Noteworthy: For better or worse, mail service isn’t what it used to be

By Bruce Penton on May 28, 2025.

A strike threat by Canada Post workers doesn’t result in the same national angst as it once did.

In my younger days, seeing what the mailman delivered was one of the highlights of my day. My weekly Sports Illustrated magazine would be in the mailbox, the occasional cheque or invoice would arrive, a letter from Grandma (perhaps with a $5 birthday bill enclosed) would show up. Later in life, when my wife and I ran a community newspaper business, virtually every company invoiced would send us a cheque in the mail. The mail was vital to our operation.

Today? My weekly Sports Illustrated is online, and it’s a product whose content has seriously eroded through the years and I’ve subsequently cancelled it. The ‘occasional cheque’ is now almost always an e-transfer, so I don’t have to worry about it bouncing, and it likely didn’t require the sender to spend a buck or so on a stamp.

The invoice for fixing the furnace at my house was emailed to me, and promptly paid (by e-transfer again). The letter from Grandma (if she were alive, she’d be about 140 years old, but … whatever) would now likely be sent via an email or, even better, via a live FaceTime chat. The $5 bill (she’d always been a bit of a tightwad) would now be at least $20 and yes, probably e-transferred to my bank account.

So what is the future of Canada Post? I don’t know many of the labour-related details, but higher wages is almost always at the heart of a work stoppage. Considering Canada Post has reportedly lost $3 billion since 2018, with fewer people using the mail to send communications, and with the parcel-delivery portion of the Crown corporation facing stiff competition, one would think its future is rather bleak.

While Canada Post is a Crown corporation, it is not funded by taxpayers … yet. The financial model of the corporation is that it funds itself via sales. But with a $3-billion anchor around its neck, taxpayers are likely going to be asked to pick up the tab eventually.

I hate to say it, because I have friends and relatives employed by Canada Post, but if the corporation ceased to exist tomorrow, my life would not notice much of a change. As for a big win at the bargaining table, Canada Post negotiators shouldn’t hold their breath.

• Would you be inclined to frequent a coffee shop that ditched its Wi-Fi network and banned laptop computers? Or would you boycott said shop?

According to a report from Axios, some coffee shops in the U.S. have become ‘home offices’ for some remote workers who set up shop at a restaurant table, sip coffee all day and use the coffee shop as their unofficial office as they handle their online work at the expense of the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi setup. Not good for the restaurant, which has to deal with overcrowding and reduced sales.

Is this a thing in Medicine Hat? Or would super-polite Canadians never consider taking advantage of coffee shop owners and their Wi-Fi networks to do something so crass?

• Short snappers: Here’s the deal: The top 20 donors to my New Golf Club fund get to have a fancy dinner with me in September. Don’t be shy. Be generous. Even if you can’t afford it, a fancy dinner with me will be worth it. … Last week’s Rise Up balloon festival experienced a few weather-related problems, but overall, it was another super event. Seeing 15 or 20 or those massive hot-air balloons floating in the Medicine Hat sky was a sight to behold. … I know hockey isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but to see in a recent News poll that 30 per cent of Hat respondents don’t plan to watch their local junior hockey team try to win a national championship seems rather high to me. Were this a poll in a Texas town about the community’s local high school football team, the results would show almost unanimous support. … I’m not a strong Monarchist, but I like the idea of King Charles and Queen Camilla visiting Canada and the King reading the speech from the throne in the House of Commons. Canada wastes money on far more foolish things than the monarchy and its related expenses. … Medicine Hat Mavericks play their home opener tonight at Athletic Park against the Okotoks Dawgs. Mavs’ owner Greg Morrison rarely fails to put a competitive team on the field and the 2025 season should be no different. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.

Bruce Penton is a retired News editor who may be reached at brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca

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