Don’t expect to receive your mail anytime soon; Fort McMurray’s postal workers are on strike.

On Wednesday morning, Canada Post informed local employees through a letter that beginning in October, parcel delivery will be contracted out to private, third-party companies.

Members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 736, which represents approximately fifty of the region’s postal workers, were outraged at the news and walked off the job.

Read more: Postal workers strike over contractors, low pay | Local | News | Fort McMurray Today.

The move by Canada Post did more than raise a few eyebrows.

Customers have been chirping up a storm over the decision by the country’s postal service to shut down local mail sorting in Prince Edward Island.

All mail now goes to Halifax for sorting by a machine instead of by human hands here in the province. That move was made along with having people now dropping letters into one central Canada Post red box, instead of having the old dual system of one for P.E.I. and one for the mail destined for the rest of Canada.

Read more: Canada Post assessing options to remain self-sustaining in digital age – Local – The Guardian.

The federal government has introduced legislation that gives it sweeping powers to intervene in the collective bargaining process of Crown corporations, and even in the scale of executive salaries.

The provisions, which are part of the omnibus budget implementation bill tabled Monday, say that government ministers on the Treasury Board Secretariat will be able to impose "any requirement" on Crown corporations at the bargaining table.

Read more: Government moves to control wages at Crown corporations – Toronto – CBC News.

The US Postal Service apparently isn’t the only post that obsesses over its supposed “intellectual property”:

OTTAWA — At a time when the federal government is pushing to provide Canadians with more access to public data, Canada Post is digging in its heels over the use of postal code information — and even over the words “postal code.”

The Crown corporation has been locked in a legal battle with Internet firm GeoCoder.ca for more than a year because the Ottawa company collects postal code data and uses it to recommend restaurants and other nearby services to subscribers.

Read more: Canada Post claims rights to term ‘postal code’.

Canada Post poses question to Canadians in public online forum

OTTAWA, April 24, 2013 /CNW/ – Canada Post has launched a public online forum for Canadians to join a national conversation that will help shape future postal services.

The launch of the public forum follows the April 23 release of a Conference Board of Canada report entitled “The future of postal services in Canada.” The report projects Canada Post may lose almost $1 billion a year by 2020 as a result of relentless declines in Lettermail volumes.

As Canadians have changed how they use the postal system, Canada Post is seeking their views on how to transform the business in order to meet their current and future needs. The Corporation is aware of the important role it plays in connecting Canadians, in urban and rural Canada, in the North and as an enabler for small businesses.

Canadians will be able to share their thoughts in two ways. They can submit their comments on the Canada Post website (canadapost.ca) and click on The Future of Canada Post or they can write to the address below:

THE FUTURE OF CANADA POST
2701 RIVERSIDE DR SUITE N0800
OTTAWA ON  K1A 0B1

Canada Post has stayed relevant to generations of Canadians by understanding their changing needs and evolving to serve them. The options put forward by the Conference Board are the starting point for this important conversation with Canadians about what they value, what they expect from us going forward and what needs to change to get there.

OTTAWA, April 23, 2013 /CNW/ – Technology is having a dramatic impact on how Canadians use postal services, and the resulting decline in mail volume is projected to push Canada Post to an annual operating loss of $1 billion by 2020.

Read more: Canada Post Faces Billion-Dollar Operating Loss by 2020 – WSJ.com.

An internationally recognized stamp expert in Montreal says counterfeit stamps are costing Canada Post as much as $10 million annually.

Richard Gratton, the secretary of the Luxembourg-based Fédération Internationale de Philatélie and a consultant to Canada Post, estimates there are between five and 10 million counterfeit stamps used as postage in Canada each year

“Lots of countries — Germany, England, France, U.S. — all the big post offices in the world are stuck with that problem,” Gratton said.

Read more: Counterfeit stamps cost Canada Post millions a year, expert says – Montreal – CBC News.

Dear Ina,
RE: eBay Sellers Lament Canadian Postal Changes

I am annoyed at the postal rate examples included in this article because they are totally misleading! If someone is comparing tracked packages between old and new rates, it’s one thing. But Canada Post’s apparently NEW tracked packet rate cannot be compared to Xpresspost service which is comparing USPS tracked First Class to Priority Mail service. The only thing common is the tracking, but they’re two different services.

Read more: Canada Post Comparisons for Online Sellers Are Misleading.

An internationally recognized stamp expert in Montreal says counterfeit stamps are costing Canada Post as much as $10 million annually.Richard Gratton, the secretary of the Luxembourg-based Fédération Internationale de Philatélie and a consultant to Canada Post, estimates there are between five and 10 million counterfeit stamps used as postage in Canada each year.

Read more: Counterfeit stamps cost Canada Post millions a year, expert says – Updated News.

eBay sellers in Canada are dealing with postal changes that went into effect this year. As we reported in December, Canada Post retired the Small Packet – USA Ground service and introduced two trackable services for U.S. and International shipments: Tracked Packet – USA and Tracked Packet – International.

eBay Canada announced on Thursday it was adding support for the new services to its label printing platform. Canadian sellers will be able to select Tracked Packet – USA and Tracked Packet – International effective April 9, 2013. The two services will be available at up to 14% off retail counter rates for eBay sellers.

Read more: eBay Sellers Lament Canadian Postal Changes.