I confess that I have, over the years, contributed to the decline of Canada Post.

I haven’t sent Christmas cards in years.

I rarely send letters, except for business reasons, or to the Canada Revenue Agency.

I have, by and large, turned to e-mail and especially text messaging for much of my communication.

But I still enjoy receiving a letter.

I like reading magazines which come through the mail.

Last year I made a decision to start to receive several magazines by digital subscription. I don’t like it. Digital magazines are not as clear in either their print or picture quality.

I can’t read it one page at a time, having to zoom in to make the image larger. I think I’ve missed something on the page.

When Canada Post announced they were phasing out home delivery, I was disappointed.

No more squeak of the mailbox lid to announce a letter’s arrival.

No more waving to the letter carrier as they made their rounds.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was hearing the CEO of Canada Post say that people, especially seniors, wanted door to door delivery to end because they wanted more exercise to walk to get their mail.

Now I need a reality check. People want to walk to the corner to get their mail?

I’m sure they do when it’s not snowing in Grey-Bruce.

I’m sure they do when it’s not -20C.

I’m sure they do when it’s not raining and the mailboxes aren’t sitting in mud.

Many years ago, when the first group mail boxes were put out as a temporary measure for new subdivisions, Canada Post was renowned for locating the boxes in the middle of mud holes and large puddles.

They would also create wonderfully weird addresses like Box 6, Comp.4, Site 3, RR#9, Fredericton, NB just to confuse people.

And Canada Post returned the mail if it wasn’t addressed properly, in the correct order. Even with a postal code.

The idea of replacing door to door delivery with group mail boxes has been tried for years.

It may finally succeed.

But in the process, it will accelerate the destruction of community and face to face contact, something important to all of us.

In many communities in the past, I used to go to the local post office to pick up my mail.

The difference was that the post office box lobby was also a great community meeting place.

I could go after the mail was sorted and bump into all kinds of people and catch up on what was happening. In one community, the postmaster not only knew what was happening, she also let me know when certain people came in for their mail, knowing full well that a pastoral call was appropriate and it could easily be done in the warm lobby.

To be sure, the changes Canada Post is proposing are efficient.

To be sure, they make good business sense. But do they make good community sense?

And is good community sense always cost-efficient and profitable?

Not everyone has access to e-mail.

Not everyone wants to pay their bills on line.

For many, the daily mail delivery is a lifeline to the world. It would be a shame to lose that lifeline. But dollars and cents seem to trump community sense these days. And that’s saddens me.