So…Canada post is on strike again, this happened when I was a kid that is where the term “postal” came from. …and who is really impacted?
Tweeters and face bookers say “Who cares” there are other options for big business FedEx, UPS, small gifts can wait. Invoices and bills online. Is it really that simple? No, it is not. There is an entire invisible economy that is dependent on the postal system.
Small business like me. Ebay sellers, mail order companies, millions of people working from home selling a huge volume of items at low prices that require affordable shipping options and what does that demographic look like?
They are middle aged with children, stretched budgets putting in long hours in home based businesses to make end meets in the post recession economy with high credit card debt, big mortgages, and children with braces. Their children play sports; they volunteer in their community because of their flexible work schedules and often look after the neighbours children while they go outside the home for careers. They are the invisible economy and they are the backbone to green. They accumulated; recycle more used goods back into household usage than all other businesses combined. They free up the space in landfill, selling their children’s used clothes, toys, furniture, books, in a society of have everything new because I don’t like the color anymore, these recyclers are impacting our children’s future planet in a big, positive way.
But will there be a subsidy for these small businesses for the loss of revenue because of the interruption in the postal services? Probably not, because, as I said, this segment of economy is invisible, retains very little political power, and frankly no one cares. Already besieged by complaints from Canadian customers that have to pay $12 to ship the same bubble envelope that they can ship anywhere in the US including Hawaii for $4, the higher Canadian dollar plus the world’s most complex tax structure HST, GST, BST?? If you sell in Canada to a Canadian only. If you sell outside the country no tax collected. In Canada, if I purchase a $10 item on ebay from an American seller, I enjoy $10 shipping, and no tax. If I purchase the same item from a Canadian seller I pay $15 shipping plus HST. Having expressed that I am in a country not at war, I have reasonably clean air and I enjoy free healthcare, right?
Grocery stores that formerly paid fair wages have rid themselves of the high paid staff and as with most retail across the country have replaced their workforce with part-time, casual, no benefits, lower wage staff. In response to the $5 T-shirt effect. Everytime you purchase a $5 T-shirt at a retailer this year remember your $5 has to cover the manufacture, distribution and materials of that shirt. How much do you think goes to the worker that made it? We all want it cheaper, we all want more left over for toys, or better food, or better colleges , or more, more, more.
So as a competitive business in a global marketplace without government cash Canada Post would have failed years ago based on their current structure. Is it necessary as a social program? Maybe
Not one to post complaints without solutions I say lets funnel the profits and uncollected taxes from grow-op incomes into the postal service as a stimulus package for small business. No Business licenses, no business insurance, no benefits for workers, higher wages because they pay cash, no taxes on income. No mailing required….or.....instead of jailing these leaders from growing commercially, let's give them management jobs at Canada Post...they seem to understand assets versus liabilities....
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