The role of Canada Post in a postmodern world
Will the postal service ever completely fade away?

By Jacey Gibb

he day I went to mail a belated
"Tene Day card was a sad day

indeed. I walked down the street
to the Canada Post mailbox that I so
frequently bloat with letters and postcards
but instead of being greeted with a slot
eagerly accepting envelopes, the box was
sealed with a label informing me it was
out of commission. I’m sure my dad has
managed fine the last couple of weeks
without my crude, crayon-drawn card, so
the mail strike could probably be labelled
as no more than a mere inconvenience
right?

Wrong. I’ve been racking my brain
trying to find an appropriate public service
parallel to use as an example for how the
postal service shutting down affects our
society. While it’s not as significant as say
the police force or firefighters going on
strike, mail still plays an important role
in day to day life. 1 remember back when
the only mail that ever wore my name
was a monthly bank statement reminding
me that I still only had twelve dollars in
my account, but since then I’ve become
increasingly dependant on this particular

service. I recently had to get a criminal
record check, which had to be mailed to
me, and I also had to order an official
transcript from Douglas, which, you
guessed it, was sent to me via the postal
circuit. I suppose you could even label me
old fashioned because I still pay all my
bills with cheques as opposed to online

     

and I’m also a snail mail enthusiast,
sending letters out as fast as I can write
them. The point is, I use Canada Post
more than some people use deodorant.
However, not as many people are
as enthusiastic about the old stamp and
send system as I am. Most of my friends
aren’t even familiar with how to send

Qivaro

things in the mail and I guess this isn’t
that uncommon. I understand why email
has taken over as the dominant means of
long-distance communication: it’s faster,
free, chances are they’re going to be at
their computer or on their Blackberry
anyways and things are less likely to get
lost in cyber space than when they’re
being handled by humans. Basically,
welcome to the post-modern world of
letter sending. But despite all these
technologic creations and innovations,
the postal service keeps on churning out
goodies five times a week.

Sure, mail may not be the prominent
juggernaut in our daily routine that it once
was, but I don’t think we’re ready to say
goodbye to our friendly neighbourhood
mailmen just quite yet. It is unfortunate
the strike had to end by legislation as
opposed to good old fashioned diplomatic
reasoning, but in my mind this just goes to
show that even the government recognizes
what a necessary service it still is. Though
I enjoyed not having the pressure of
checking for the mail daily, I missed the
nail-biting suspense game of thinking
about whether there was something
waiting in my mail slot a lot more.

 

 

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