesses doing business on eBay (or e-commerce in general?). I think the time spent should be focused on the issues that impact us the most as small business owners who use eBay. Whether or not someone has their mail delivered to their door or to a community mailbox has zero impact on my selling on eBay.

You seem to disagree with this though. You say: My tracking shows my Canadian customers are getting to-the-door delivery, not using a Community Mailbox nine times out of ten. That tells me that people who get their mail delivered to Community mailboxes are not online shoppers.

I'm not sure where you're extrapolating this information. Like I said, I have a community mailbox - nowhere on my tracking for recent orders is that mentioned. Most of the time the parcel is just delivered to my door. In which case it just says "Delivered" on the tracking. Other times it gets sent to my nearest post office for pick-up - in this case, the tracking will look exactly the same as someone who has door-to-door delivery. The only time the tracking might say "delivered to community mailbox" is if the parcel is left inside one of the small parcel receptacles in the community mailbox; and even THEN, most of the time the tracking just says "Delivered" because the driver doesn't bother to specify it was delivered to a community mailbox.

In conclusion, I'd say 80-90% of tracked parcels I receive will have no indication in the tracking that I am a community mailbox owner. I'm confused as to how you can reach the conclusion that only 10% of your customers have a community mailbox. To say "that people who get their mail delivered to Community mailboxes are not online shoppers" is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

[momcqueen]

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@dinomitesales wrote:

...I also don't see what exactly the impact of door-to-door delivery has to do with your presence at this meeting - weren't you selected to represent small businesses doing business on eBay (or e-commerce in general?). I think the time spent should be focused on the issues that impact us the most as small business owners who use eBay. Whether or not someone has their mail delivered to their door or to a community mailbox has zero impact on my selling on eBay.

---

I am representing myself as an individual who happens to be an ebay seller. I made a point of clarifying this with ebay staff after I received notice form the Committee that I had been selected to speak. I'm not attending on behalf of ebay, or even a consortium of ebay sellers, so including the opinion of fellow sellers is being offered to the standing committee a courtesy only. I'm attempting to be inclusive. It's not a given that I should be. Nor should it be expected of Mr. Elmwood, either. He and I are in the same boat. A single-seat kayak. Paddle optional. 

[momcqueen]

dinomitesales wrote:

..... To say "that people who get their mail delivered to Community mailboxes are not online shoppers" is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.

Well, at the risk of sounding annoyed, to hear that you don't think I know the demographic of my own customers is one of the most ridiculous things that I've ever heard so I suppose that makes it even. 

[dinomitesales]

How are you collecting this data? I would be interested in learning more about how you reached the conclusion that only 10% of your customers are community mailbox owners.

I would also be interested in hearing more about how you've expanded that conclusion to a blanket statement saying "people who get their mail delivered to Community mailboxes are not online shoppers". Even if you could somehow prove that 90% of your customers are receiving door-to-door delivery, how can you disregard the fact that they simply might outnumber community mailbox owners 9:1 in the areas your customers live in?

[momcqueen]

And finally, the Committee is hearing submissions to the Task Force which resulted in the study Canada Post in the Digital Age. I provided a link to that 133-page report earlier in the thread if you care to seek it. For more information on the actual scope of the task force, please see http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=42&Ses=1&DocId=84494...

Allow me to copy and paste a highlight form that federal government News Release. I believe I did so earlier in the thread also. 

As part of its study, the Committee invites Canadians to share their opinions on the options that the Task Force on Canada Post, which was established by the Minister of Public Services and Procurement in May 2016, presented in its working paper entitled Canada Post in the Digital Age and any other topics related to the Canada Post Corporation. The study will result in a report to be presented in the House of Commons in December 2016.

The following options were examined by the Task Force on Canada Post:

• Community mailbox conversion;

• Converting 800 of the highest volume corporate post offices to franchise outlets;

• Alternate day delivery;

• Further streamlining processing operations;

• Pursuing further synergies with Purolator;

• Selling advertising in retail network;

• Additional “last mile” delivery for 3rd parties;

• Price based strategy;

• Review of labour and pension costs;

• Distribution of marijuana;

• Post offices as community hubs;

• Changes to Canada Post’s governance;

• Postal banking.

These are the matters to which presenters are expected to limit their submissions. 

[vintagenorth]

For what it's worth, I shop nearly exclusively online and I have a community mailbox. Because I am "thrifty" I nearly always choose to have my items shipped by CP as opposed to a more expensive option where I am given a choice. Unless, of course, free shipping is offered.

[momcqueen]

That's reassuring to hear.

[pjcdn2005]

I wasn't offended.

I agree that you will be representing yourself as an individual eBay seller and you are under no obligation to speak for anyone else.  

My last comment on this subject.....    I must have missed you saying that a small percentage of your customers use community mailboxes.  I don't understand how you would know that as there is no indication that my address is a community mailbox and delivery confirmation rarely indicates that the package wasn't  delivered to my door.