Canada Post has decided to end door-to-door delivery.
The plan is to unfold over the next 5 years, starting in the second half of 2014.
This will cause an inevitable concern among Canadians who have always been used to personalized postal services from the country’s biggest mail carrier.
But door to door delivery is not limited to residential neighbourhoods. Many businesses, from big corporations to locally run mom-and-pop shops will be largely affected as well.
The delivery of parcels and letters provides a critical link between companies and their customers. Not all companies have made the switch to electronic wire transfers and e-bills. Many still rely heavily on postal services to send cheques and invoices to their suppliers.
The reason for this, is simply that many companies are still old-school. They have their own internal systems for keeping track of their finances, and departments like Accounts Payable, which can’t easily go outside the secure ways they are used to as a company. The transfer of money between bank accounts among individuals is much easier than when done between two companies.
Furthermore, according to the National Post, “The cost of a stamp will also jump from $0.63 to $0.85 for bulk purchase of stamps, or $1 for individual stamps. That change comes into effect March 31, 2014.” That being said, many businesses will feel the effects of higher postage rates.
The first community to feel this burden, however, is Oakville. Aside from over 25,000 residential addresses losing their home delivery, according to the Toronto Star, “1,100 business addresses in Oakville will lose their delivery this fall.”
Although Canada Post may believe that this so called way of modernizing mail is going to benefit tax payers, it is certainly not aligning with the choices of Canadians, especially those who are running businesses.
There is a giant level of comfort and security for a company that knows their traditional mail items are arriving directly at their door or office, rather than a community mailbox.
That is why locally run courier companies in the GTA like Speedy Delivery Inc. are certainly not converting to the future ways of Canada Post. They are upholding their commitment to keeping the mail of their corporate clients as personalized as Canada Post has done with their residential clients. And with unbeatable mail and business delivery rates offered among all of greater Toronto, the upcoming increase in postage will not even seem real.