Another week of miserable cold weather. If it wasn't - 30 C it was -20 C with a wind. The professional weathermen were predicting that it was going to warm up. Well it did. From -30 C to -20 C. Huh! Not much difference!!North-south roads had some drifting and the snow plows had to come out. We're still not as bad as last year at this time. Not that I want any more snow or winter, but we have another three and a half months to spring. UUUUGH!!
I went to the council meeting Wednesday driving my F-350 7.3L environmental polluter. When I went to go home, it would almost start but wouldn't. I got a boost from a fellow councilor but it still didn't start. I guess it sat too long and got too cold. I had to phone my wife Bev to come rescue me. She was not happy since she was on a mission to get her Christmas sewing finished and the baking started, but she did come. Later that night I got my man Chris to tow me home. I put all my winter clothes on. It was a cool drive! The steering was very heavy. I would not want to have gone much further. The weather was four degrees warmer at 8 p.m. that day than it was at 4 p.m. The old 7.3 environmental polluter pig came home in disgrace towed by a Chev. It is parked out front of my house and will sit there until there is a better day. I plugged in my old truck, an F-250 gas pot. It usually starts! I will drive that one until the weather warms up. I don't have anywhere I have to go anyway. I may have to buy a couple of new batteries also.
The big news in the media is Canada Post is facing a huge deficit. It could be as much as $1 billion by 2020. The public has been told there are going to be some changes.
First, they plan to raise the price of stamps from 65 cents to 85 and then a dollar a stamp starting March 31, 2014. The non denominating stamps that were very handy if the price went up, they are going to quit selling them. If you buy a roll of stamps the price will be 85 cents per stamp.
Second, they are planning to lay off postal workers through retirement and attrition and not replacing them. Just like any big outfit with too many suits they attack the lowly worker. The only reason the place runs is the workers! No thoughts of cutting back the 17 vice-presidents who probably get paid double or triple of the workers and produce nothing but a paper shuffling. This layoff strategy is really short sighted and self defeating as fewer employees usually means poorer service.
The plan is to have better and more efficient electronic sorting machines with fewer employees. Then they plan to have more centralized post office/franchise outlets across Canada. We will see! In Calgary they have a three-storey post office building that covers a complete city block with all the latest sorting equipment. You can't get a piece of mail through there in less than a week. Who said, "Best plans by mice and men sometimes go awry, and must be started over again."
The home deliveries will be phased out going to community mail boxes and postal franchises. At Waseca we never did have home delivery. We had a post office but after a big squabble about closing it, we got post office boxes in a space we built inside our community center. Postman Bill comes at 9 a.m. and leaves at 11 a.m. If there is a parcel or registered mail we have to go and pick it up at Maidstone. For us, this system works a lot better than a community mailbox and you don't have to fight the weather getting your mail out of the box. There is also a lot of visiting at the post office as neighbours greet neighbours and catch up on the latest happenings.
The Canadian Government is also going to help out Canada Post with a $1 billion contribution to the Pension Plan. There apparently is a large shortfall and Canada Post can't keep up the payments.
They could really help their case if they didn't have someone making up all the stupid rules, such as can't get your mail if you forgot your key. Can't get the mail delivered if post office box number is not on the envelope, even if addressed to me and the postman has known me for 40 years, or more. Can't pick up a parcel addressed to me without photo ID even though post man has known me for 40 years or more. My wife is not allowed to pick it up, cuz it might be addressed to me and not her! That results in another trip to town. Oh, and if there is a wrong postal code…forget it, no letter coming! Apparently, I've been told, they sometimes have a mystery person on the premises to check that employees follow all the rules. Give me a break!
The only response I can think of for all these new stupid rules is what Forrest Gump said, "Stupid is what stupid does." I have some sympathy for our Clydesdale Canada Post in the world of thoroughbred racehorses of an electronic world. They really need to go after the parcel business as more and more people are ordering online.
Cutbacks are probably only in the west, I haven't heard of any cutbacks in Toronto or Ottawa.
Joke of the week: One weekend, a doctor, a priest and an attorney are out in a fishing boat. Their motor conks out and one of the oars drifts off. Just as the doctor is about to dive in to retrieve the oar, the boat is surrounded by sharks. "I can't go now," the doctor says. "If someone gets bitten, you'll need my services." "I can't go either," says the priest. "If the doctor fails, I'll need to give Last Rites." "Fine," says the attorney, "I'll get it." So he dives in, the sharks move, he retrieves the oar, then he climbs back into the boat. The doctor and the priest look flabbergasted. The attorney smiles and says, "Professional courtesy."
