While discussions continue between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), there is a strong chance that we could be looking at a second labour disruption in less than a year.
The future of Canada Post is a challenging dilemma. As a Crown Corporation Canada Post has a mandate to serve all Canadians in the most efficient way possible and Canada Post is the part of the Federal government that Canadians interact with most often. CUPW is also a strong union representing a very large workforce of 55,000 letter carriers, drivers and plant workers that make the mail system work.
The reality is that the environment that Canada Post is working in has changed dramatically over the past decade. Lettermail is disappearing fast with 60% less volume in 2023 compared to 2006. There are many more parcels due to the e-commerce revolution but overall revenues are down while the workforce is still structured much like it was in the 1990s. Change is needed - but what do Canadians want?
This week, we asked 926 Canadians for their thoughts on a range of topics related to mail delivery and what is important to them. The most important findings are shown in the infographic below.
Overall it looks like Canadians would be OK with reduced deliveries of Lettermail with 69% of respondents being OK with three or fewer deliveries per week. In terms of door to door deliveries, 62% of Canadians no longer receive this service and the 38% of Canadians who receive door-to-door delivery do not seem very stressed about losing this service.
The reality is the average household received just six letters and one parcel from Canada post last week. Sending letter carriers door-to-door five times per week for these low volumes is not efficient.
