Canada Post's announcement that they are moving away from door to door delivery has been a controversial one, not helped by the fact that they announced a hike in rates at the same time. It was inevitable that something would happen, the crown corporation is perpetually in the red, but in their quest to save money they need to be aware that cutting service too much could effectively destroy any business that remains.
The problem with the community mailbox approach is not letter mail, since that is increasingly irrelevant. On the consumer end, it's going to hit the people who use letter mail most, namely the elderly, since those are the people less adept with technology. It's likely the increased cost will see businesses attempting to convince more customers to go paperless for their various services, but that movement was already well underway before any changes were announced. That is also why Canada Post is losing money and felt the need to make the change, it was heavily reliant on mail traffic for revenue.
The danger is instead in parcel delivery. In Canada Post's release announcing the changes, they tout the added security of the locked mailbox for receiving parcels. On one hand, this argument does have some merit, especially in areas where people might decide whatever is in that package in your mailbox is going to be a great thing to take home or attempt to sell in a disreputable manner. However, it's also an approach that makes Canada Post a much less desirable service option in the one area of mail delivery that isn't seeing a downturn.
Online shopping is big, and will remain big for the foreseeable future. While Amazon might be planning to unleash a herd of package delivery helicopter drones - that is not a joke, that is their actual plan - until that vaguely Bond villain-esque plot is finally rolled out they will still rely on different mail providers to deliver stuff to homes. As well, any other online shopping destination one can name will also continue to ship out through whatever delivery service gives them the best bang for their buck. So long as deals can be had online, or strange people like myself get the urge to buy merchandise for obscure Florida sports teams, online shopping will result in major parcel traffic.
However, people will want those parcels delivered to their door. That's sort of the point, you order your things online and they show up at your house, no need to brave the freezing temperatures to do your Christmas shopping. Some stuff is inexpensive too, but the convenience factor is huge. As a result, retailers are going to prioritize the companies that give customers the convenience they want, and those companies will be the ones delivering right to the door.
What Canada Post cannot do is give those companies a reason to switch to a different courier. If parcels are no longer delivered to the door, that's enough of an incentive to switch to alternate shipping, because the last thing these retailers want to do is aggravate their convenience obsessed customers. If Canada Post can't be the go to provider for these companies, it will be impossible to stay in business. Whatever happens with letter mail, community mailboxes won't work for parcels.
