It used to be that around this time of year, mailboxes were bulging with Christmas cards. Sending cards was an annual ritual. Receiving them was a source of joy and excitement, particularly when they contained $2 bills from great aunts, otherwise seldom heard from. These days, most mailboxes aren’t overflowing with anything but flyers… With few exceptions, Canada Post is no longer an essential service. Most Canadians barely noticed when the postal workers went on strike… and then back to work. The Carney government has given the corporation new marching orders, which will see fewer letter carriers marching the streets and many fewer post offices. But what’s needed is a mandate and a budget to dramatically and quickly reduce the size of the work force through early retirements, and a sharp reduction in the post office’s scope of operations. Any idea of having the post office expand into new areas of business, including banking, cannot be seriously considered. Prime land occupied by now sprawling and no longer necessary processing plants and post offices should be sold. Changing times and technology have made the post office an expensive relic – that’s now costing us millions of dollars a day not to use. Sadly, just like those Christmas cards it used to deliver, the post office is a thing of the past.
