I get the exaggeration but I'm going to respond anyway.

Nope, it was discriminatory before with them doing it for some areas and not others.  I suspect there was more door to door delivery in the East than in the West.  I can't remember a time when I had door delivery.  I don't know what a computer has to do with it.  I have computers and I still need my mail.  I actually NEED it, due to how some of it is related to medical services.

It would be nice if they kept door to door service for those with mobility problems though.

Chemgal - it's interesting that you've never experienced door to door service. I'm the opposite - I've always had door to door delivery. 

We'll all still be getting mail - you'll just have to walk to the end of the street (or some such place) to get it. Rural areas will, apparently, still get mail delivered to the door. This will affect some people negatively - especially folks like qwerty's mother. I don't think I'll be affected by it as I live in an apartment. The ones I'm thinking will be most affected by it will be the mail carriers - how many will get laid off because of this?

Edit. See below.

I very rarely get mail that I actually enjoy getting. Except for Chistmas and birthday. Lol. Noone writes me letters. Noone sends postcards. People used to. Seems so long ago. Now just bills and junk. It won't change things much for me to go down the block. I live in an apartment in an urban area. Mail is delivered to locked mailboxes in the lobby alteady. Will that change, does anyone know?

Kimmio, I'm pretty sure that's still considered a group mailbox.  Door to door would mean going to each apartment.  The apartment mailboxes are pretty similar to the superboxes.

Somegal, from what I've heard they aren't planning on laying anyone off for this.  If you look at the numbers, the expected retirement numbers are bigger than the number of jobs they want to phase out.  I'm sure there will be a bit of a push to get some people to retire though.

I found this really interesting (from CBC):

It costs Canada Post an average of about $168 per address annually to operate the mail system. Here's a breakdown:

- Door to door (one-third of Canadians) – $283 per address

- Centralized point, such as an apartment lobby lock box (one quarter of Canadians) – $127 per address

- Group/community mailbox/kiosk (one quarter) – $108 per address

- Delivery facility such as a postal box (12 per cent) – $59 per address

- Rural mailbox (five per cent of Canadians) – $179 per address

It's probably not such a bad idea. If a 90 yr old lives in a house alone- most likely they have a care giver. If not Canada Post should have accessibility arrangements for people who can't go out.

I would have expected rural to be more than door to door.  Looking at those numbers, I think overall it makes sense to eliminate it except for special circumstances.

I rarely send snail mail anymore either, actually. I mail letters so rarely, I go to the post office for one stamp, as I need it.

As a bonus, you can also mail things from the superboxes so you don't need to go to a mailbox.  It always kinda annoyed me when I lived in the apartment that I had to go to the mall to mail something.  The first time I actually looked around a grey box for a while, after being around superboxes I wasn't familar with those!

Now you'll be buying 10 (or I hope so)!  That cost jump was a bit excessive I thought - $0.63 to $0.85 for a set of stamps or $1 each.

I was totally surprised that only a third of Canadians currently get door to door mail. Shows how many actually live in apartments and new subdivisions. Certainly the new developments that I know have have group boxes

I would also be happy with once a week delivery. Not much comes in the mail now except magazines, investment statement and junk. At least to. Us

I haven't had mail delivery for over 40 years.  Here everyone gets and sends their mail from the downtown Post Office.  For people liiving on farms and acreages that could involve quite a long drive. For those in town it can mean a walk or drive at a time when the PO happens to be open.

I don't understand the thinking of government on so many levels.  The country (and the citizens) need jobs, so they are cutting 80,000!???  I wonder how the math plays out on this.  Will it truly be cheaper to keep those people on some sort of tax funded support?  Will there be a drop in Income Tax paid? 

The population is aging, so they cut services that assist people to remain independant!???  What money will be made available to ensure that everyone has access to the new group mailboxes?  There are people with mobilty difficulties that become almost insurmountable in winter (think of those using walkers, wheelchairs, or unable to handle cold air because of lung disease?)  I have heard of cases when the mail delivery person provided part of the safety net around vulnerable people - this is the person who may notice and sound an alarm if a vulnerable person isn't following their normal routine.

For me it was the opposite, and I was surprised there was still that many getting door to door.  First, take out everyone not living in an urban area.  What's new?  5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years?  I don't think of a subdivision that's over 15 years as new.  Then add in the apartments, condos, nursing homes and I think even old townhomes might have group boxes.

I heard it was only 6000-8000.

I've lived for 13 years in a new subdivision with "superboxes" so I don't gain or lose anything here. Sorry, I end up paying more for less service, but that's par for the course with Canada Post.

I hate to say it, but another generation and the post is likely going to become entirely focussed on delivering packages anyway. I have all my bills and statements on paperless delivery with automatic payment. I do as much of my business online or in person as I can. I do my personal letters by email or social media.

As a consequence, half or more of my mail is junk. Most of the useful mail is magazines and some of those I could technically get electronically (e.g. The Economist, which we get as both a magazine and on our tab). My son's generation is going to be even more comfortable going paperless than I am so I can't see how lettermail and related activities are going to be sustainable once they become the dominant generation.

Why have I gone this way? It's not just convenience, though that's part of it. It's because I've been screwed over by CP and its unions too many times to trust them. Between vital mail being misdelivered, getting other people's vital mail, and delays to service during various strikes, I just don't find them reliable enough. And that's even before their continual demands for more money for less service. If I was in power, I would dissolve their monopoly and let Purolator, UPS, and Fedex into the regular parcel post market (right now, only the priority market allows competition). CP would be dead within a year.

If we really consider CP an essential service, then take it back to being a crown agency run at cost with tax subsidies to reduce the cost to users. If it is just another way to move parcels, and that is where things are heading, then it is no longer essential because the courier companies can do that as well as (and often better than) CP can and we can therefore allow competition.

Mendalla

Ooooops - typo - yes chemgal the number of lost jobs is estimated at 6-8,000!

I get delivery at my door.Yes I can walk to where a supermailbox will go.

I think I'd rather have delivery every other day tho-or 3 times a week.

I'm with you on this issue lastpointe.   I could certainly do with mail delivery only once a week - that seems sufficient.  And true - lots of junk mail being deposited here too - but I suppose that's subsidizing the other stuff that comes.  

I used to walk up the road to my community mail box to get my mail. Now it’s been moved to a couple kilometre round trip up a mud road through the woods past my house. This week, the mandatory key lock was frozen so I couldn't get my mail. It’s my responsibility to buy de-icer. I liked my old box much better.

So what about the 90 year olds that don't get mail deliverd now?  Ms. Chow was on CanadaAM yesterday morning whining about the serve being stpped and how it was going to affect the elderly and disabled persons.  What world is she living in - I live in a communitry of 1,400 people - we have never had home delivey.  Are we worth less - should we get a break on our stamp price.......

My next issue - small local postoffices - they use to sort local area mail - small towns in the area etc...now Sault Ste. Marie down to at least Sudbury - their  loal area  may go 12 miles away, is sent down to Toronto for sorting - then shipped back up on the same truck that took the mail down....really!!!!  Now takes at least 2 days longer for local area mail.....same price of a stamp.....Each local postoffice has staff - now cut down to 1 and 1/2 positions - still time to sort local mail (and also gives them somethng to do)  (Not sure if this reads correclty, my stupid keyboad is acting up and editing is a pain at the moment).

I guess I have been fortunate. I've always lived in a city and always had home delivery. Except having to collect mail from the apartment lobby- when living in a house, it came to the door. So, I haven't known anything different. Although, I would not miss the mail if it only came once a week-it's no longer a big deal to me, normally. The less paper cluttering things up, the better- but I sympathize that someone might miss their job! And I can see it inconveniencing a person with a severe disability- although, if it came once a week for everyone, I would think there would be some way that people who have disabilities could arrange for mail pick up by a caregiver, if that person helps with other day to day things like grocery shopping. If in a group home situation, there would be someone on staff who could walk down to the end of the block to the mailbox once or twice a week, no? In a live-in care facility/ seniors home, it would likely be a group mailbox, anyway, similar to an apartment. My grandma's is like that. Is that insensitive to think that it's not a huge deal? I mean, people who are beddidden and cannot go out, have helpers for other needs- or should. If they don't there's a bigger problem in our society than mail delivery. Otherwise, people with disabilities are not helpless. If that's not possible, in an extenuating circumstance, to have the mail picked up, possible Canada Post should make arrangements for special delivery for people unable to get their mail at all. What is a big deal is job loss. When technology changes, jobs are lost. People are now more reliant on computers than mail carriers.

Hi qwerty,

Ummmm.  Put her in a home and then somebody will bring it straight to her room.

Depending is a bit over the top.  If the mail is something I am depending upon I don't usually go with Canada Post general delivery.  They have gotten better at not delivering our mail to a medical centre on another street and vice versa.  Somehow 353 street A goes to 353 street B quite naturally.

I remember when Murray would be confused with Mary but the two streets in question are not so similar.

From 1998 to 2007 we had mail delivered to a postal Box or one of the allegedly "super" mailboxes.  We are now one of the minority of Canadian residents who gets door to door.

Since we sometimes end up getting in the car to retrieve or deliver mail left at the wrong address it isn't always a blessing.

I feel combining a cut in service with an increase in fee is a stupid business model that only a Crown corporation could think brilliant.  Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Grace and peace to you.

John

I have lived my whole life in a community that gets mail delivery.  I have always appreciated my mail coming right to my door.

But, I understand that this is a changing world, and we can't necessarily do what we have done for the past 50 + years.  So, if I have to walk down to a central superbox, I am okay with that.

What does bother me is the enormous increase to mail an envelope . . . that is going to be harder on people and businesses, I think.

When Canada decided to get rid of much of the railway system (a much more energy efficient way to move goods than by truck), they cut back on services and eventually tore up tracks so that people would stop even thinking about rail service.   Society learned to depend upon trucks, and private automobiles and on the oil and gas industry.

When Canada decides to get rid of much of the postal service, they will cut back on services (and charge more).  Eventually people will adjust to doing business by computer and using courier services. 

What's next... No more delivery to the door of pizza? Just some group pizza superbox somewhere?

Gotta' love the Canada Post thinking though... Charge more for less service. *rolls eyes*

Maybe taxi companies should get involved in this as well... Jack up the rates but not actually drive you to where you're going. Or ambulance services. They could charge you more, but boot you out of the ambulance a kilometer or two from the hospital.

ridiculous.

There's a good illustration of the difference between CP and other delivery-based business models. Pizza and other food delivery services recognize that providing efficient door-to-door delivery service help net and retain customers. They have competition and providing good service becomes a basis for successfully competing. If Jae's Pizza was delivering on time and correctly and Pizza Mendalla consistently ran late and delivered the wrong pizza 15% of the time, who would you order from?

With parcel post and letter mail, we aren't allowed that kind of choice so CP has little incentive to improve their performance. It's only when you get to priority services that they are forced to compete and deliver service in a competitive fashion.

Mendalla

When the rail system was decimated (for financial reasons) it finished up costing the tax payers more then ever.  Instead of goods travelling by rail they drive up and down the roads that we then pay to maintain.

When the PO is dismantled there will be hidden costs we have to pay too - private delivery systems - someone to collect your mail if you can't for some reason - policing of mail box break ins.