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kitschnvintage · ‎10-23-2016

https://www.canadapost.ca/magazine/en/unlikely-game-changer/

I don't know if the above link will work, but I just noticed the above article on the CP website ~ boy I never realized how great Canada Post was 🙂

Here's an excerpt:

"The meteoric rise in online shopping has utterly transformed the retail landscape in Canada. It’s defined now by virtual stores, mobile commerce and new heights of customer conveniences. It’s populated by entrepreneurial stars who are grabbing hold of a channel still in its infancy and showing off its vast disruptive possibilities.

It’s true, Canadians were a little late to the game. Shoppers and retailers in the US and the UK embraced e-commerce much faster. But we’re catching up. Today, eight out of 10 Canadians shop online.

So, what does all this have to do with Canada Post?

Would you be surprised if I said that without Canada Post the scale of the retail transformation wouldn’t have been possible? That our role in building the digital economy of the future is crucial?"

rose-dee · ‎10-29-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

Only trained medical professionals and/or experienced social workers have the skill set to assess whether or not a body or family has the wherewithal to collect mail at a Community Mailbox, and I highly doubt Canada Post is considering outsourcing that decision to another governing department. As someone who has applied and paid for the privilege of a handicap parking pass, I assure you that to ask people with limited ability and financial resources to beg to keep something they've always had is nothing short of an insult. It speaks to that marginalization that I'm always going on about.

I don't doubt that people with handicaps would find ways to adapt to Community Mailboxes, for better or worse. That is something that people with disabilities excel at in ways most people cannot even begin to fathom.

I've been in the position of being seriously disabled twice in my life, and I assure you I have the utmost appreciation for the difficulties involved. I don't make light of permanent disabilities.

I'm not sure where you got the impression I was suggesting Canada Post do such assessments. I wasn't. There is no reason Canada Post couldn't make exceptions to continue to provide at-door delivery for people who really need it, based on a physician's one-page report in approved form. As you may know, this is how access to CPP disability works (albeit with a somewhat longer report form), and I can't see why Canada Post couldn't adopt the same system.

Everyone in this country has free access to medical care, even if they don't have a family physician. There would be no financial burden or begging involved. Simply have your doctor confirm the facts, verifying the need, and submit the paperwork to get continuing at-door service. Even temporary disability could be managed this way, with time-limited exemptions.

Everybody else walks or drives to their community mailboxes. That seems fair to me.

momcqueen · ‎10-29-2016

Everyone in this country has free access to medical care, even if they don't have a family physician. There would be no financial burden or begging involved. Simply have your doctor confirm the facts, verifying the need, and submit the paperwork to get continuing at-door service. Even temporary disability could be managed this way, with time-limited exemptions.

Everybody else walks or drives to their community mailboxes. That seems fair to me.

Those forms are never completed for free. No doctor does that. They start at $50 for a single-page documents. Doctors need to be paid for their time. Also, you're assuming the person on disability has funds to support owning or leasing a vehicle for collecting mail. That is not often the case.

rose-dee · ‎10-29-2016

@mjwl2006 wrote:

"Those forms are never completed for free. No doctor does that. They start at $50 for a single-page documents. Doctors need to be paid for their time."

Well, that is true, but since Canada Post is a crown corporation, exceptions could be made through a simple legislative amendment to provide a refund (or even waiver by doctors) of those fees, at least during an initial transition period. There are precedents.

"Also, you're assuming the person on disability has funds to support owning or leasing a vehicle for collecting mail. That is not often the case."

I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion from what I said. Why would a person whose at-door delivery service was guaranteed to continue need to collect their mail using a vehicle?

My whole point was that if CMBs are the inevitable future, Canada Post must find a way to continue to provide at-door service to those who need it, while ensuring that people getting that service really are the ones who require it. I don't think anyone would want a perfectly able-bodied person unfairly accessing at-door service intended for someone who couldn't get to the CMB. It's somewhat analogous to handicapped parking spots -- nothing gets my goat more when looking for a parking spot than seeing someone without a sticker abusing the system. It's both outrageously selfish and unfair to those who really need it. But now I'm digressing.

I can't see why the issue of the ability to access Community Mail Boxes couldn't be solved if Canada Post applied some creative thinking (which I'm not convinced they're capable of).

There is the problem of the elderly also. Anyone over a certain age (say 80) might be exempted from having to apply for at-door delivery in areas where CMBs were being introduced. Age verification could be easily done in any number of ways. Of course in some communities with a proportionately large elderly population this might make for challenging logistics for Canada Post, although I would think that CMBs are likely to be more of an issue in the outlying, suburban areas of cities than in downtown sections.

The bottom line, in my view, is that if Canada Post is intent on continuing to use and/or introduce CMBs, they need to address these issues.

sylviebee · ‎10-29-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:

"CMBs could easily throw the balance we've achieved as far as import fees are concerned."

Are you suggesting that Canada Post somehow exerts control over which parcels CBSA assesses, and at which value? And that that is somehow connected to Community Mail Boxes? I really don't think there is any "balance" to upset with regard to import fees.

Of course not.

sylviebee · ‎10-29-2016

@rose-dee wrote:
@sylviebee wrote:

"
"A friend of mine works for the Post Office and her job is to plan these boxes. When I mentioned to her that I'd be concerned having an expensive item delivered to a box she told me there's an easy solution for that: Just have it shipped "signed for".
Yikes! That's a huge increase in the cost of shipping plus import taxes.
These people don't even think about things like that but this type of thing could have a huge effect on the way Canadians buy internationally."

Your friend is right. If the parcel is valuable enough that you'd rather not have it left in a CMB, the easiest solution is to pay the extra dollar or two for signature confirmation. That's not a "huge increase" if you're looking for absolute protection, and I doubt it would have any effect overall on how Canadians buy internationally.

No one else has the right or authority or knowledge to assess what amount is the "right" amount for me to pay for an item and it's beyond me why anyone would presume they do.

rose-dee · ‎10-29-2016

Well, perhaps you could explain exactly what you were referring to, as that statement doesn't make much sense as it stands. The word "achieve" implies someone was actually working to get a result.

universal-solder · ‎02-22-2017

This post is already some months old but I just stepped over the hilarious headline... In my opinion, Canada Post is preventing the online retail revolution by not offering necessary product upgrades. What I mean is there is absolutely no option for cheap and small parts to be shipped in Canada or to outside of Canada for a reasonable price, since the limit for letter mail is 20mm. But in between a 20mm oversize letter for 1.80 CAD and the smallest package for more than 10 bucks would fit a lot of cloths, gadgets, and spare parts, for what no solution exists. And I can't see that this will change soon. The British have a 25mm limit, in other European countries is a maxi letter up to 50mm and 2kg available for a small price. I blame it on Canada Post to even NOT support the online retail revolution by locking out all the suppliers who try to sell products in a range under 20 CAD but with the smallest dimension of over about 18mm. And there are millions of items, they just can't be sold online because of it.