eBay

skylarstuff · ‎08-02-2016

Update August 2, 4:14 pm

Dear Canada Post customer,

While we continue to talk, progress remains slow; but our resolve to reach tentative agreements without a work disruption has remained.

The postal system is open for business while negotiations continue. Mail and parcels are being processed and delivered across the country as normal.

Information related to negotiations can also be found at canadapost.ca/update, where you can sign up for email updates. We will continue to keep you updated on a regular basis as we have throughout this process.

Sincerely,

Serge Pitre
Vice-president, Sales
Canada Post Corporation

cumos55 · ‎08-28-2016

The Canada Post Pension Fund is separate from anything that CPC does....It took me a while understand that reality.

CPC takes care of itself... and has the mandate to be economically self-sustaining..... and with the most recent adjustments, this is happening

(1) Closing postal outlets where there are employees paid by CPC.

These could become franchised outlets..... set up by CPC, and then the person that has the franchise... pays CPC an annual fee ... Money saved. Franchise postal outlets became a standard many years ago...

(2) The set up of Community mailboxes will continue.... because that will save money... The review will say so

(3) Rural versus Urban Pay equity can be addressed by the placement of the equivalent of community mailboxes in a local town..... like it was before rural mail delivery ... the equivalent to door-to-door in a city ... became a standard at about 1960-1970.

My relatives, farmers west of Winnipeg, used to travel to a nearby town, a 16 mile round trip, to get their mail

This pay equity thing needs a lot more explanation

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:

If the community mailboxes were to continue, less staff would be required and less chance of injury to staff.

What are peoples opinions that Trudeau will remove his block and allow CP to continue with them as part of their cost reducing plans?

I think he might, although I won't put any serious money on it.

Through some creative organizing, I think exceptions could be made for people (the disabled, elderly, etc.) to get a special exemption for to-door service, much like handicap passes for special parking spots. You provide the proper medical and personal documentation, fill out an application, and you get on the roster. The few addresses in each neighbourhood which that system might involve wouldn't be a huge burden to workers or CPC, just a separate short delivery list.

Why has this never been floated as a possible solution? Or has it? I don't recall seeing anyone in CPC or government mentioning it.

The majority of able-bodied people should really not have complaints about going to the end of the street to get their mail. Time was, before the advent of door-to-door service, everybody had to pick up their mail at the Post Office, whether it was near or far.

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

cumos55 wrote:

(3) Rural versus Urban Pay equity can be addressed by the placement of the equivalent of community mailboxes in a local town..... like it was before rural mail delivery ... the equivalent to door-to-door in a city ... became a standard at about 1960-1970.

My relatives, farmers west of Winnipeg, used to travel to a nearby town, a 16 mile round trip, to get their mail

Yes, I think we've become rather spoiled by service levels continuing more or less evenly since the 1960's. It's really not sustainable with today's realities.

Honestly, I blame CPC management and direction for a lack of creative thinking on this subject.

I live in a semi-rural community. There is a mailbox at the end of our driveway, but most of the time if there is a parcel, all I get in the mailbox is a card. I then have to pick up my parcel in town anyway. As far as the rest of the regular mail goes (what little there is of importance), a once or twice-weekly trip to town to pick it up would be sufficient.

I think there is a lot of money to be saved by properly rationalizing CPC services based on the region and area. I see our Canada Post delivery person rather frantically driving around trying to get all the mail delivered into all the boxes along the country highway within her allotted shift. Of course, here in Nova Scotia, distances between farms and rural homes aren't as great as in places like Manitoba, but that's where the analysis comes in.

Surely by consolidating some of those services into a post office pick-up service, CPC could spread their existing rural people much thinner (with exceptions for the elderly and disabled as mentioned above), use some of the savings to pay them a wage that would be in line with their urban counterparts, and use normal employee attrition to take care of the rest.

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

I wanted to add (but got cut off editing time) that I don't think Canadians can continue to expect the same levels of service from CPC all across the country, no matter where they live or what sort of topography or distances are involved in a particular postal region.

Maybe we are partly to blame in our expectations. Maybe it's time CPC adjusted service to specific realities. I personally don't see, for example, why my postal carrier should be driving up and down a 20km route, using up gasoline and her time delivering mostly junk mail, local rags and the occasional letter or parcel pick-up card into every single mailbox along the highway, every single day. Yeah, it's fun to go out and see what's in the box that day, but we're all ultimately paying for that privilege. Twice a week would be sufficient.

Reducing and rationalizing service levels would also help to solve a lot of the issues CPC has had with the Union over the years, and help to sustain a decently-paid, committed, albeit smaller, workforce to serve everyone. I think it might also help to keep rural and semi-rural Canada Post outlets open and running.

I think we really have been pampered for the past 50 years. Those of us who grew up in towns or cities in the 1950's and 1960's will remember the milkman at the door every day or two -- how long ago did that service go by the wayside?

cumos55 · ‎08-28-2016

Community mailboxes have been the standard for all areas that are new developments in large cities....

They never knew what it was like to have door-to-door delivery..

CPC does have a process in place to meet the needs of certain people..... This has been taken care of.

There have been people who have protested the placement of community mailboxes..... No complaints after using this form of mail delivery.

I have seen young children picking up the mail.... I have seen people on the way home from work stop and pick up the mail....

I have seen a delivery person travel along a long line of community mailboxes ...Much less walking, and relatively easy to do.

cumos55 · ‎08-28-2016

The use of the internet.... whether email... bills and more... and payment of bills....

There will be less, and less lettermail.... much less of a need for door-to-door delivery even in a rural area.

And if there is a parcel available for pickup... they can email you... or telephone you...

Or... How about drone delivery of parcels in a rural situation ! ! !

Call the person and tell them ... IT is coming......

Drones in a rural situation make more sense...

dutchman48 · ‎08-28-2016

I don't believe any one in a Rural area gets mail delivery to their door. Whether they are disabled or not, they don't get an exception.

They work around their disability by getting someone to pick it up for them if they absolutely can't do it.

People learn to adapt. That is how they manage to keep going instead of feeling sorry and giving up.

One lady here had 2 knee replacements and never complained that she had to get her mail. The days she could not, she either left it or had someone else pick it up for her.

I went from having mail delivery at the door to having to go pick up my mail 10 years ago and it never bothered me.

I really think people complain for the sake of complaining and that people don't like change.

With mail being cut back so much, who really needs mail every day. Once a week would be plenty. People would adapt, have more auto deposit, and auto pay and they would probably only end up with a lot of junk mail.

I am not sure how much CP makes off flyers, etc in relation to the work CP and employees have to do for the income.

pierrelebel · ‎08-28-2016

"the surpluses at this time are going into the government's general coffers."

Sorry femme, this is incorrect. It may have been the case once upon a time but not in many many years.

purpleziggy434 · ‎08-28-2016

Pierre

I see you have re-opened your store

Just wondering what you are thinking ?

I am thinking of doing the same but unsure of what will transpire tomorrow

Thanks

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

@cumos55 wrote:

Or... How about drone delivery of parcels in a rural situation ! ! !
Call the person and tell them ... IT is coming......
Drones in a rural situation make more sense...

Oh, heaven help us, not drones!! No, please, please, no.

I greatly value the peace, privacy and tranquility we have where we are. It is sublime. I don't want to even imagine those buzzing drones zooming around the countryside every day. The odd noisy vehicle on the highway is enough.

A telephone call to advise of a parcel ready for pick-up would be fine. Most people who live in rural settings have to go into town once or twice a week. Sears does this with their rural pick-up depots and it works very well.

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

@dutchman48 wrote:
I don't believe any one in a Rural area gets mail delivery to their door. Whether they are disabled or not, they don't get an exception.

They work around their disability by getting someone to pick it up for them if they absolutely can't do it.

Well, not exactly to the door, no. But every home around here has a private mailbox at the end of the driveway, which (depending on how close the house is to the main road) is anywhere from 20 to 100 metres away from their front door -- not much of an inconvenience, even in bad weather.

The service we have in our current rural location is in fact better than what we had for 17 years in our Victoria, B.C. suburban location (community mailboxes), and I feel it really is a waste of Canada Post resources and employees' time.

I think that working "around" a disability is easier for the able-bodied to imagine than for those with serious disabilities, especially in winter. I'd have no problem with elderly or disabled neighbours getting preferential, personal service, as long as there was a process in place to properly screen applications.

cumos55 · ‎08-28-2016

For my rural relatives it was a quarter mile trip to the mail box at the end of the driveway... up goes the flag when there is mail to pick up...

and that was when they purchased a small scooter... and I guarantee the children loved "scooting around"

People find many ways to adjust... and they do adjust.

Then with much less lettermail ..one scheduled delivery per week in a rural situation may be too much.

The internet has changed things everywhere....

rose-dee · ‎08-28-2016

@cumos55 wrote:

(1) Closing postal outlets where there are employees paid by CPC.
These could become franchised outlets..... set up by CPC, and then the person that has the franchise... pays CPC an annual fee ... Money saved. Franchise postal outlets became a standard many years ago...
____________________________________________________________________________________

I have a personal experience in comparing the two types of outlets, and I must say I'd take the CPC employee model every time.

My experience with the franchise CPC outlet (in a local drugstore in Victoria, B.C.) for many years was not good, in fact I'd rate it about 3 stars out of 10. There was a constantly revolving collection of poorly-trained and/or bumbling employees behind the counter. Every few months a new one appeared, just as ill-informed as the previous one, and no more committed to his/her job.

There were a lot of very young people with little or no training except what the previous half-experienced employee could impart, handling what I consider to be an important and confidential position. Mistakes, misinformation and slow service were the norm. In fact, on more than one occasion parcels that I'd received a pick-up card for couldn't be found until several days later when a different person was on shift.

This contrasts starkly with the brilliant, well-informed and knowledgeable service I now receive from the two local post offices I use here in Nova Scotia (one is in a small village close by, and another in a small town where I get groceries). There really is no comparison. The people in my "real" Post Offices here are professional, efficient, dedicated to customer service, and understand their products and services thoroughly.

This is the difference I was trying to point out earlier between a long-term, well-trained and committed unionized workforce and the kind of laissez-faire workers one encounters when pay is marginal, there is no consistency in training, and private owners are looking for the cheapest and easiest possible answers to staffing.

dutchman48 · ‎08-28-2016

I also have a mail box in the US which is a 3 hour drive each way.

I pick up the mail every month or every 2nd month including parcels.

It can be done with the right mental attitude.

dutchman48 · ‎08-28-2016

Only correction I would make is the work force does not have to be unionized to be courteous and efficient. Any well trained employee should be that way.

I have noticed the same as you with private and actual post offices and quit using the private one for the same reasons.

However, the private ones can't afford to pay $18.50 per hour for a part time staff person as it does not get enough business to support those wages.

ypdc_dennis · ‎08-28-2016

First door to door urban delivery began in 1874 in Montreal.

First rural route delivery service began in 1908 (and eventually allowed the post office to close a number of the smaller post offices).

The post office made a big push in the 1970's to add door to door delivery in smaller communities (starting around 5 or 6 thousand people and up).

-..-

pierrelebel · ‎08-28-2016

"I see you have re-opened your store Just wondering what you are thinking ?"

Yes, I reopened my eBay store and relisted a bunch of unsold auctions late this afternoon. Spending the day with my three youngest granddaughters I was in a good mood!

The way I see it (and I try to be pragmatic, not political about these things) the union will have "light" rotating strikes for a while where the mail will continue to move. Management will not lock them out because their real bosses (ministers) told them that would not be acceptable. The CEO of Canada Post (appointed and re-appointed by Harper) does not want a fight with the Cabinet.

So I expect a stand still for a while without serious postal interruptions.

tobyshitzu · ‎08-28-2016

what a cupw member thinks

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2016/08/28/letter-postal-workers-union-is-holding-its-members-hostage

musicyouneed · ‎08-28-2016

I remember thinking the same thing when my union was negotiating our contracts.

I bet you a lot of the postal workers feel the same way. They should be sending their concerns to their union executive. I hope that info is circulated among other postal workers so they can voice their opinions too.

reallynicestamps · ‎08-29-2016

However, the private ones can't afford to pay $18.50 per hour for a part time staff person as it does not get enough business to support those wages.

Can't or won't?

If we are talking about a small business, that could be true or have some" truthiness", but most of the postal outlets I see are in back of Shopper's Drug Mart, or SevenEleven/CoucheTard, or occasionally a supermarket like Loblaws.

Some may be franchises and locally owned.

But those are large, profitable companies. Loblaws is even partially unionized.

Where the outlet does not get enough business to maintain full time staff, the outlet staff are cross-trained. They may also be shelf stackers, or cashiers, whatever is needed.

Having run a small business myself, in addition to our family business, I've learned that one way to have a revolving uninterested staff is to pay minimum wage.

Get her halfway trained and she will leave for another job that pays 25 cents an hour more.

And you have to find and train someone else. Which is what rose-dee was seeing from the customer's point of view.