Thursday, April 30, 2009

Canada Post

GET CANADA POST BACK ON TRACK WITH SOME OPEN, HEALTHY COMPETITION

We all love a large corporation. Especially a corporation that is government sanctioned and comes with a massive amount of protection against competition. Such a corporation goes by the name (misnomer) of "CANADA POST".

If one chooses to use "snail-mail" then you would place your letter in an envelope, add the name and address of the the person whom you wish to receive this letter, purchase and apply the appropriate postage stamp and drop it in the mailbox. Then, after a few days or a few more days, your letter will mysteriously find it's way to the addressees mailbox. Right?

Now, suppose you want to be sure that the intended recipient actually receives this important missive? You go and pay EXTRA to send this letter by "registered" mail so that when the post person delivers this precious piece of mail, he or she collects a signature before he or she leaves this piece of mail. Right?

Well, let me tell you, I was the lucky recipient of a "notice" from our esteemed "CANADA POST" telling me that there was a letter for me which required my signature. O.K. Obviously someone wanted to be sure that I received this letter so, they paid "extra" to do so. But, where is the letter? Does the postal carrier have it? NO! But why? I mean I'm home 24/7 and he or she had to stop at my house to leave the said "notice" but did he or she bring the "letter" with him or her? Nope! That might lead to some kind of "efficiency". We can't have that. Not with our precious mail service. I'm expected to go and pick up my letter that someone took the time to address to me and.........paid EXTRA postage, just so I could go and pick it up somewhere else.

So, just where is my letter? I live in a very small town with one post office. This post office is just three short blocks from my house. That's not too bad, right? Wrong again. My letter can't be picked up at the Canada Post "POST OFFICE". How stupid of me. Imagine, the idea of picking up a letter at the Canada Post "POST OFFICE"? I'm expected to go sixteen blocks downtown to......now get this.....to our local "SHOPPER'S DRUG MART".

The reason I'm home 24/7 is because I have a great deal of difficulty getting around. My son, 22, volunteered to go and pick up the letter on my behalf. Great! I gave him the notice that our postal service delivered to me, along with a signed letter from me giving the drug store clerk (no postal clerk there) permission to release MY letter to my son. Problem solved? You guessed it. He didn't come home empty-handed though. They sent him home with a form....No letterhead, nothing official about this form at all. To be filled out by me giving whoever, permission to pick up this and any future registered mail on my behalf. End of problem....? Right again, not a chance.

I have to fill this form out in front of the drug store "clerk" so that they could witness that this guy (me), who has a problem physically, coming in to pick up his letter, which was addressed to his "home address" and had EXTRA postage paid for the privilege, could come in to fill in this ridiculous "Mickey Mouse" form.

Anyway, it ended up that someone came to the house so that I could fill out the "form" in front of them. Pretty good you'd think, right? Well guess what? The letter is still 16 blocks away, waiting to be picked up. Why couldn't this representative of our postal "service" bring it with them? I mean, I had to sign anyway. Just think..... someone has paid EXTRA to see that I receive this letter, the "Canada Post" post office filled out and delivered a little card letting me know that they had a letter requiring my signature, my son spent time and gas to go and pick up the letter, they spent time and gas to come here so I could sign their form and now, my son or someone else STILL has to spend more time and gas to pick this letter up. Now that is a protected corporation for you. Efficient? It's worse now than it was before it was "privatized".

How about getting rid of this protectionism and maybe "Canada Post" will learn to run like a real business or someone else will take it from them.

1 comment:

Laura said...

OMG!! Roger, scenarios like this are so absolutely ridiculous, one just has to laugh (in order to keep from blowing a gasket!) Once you get past the outrage, there is that point where the situation turns from absurdity to comedy to make the three stooges envious! LOL! I think that turning point was early on in your story here! (Your gift for telling your stories helped it on it's way, too, most certainly!) You see, it's exactly this kind of situation that is the reason we, here in the U.S., are worried about this damn "health care" plan of Obama's!! It's a perfect example of what happens when the government becomes involved... total bureaucratic BS!! Roger, did you ever finally get your letter? lol! I know that seems like a logical outcome, but obviously Canada Post doesn't function on logic. LOL! Take care!