Rural postal carriers to get a big pay hike – September 21, 2018
There’s a flaw in the Union system in Canada that’s already been exposed in America. For the most part, so far Canadians have been sheltered from the disasters caused by dishonest unions, that don’t explain in detail that every action they take has a reaction. Now the Unions in Europe, namely countries like Germany, Norway, and Switzerland where minimum wages don’t exist tend to outline the pros and cons of forcing a company to pony up the doe. Below is an article from The Canadian Press that you may want to consider reading.
What’s my beef with Canada Post? Canada Post a crown corporation is one of the main parties responsible for Canada not being an economic paradise. Canadians pay a ridiculous amount for courier service within our borders because of The Canadian Union of Postal Workers(CUPW). What does this mean exactly? Well if you go to most online retailers in Canada that aren’t Amazon or Walmart one of the other huge corporations that aren’t in bed with our Government you’ll notice how expensive it is shipping a simple envelope with a tracking number.
It’s actually cheaper for China to ship to Canada using Canada Post than it is for a Canadian small business to ship in Canada with a tracking number. Canada Post a crown corporation is allowed to do independent deals with foreign companies that Canadian small businesses can’t do with Canada Post. Now, obviously the average Canada Post doesn’t know nor do they care about how Canada Post is structured, however in the digital age it’s becoming very problematic and it’s not problematic because of the amount of money that Canada Post makes, no it’s problematic for Canada Posts liabilities.
Canada Post hasn’t stopped hiring people, which is fine, which is great actually, but the problem is the safety net for after these newly hired workers after they retire which are the problem. It’s getting worse and worse and larger and larger, while demand for courier services are becoming increasingly competitive and well being a crown corporation has its limits and one of those limits are international delivery. Sure almost any parcel that comes across Canadian borders has to touch Canada Post, but this has actually made Canada Post very inefficient, which is the actual problem Canada Post is facing going forward.
There’s no incentive for a Crown Corporation to be efficient with the money it gets, this is how the CUPW has been able to get so many benefits for Canada Post workers. What does this mean exactly? Well in a nutshell bankruptcy, now obviously there’s a good chance that Canada Post will get some form of a bailout when this does happen, but the numbers are looking very ugly especially as Canadian manufacturing jobs are being replaced with public sector jobs.
The door to door delivery is becoming less and less necessary and Canada Post as I’ve said many times over is not a friend to small businesses. A lot of people don’t know why private couriers like UPS, DHL, FedEx and others domestically can’t compete with Canada Post, but this again happens because of regulations and government subsidies and protections, that shelters Canada Post from the competition. This, of course, is what allows Canada Post to pay their workers the money they make in the first place.
The reality is if Canada Post’s union was more open and honest with their employees, their employees would be better suited to see the disaster on the horizon, but when this happens, it’s going to be painful, extremely painful, now obviously the first thing that’s going to happen is Canada Post is going to raise prices, but again, this is only going to make Canadian small businesses less competitive because the big corporations get better deals. So Amazon doesn’t pay the same price a mom and pop shop will charge. Also, Canadian businesses that do business international tend to avoid Canada Post like the plague, because internationally, they don’t exactly provide competitive rates as far as the speedy door to door delivery is concerned.
So raising their prices in this climate is again going to make the entire Canadian economy worse off. Bottom line here is this. Canada Post like many other Crown corporations and government-related institutions is headed for a disaster. The unfortunate thing is that the culture has been set and the reality is most Canadians can’t see the collapse that’s headed our way. Congrats to the Canada Post workers on their new pay raises, what I will say is pay close attention to your retirements.
Interesting times ahead.