Canada Post ends home delivery for thousands

–  CBC News (October 20, 2013)

“All urban home delivery to end by 2019”

Canada Post announced that in the next 5 years they will be slowly getting out of the home delivery business and into deliveries to local community boxes. Thousands of people have already started using community boxes for 3 weeks now, and 5 million people will be off of home delivery by 2019. Due to the increasing usage of electronic communication, mail volume has decreased more than 1.2 billion since 2006. Canada Post claims that switching to local community boxes will save them half a billion dollars, but they did not reveal how much the costs to switch would be. So then, is it right for them to stop home deliveries when seniors and disabled may still be in need of them? Private businesses have already jumped in and taken this opportunity to privatize the delivery industry by offering affected areas like Winnipeg a home delivery system for $20/month.

I have never had home delivery so I don’t really know if ending it is that big a deal. I do know that many mail deliverers will be losing their jobs, though, and that many will be inconvenienced by this sudden announcement. However, times have changed, and with the rise in oil prices and the increase in emails and online resources, it is understandable how Canada Post would want to exit the home delivery business. I don’t see how this change could be a violation to the Charter of Rights and Freedom either, when Canada Post will be the ones to pay for the building and maintenance of these boxes. I do hope that packages will still be delivered to our front doors, but looking at it from their point of view, Canada Post has made a wise decision to reduce further costs.