Canada Post - Huge losses

[Mad Mike]

My mailman's not that bad.

He walks across my lawn, though. Burn him.

That's funny. In my hood the driveways are separated with an 6-8' strip of grass. I remember him leaping the grass dividers on some houses - the ones where homeowners complained about him walking on their grass.

 

[Scuba Steve]

Networks have concentrated costs at the ends. Distance between the fists postal station and the last in a letter's journey have a small impact on cost, but insignificant compared to the first and last mile. It may cast more to deliver a letter from Etobicoke to Mississauga than St. Johns to Vancouver.

Nope. CPC has a mandate to get the mail delivered. It's not restricted to using its own to do so. You think there's a Postie in the cockpit and on the ramp of every cargo jet that carries mail around the country? CPC has a monopoly, all that means is they control the market for mail.

That's not illegal either.

CP may be cheaper for Grandma to send her annual Xmas box across the country. Since about 2015, CPC package costs for small businesses are no longer cheaper for a small business - I can send packages for less using Puro, Fedex and UPS - PLUS - I can be sure they aren't getting carded at the destination end.

I can sent 1KG 30x30x30 box from Toronto to Calgary for $29 using CPC, or $13 using Puro.

Couriers have been cheaper for a while and way more convenient.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[raginduck]

Couriers have been cheaper for a while and way more convenient.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

They're cheaper IF you're shipping within their 'corridors'.. go outside of the corridors and the cost can jump substantially.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

As do many companies utilizing Canada Post. I am in print and signage and we are a Canada Post Partner. Rates vary based on how much you mail a year, so the more you do the cheaper your rates are. Also many non profits use Canada Post for their regular mailers seeking financial aid from donors. We have had a huge drop off for jobs coming in because of this. No one is spending the money to print something they are not sure will go out. With the news of CP going back to work we have working coming back in now as people scramble and dream about getting their order out before Christmas. Not a lot of hope of that now as CP is going to be backed up and all the mailing houses and other CP partners have been holding jobs ready to release to CP as soon as they are back at work.

I hear you. I used to be in the print industry for almost 30 years. I understand how it works.
As for the “Dream of their order” - this is completely at CP’s feet. The union offered rotating strikes as I mentioned earlier. CP said no. Do what we want or we lock you out. CUPW’s hand was called and reacted accordingly.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Superbox junk mail is fine. Delivering 10 lbs of garbage to a shut-in is a waste at every level. For the special delivery addresses that can't access a superbox, dropping frequency hugely (every week or two) a nd not bothering to deliver garbage solves many of the issues with volume and staging.

Can’t disagree with you here.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Right now the number is small BED thought that a decent percentage of those forced to superbox would cry foul and demand accommodation. If too many people get approved for that, it makes a huge mess. Keep the numbers down and the size of their delivery is less important.

I hear what you’re saying. I’m just saying people are incredibly lazy and don’t want luxuries removed. Like seriously, why would people want to take on more responsibilities for themselves?

 

[BigEvilDoer]

They aren't funding directly yearly losses but they will without a doubt have to pay the debt if it gets absorbed or killed off. CP act requires the corporation to be financially self-sustaining. Losing $1B a year is not financially self-sustaining. It is forcing future people to subsidize current users (sound familiar? That's how most government entities are running right now).

Cannot argue your logic. CP simply failed to adapt. Just like RIM did.
CP added more management, cut the workers to the bone.

CP was profitable for many, many years. That’s the only reason it’s still afloat now.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

That's not how it works. CPC may bill $1B for all that junk mail, but there are large costs in selling, marketing, and running a complicated demographically targeted service. You also need some expensive people to offer a complex service like Junk Mail.

All that junk does is help CPC lose less money.

I’m sorry, Mike. You have no freaking clue here.
Companies contact CP for flyer delivery. They want their stuff delivered.

The CP cost is this — companies drop flyers off at dock. Each skid has a bar code. This code gets scanned as accepted.
The next day, the clerks scan the same bar code as being ready for delivery. They get weighed and distributed to the carriers.

CP cost in flyer prep / sales is pretty much zero per flyer.
I’ve done the flyer prep thing quite a bunch. For a route of 1500 points of call, it takes about 2 minutes. Seriously.
CP is making GIGANTIC bank off flyers.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

We did it.. Not CP.

How did the relabelled packages get from CP to Puro?

We ship about 40m packages a year.. there's nothing "general" about the prices we pay to any of our carriers. The prices we pay are ours.
Some times CP is cheaper.. a lot of times.. it's not.

CP had management employees relabelling the packages / mail. That’s how.
CP also owns a vast majority of Purolator.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Who pays for the employee pensions?

Employees, with CP adding.
Not the gov’t. Except for CPP.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Next on the block should be Canada Post, CBC, Via Rail, CMHC, and in Ontario - LCBO. The free market has proven they can deliver these services better, faster, and cheaper than any Crown Corp.

Look at the UK postal system and try again.

 

[raginduck]

CP had management employees relabelling the packages / mail. That’s how.
CP also owns a vast majority of Purolator.

I get that.. but how did the packages physically get from CP to Puro? That would require trucks.. and you guy were camped at the CP locations.. did you see trucks going in and out?

 

[BigEvilDoer]

I get that.. but how did the packages physically get from CP to Puro? That would require trucks.. and you guy were camped at the CP locations.. did you see trucks going in and out?

Stikers are not on the line 24/7.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

I get that.. but how did the packages physically get from CP to Puro? That would require trucks.. and you guy were camped at the CP locations.. did you see trucks going in and out?

Again, we are not on the line 24/7.
At my location, we started at 6am, we were done at 6pm. It’s easily conceivable that trucks arrived and were dispatched again in the 12 hours of workers not on the line.

I am not saying this happened 100%, but there are thousands of incidents of this happening..

 

[raginduck]

Employees, with CP adding.
Not the gov’t. Except for CPP.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/as-canada-post-strike-drags-on-frustration-mounts-over-prohibitive-courier-costs-1.4273733

"While Canada Post is a for-profit company that isn't taxpayer funded, it gets government support its competitors don't because it's a Crown corporation. For instance, the federal government contributes to the employee pension plan along with Canada Post."

I've read similar in other article.. and is why I'm asking.

 

[Mad Mike]

Look at the UK postal system and try again.

That’s like looking at a British car as an example of dependability.

How about Deutchpost? Or Purolator?

.

 

[hdsomeday]

How could anyone approve the use of a sign asking for 'support' with a play on a phrase recently made famous by a murderer?



Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this? President of something to do with CUPW was apparently present during this. The little support I may have had has gone out the window now (it dwindled after the "We're unable to survive," quote).

 

[raginduck]

How could anyone approve the use of a sign asking for 'support' with a play on a phrase recently made famous by a murderer?

View attachment 71427

Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this? President of something to do with CUPW was apparently present during this. The little support I may have had has gone out the window now (it dwindled after the "We're unable to survive," quote).

Wow.. I'm surprised someone didn't stop that... very distasteful.
That said.. The guy is considered a hero and is being celebrated by a lot of people... I've seen video of crowds cheering for him..
His defence fund.. although he doesn't need it.. was over 120K the last time I saw it.

 

[ReSTored]

Wow.. I'm surprised someone didn't stop that... very distasteful.
That said.. The guy is considered a hero and is being celebrated by a lot of people... I've seen video of crowds cheering for him..
His defence fund.. although he doesn't need it.. was over 120K the last time I saw it.

Those of us of a certain age will remember the numerous CP strikes in the 30+ years ago and the defiance of the union leader Jean-Claude Parrot, who went to jail rather than tell CP workers to obey a back to work order. It made him a martyr in the eyes of the workers.

Jean-Claude Parrot - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Those were the days when the union had real clout, as a work stoppage had huge impact on business.

 

[Mad Mike]

KTM declining fortunes have also affected MV Agusta's employees in Italy. MV Agusta's union and management agreed in solidarity to measures that will keep the company going, it included a 20 per cent paycut across the board.

This is how unions need to interact with management when their lives are on the line.