Murphy’s Logic: Canada Post belongs in the nostalgic past

When I was a child, the arrival of the daily mail was cause for curiosity – if not excitement – all summer long.

What would the postman – and, yes, they were all men back then – drop in the box? A letter from a loved one? A birthday card (with money inside)? A magazine, a cheque or more likely a bill? Or maybe something mysterious, unexpected or unknown.

There was so much mail, it was delivered to the door five or six days a week, sometimes twice a day. The mail box was often so full it was difficult for small hands to get it all out.

These days, it’s our e-mail inboxes that are overflowing with stuff, much of it not nearly as interesting.

The mailbox – if there is one – contains mainly ad mail, flyers and letters from charities asking for more money. Little of real importance is in the box.

And Canada Post is losing a pile of money – about three quarters of a billion dollars last year alone – delivering less than half as many letters as it once did. The corporation handles lots of parcels and does a pretty good job at it. But it takes more time and money, space and equipment, and the revenue doesn’t offset the losses from so-called snail mail.

So it’s time to ask whether we can still afford the post office of old. There are plenty of competitors delivering parcels at a profit. And there’s not enough letter mail to warrant daily door-to-door delivery, at least not at $1.15 per letter. Nostalgic though the memories may be, it seems the fate of old school mail may be signed, sealed and not delivered.