The post office is an important resource. There is no doubt about that. Having a means for goods and correspondence to go from point A to point B, all across this vast country and beyond its borders, is a service that we must not take for granted. This is perhaps even more true in rural communities. That said, with Canada Post workers still on strike (or at least they still are as I write this), there are much more nuanced issues at play here than just “should the post office exist?”
Those who work in the private sector are no doubt accustomed to the mindset that jobs pay a wage that is “fair market value”. A private sector employee’s pay must fit within the company’s budget, whether it’s a for-profit or not-for-profit organization.
Unions certainly have their ups and downs. They protect the rights of individual workers by uniting them with fellow workers in a code of solidarity. But we all know that unions are driven heavily by money. I have yet to hear about a strike, at any point in my entire life, where a pay increase wasn’t the main thing sought. The problem with public sector unions is that they have the power to disrupt the “fair market value” principle of the labour market. Governments can run deficits to overpay workers. It’s the taxpayers who pay back the money with interest.
The Government of Canada ran a deficit of $52.3 billion in 2023. Quick math explains what this really means – each resident of Canada, from the youngest newborn to the oldest senior – borrowed $1,307 in 2023 to pay for federal government services. Oh sure, the economics don’t quite work out that way – people pay different taxes based on their income and situation, etc – but the point still stands. Every single Canadian would have to contribute $1,307 to pay for the federal government’s overspending in 2023 alone. If a private sector company was struggling this bad financially, its workers going on strike for more money would get them laughed off the picket line.
The above math from me is not meant to place the responsibility of Canada’s federal debt on the shoulders of postal workers. Canada Post is just one tiny slice of the pie, after all. But Canada Post is also unique in the sense that its services are becoming less and less relevant in the digital age. I stand by the opening of this article: Canada will always need a postal service, even if it doesn’t quite pay for itself. However, workers in any industry shouldn’t become too overconfident regarding just how “essential” they are.
What inspired this article is the fact that examples of how to “get around” the post office have been smacking me right in the face ever since the strike began. My main employer had still been sending out cheques to our casual staff for their wages by mail. This is also how mileage cheques and petty cash reimbursements were paid – by mail. We have now permanently switched to direct deposit for all of these payments, due to the postal strike. Banks of course have been urging their customers to switch over to online statements, and what choice do customers have during the strike? How many will switch back when the strike ends? I predict very few. Between the NG Times and the ND Times, we have employed almost two dozen local young people to hand deliver papers since the strike began, and we love it so much that we have talked about continuing this delivery method even after the strike ends. No decisions have yet been made, but if the Times switched gears in terms of delivery method, that would be a very large account lost for Canada Post – about $100,000 per year, in fact. It was the strike itself that necessitated us trying an alternative.
In the last couple of decades, Canada Post took advantage of online shopping trends, and parcel delivery became an important part of its business model. A few years ago, they were even airing TV ads bragging about delivering more holiday parcels during the Christmas season than any other courier service. Does the union honestly think they are putting Christmas on hold with the current strike? Instead, people are going to turn to Amazon, which delivers with a door-to-door courier, and many may never look back. Others who shop with smaller online retailers will discover the service level of alternative couriers, whose staff will no doubt be looking to “woo” these new customers. An even better result of the strike would be for people to get out of the house and do their Christmas shopping at small, locally owned stores. The blast from the past may get people hooked on this Christmas shopping method in the years ahead, long after the strike ends.
Many postal workers are undoubtedly thinking that these “snags” of striking logic don’t apply to them, but they do. Individual post offices do close down when they aren’t used enough. In the last few years alone, I have seen post office hours get reduced due to not enough traffic in the door. By many standards, Canada Post already pays well. A well-paying job in this economy is something to hold onto. If wage increases are won from this strike, it may end up being a case of “won the battle, lost the war”. How long will these workers get to stay employed with their higher wage before the enormous amount of lost business as a result of people “taking their business elsewhere” during the strike gets them laid off?
Canada Post provides an essential service in an increasingly limited capacity. But it’s safe to say that a significant part of its business is from individual paying customers who choose where to give their business. The postal strike violates a basic rule of common sense: Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
