When it comes to the recent Canada Post strike, we have no interest in wading into federal politics or taking sides. We do, however, have some commentary on the strike that we didn’t see reflected in the mainstream media.
When the Canada Post strike was announced, a lot of the public sentiment fell into the “who cares?” camp. With the advent of email, who licks a stamp anymore? Furthermore, with an increasing number of Canadians paying their bills online, the process of mailing in a cheque is becoming obsolete. And for goodness sake, most of us didn’t miss the deluge of flyers in our mailboxes. These points all hold validity – and we’ll get back to them in a moment.
There was one article, however, that really seemed to miss the mark. A commentary piece in the Globe and Mail suggested that we were really losing out because the strike meant that we wouldn’t be able to receive thoughtful missives in the mail anymore. The suggestion was that an email in your inbox just isn’t the same as receiving a handwritten letter and that “no one is going to be clutching a bundle of tweets on their deathbed.”
Even though a lot of Canadians suggested that they weren’t affected by the Canada Post strike, we would beg to differ. Do you know how many people in Canada shop online? 18 million. And that number is only growing. So a postal system that’s not working means an awful lot of people not receiving their – potentially important – packages.
But do you know who was really impacted by the strike? We were. In fact, the strike hurt small business more than just about anybody. Canada Post operates the most comprehensive, cost effective mail service that we have. So, for better or for worse, we all need Canada Post – for our love letters, and so much more.
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