Within a day, we’ll find out if Canada will be without lettermail service.
Canada Post Corp. and its union are reportedly back at the bargaining table to hammer out a last-minute agreement.
If I was a postal worker, I’d be hoping a deal is done long before 12:01 a.m. ET Friday morning.
Depriving Canadians of postal service in this age will only serve to prove how much we can get along without a lettermail monopoly.
Already, electronic transactions have overtaken the use of cheques and the payment of bills on paper.
Volunteers are standing at the ready to deliver benefit payouts to the needy.
The Alberta government is ready to turn their offices into mail depots.
Some magazines are preparing contingency plans where they’ll deliver their content through their websites in the event of a postal strike.
Need packages delivered from purchases online? Businesses are already switching to private parcel providers to make sure you get your goods. Some are even eating the cost so consumers don’t have to foot the bill.
There might be some noticeable disruptions in smaller communities not served by private operators, but the vast majority of Canadians will simply find a way to get by without.
And once a strike ends, they might learn life was just fine without Canada Post, thank you very much.
So while the postal union has its heart set on sweet arrangements for lifetime banking of sick days (unheard of in most workplaces) and on pensions, among other things, fighting for those gains might eventually cause its members to be out of work in the long run.
Be careful what you wish for.