Right in the centre - Canada Post problem at the top
- Details
- Published on Friday, January 29, 2021
By Ken Waddell
Neepawa Banner & Press
I have no intention of causing any grief to local post office workers. I know they are sharing the same frustrations as everyone else. As a newspaper, we have never had anything except good service from our local post offices. There鈥檚 the key word, local. Local people get it, they know how to do the best for the customers, friends, neighbours and for themselves. It鈥檚 the same as any business. Local is the best service, usually.
It鈥檚 up the ladder where the problem is happening. In some places, and in some cases, Canada Post is getting slower and slower as the months go by. We get it. There鈥檚 more online shopping and parcels are flooding the system. The Christmas Amazon rush was unreal. One local post office had as many as 11 fork lift pallets of parcels in their back warehouse on a given day.
It鈥檚 not that Canada Post didn鈥檛 seek out the business, they did. It鈥檚 not that they didn鈥檛 see it coming, they did. The problem is they didn鈥檛 prepare for it and aren鈥檛 doing enough to accommodate their increased volume. It鈥檚 pretty simple. If a farmer grows a bunch more grain, he hires another truck. It doesn鈥檛 seem to work that way with Canada Post. They haven鈥檛 increased regional space, apparently (that would be Brandon), where everything in rural western 水果视频 funnels through, apparently. They may need another truck and driver or two, but you would think that any smart business person would get that looked at after being a month-long bottleneck.
Used to be that First Class mail, that is letters, got priority. Not anymore, parcels get priority. Due to more parcels and staff shortages, there were times last fall when First Class mail was as much as four days behind in some offices.
It鈥檚 understandable, if CP has emailed a customer or sent them a card saying the parcel is coming, it had better get there. Even that isn鈥檛 happening. There is also Second Class mail and Third Class mail. Your newspaper is Third Class mail, so guess where it gets left on the priority list.
We get comments like this:
鈥淚 have been finding mail delivery very spotty and slow.鈥�
鈥淢y last Hydro bill arrived the day it was due.鈥�
鈥淚 ordered a medical appliance from Winnipeg five business days ago and it was listed as still in transit on Friday.鈥�
鈥淔lyers either don鈥檛 come at all or after the sales are already on. Is this a countrywide problem or just here?鈥�
鈥淚 get your paper at my home in Winnipeg and it鈥檚 two weeks late.鈥�
I can attest to that, as we subscribe to a number of papers and it鈥檚 not unusual to get two issues at a time, one a week old and one two weeks old.
鈥淢y parcel is a week late.鈥�
We have experienced that personally, as we are awaiting a vital piece of equipment.
Canada Post needs to listen to its local staff and customers. Those two groups have the answers on how to fix Canada Post, but the corporation has to be willing to listen. I think they still have 11 regional vice presidents and I bet they each earn more than anybody reading this column. Apparently, they aren鈥檛 bright enough to fix the issue. They also know that they have a monopoly in First Class (letter) mail and by virtue of remote and rural operations, they have a monopoly on all classes of mail.
Canada Post鈥檚 very poor corporate attitude is hurting the Canadian economy and, at best, annoying their customers. Who wants to wait weeks for parcel or days and weeks for a letter or a newspaper? The mail was faster when the steam trains hammered it across the county night and day.
I have no doubt Canada Post needs an overhaul, starting at the top. I feel sorry for the local postal staff who have to work very long hours, sometimes without sufficient help and occasionally receiving customer abuse.
Trust me, it鈥檚 rarely, if ever, the local postal workers鈥� problems.
As far as I know, when we deliver papers directly to individual post offices, they get put into the boxes quite quickly. The problem comes in that papers are, for the most part, delivered to one post office and then they go to Brandon for sorting. At best, it is overnight, but when they get plugged up in Brandon, the papers and parcels get delayed and left in the warehouse. There鈥檚 only so much room on the truck, I guess.
It鈥檚 frustrating for everyone, but there鈥檚 not much we can do about it.
