Friday, June 3, 2011

If A Tree Falls on a Mailman in a Forest, Will We Notice?

Canada is bracing for a postal strike.  Sort of.  The possible strike is both caused by the decline of first class mail and is mediated by this development.  In the US and Canada (and elsewhere), the bread and butter business of postal services, the first class letter, is waning as people now communicate via email, skype, and all the rest.  This is putting pressure on the postal services and thus onto postal workers.

So, the Canadian postal workers are going on strike, but will we notice with our paychecks being direct deposited, with our bills being paid via electronic banking, and so forth?  I already feel as if the mail here is only delivered four days a week (it is a rare Friday that we get any mail),* and most of the rest of the mail is crapola.  Bills, checks, and stuff we don't want. Except for magazines, which are dying as well.  So, will we notice if the mail stops being delivered?  A bit, as some of those checks are delivered by mail still.
* The Canadian postal service does not have the same ethos of through rain and sleet and all of that.
Like the existing delivery patterns of the post, the strike is spotty.  This time deliberately so, focusing on one city at a time, starting with Winnipeg.  So, I guess this means that Winnipegians cannot write each other to celebrate the return of professional hockey to the city.

The good news is that I can continue to post through a strike, and, if the strike becomes painful, I will whine about it.  You can always count on that.

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