The postal service is warning it's expecting to lose a lot of money again this year, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. .According to Canada Post Corporation, the money they make from packages, letters and flyers all went down in the first half of 2023..“For the first half of 2023, Canada Post revenue fell by $110 million or 3.3% compared to the same period of the prior year,” managers wrote in a Quarterly Financial Statement. .“The segment’s loss before tax was $361 million compared to a loss before tax of $289 million in the first half of 2022.”.The post office suffered a pre-tax loss of $548 million last year. In the first half of this year, parcel revenue was down 3.4% or $45 million, mail revenue fell 2.4% or $40 million and direct marketing revenue fell 4.1% or $16 million..“An increasingly competitive parcel delivery market continued to impact parcel revenue in both the first and second quarter of 2023,” wrote management. .“Transaction mail continued to erode while direct marketing declined as businesses’ marketing budgets remained under pressure.”.Last year’s half-billion dollar loss followed losses in 2021 ($490 million), in 2020 ($779 million), in 2019 ($153 million) and 2018 ($276 million). The post office earned pre-tax profits totalling $388 million from 2014 to 2017..“The Government of Canada expects the corporation to operate in a manner that is financially self-sustaining,” the post office wrote in its last Annual Report to Parliament. .“The corporation submitted to the Government of Canada a strategic plan that acknowledges the magnitude and significance of recurring financial losses over the past five years and reinforces the importance of transformation to serve Canadians.”.There has not been a clear plan from Canada Post to become profitable. Last year, the department of Public Works asked Canadians what they thought about reducing postal services through a few surveys..“This research is intended to capture the views of Canadians about the mail and their current expectations of Canada Post, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Canada Post’s ongoing financial losses,” said one report Canadians’ Views on Canada Post Services..Most respondents said they supported reducing mail delivery from the current five business days per week to every second day. Canadians also said they would be willing to pay higher stamp rates from the current 92 cents for a domestic letter to $1.25 or more..Another study asked small business owners, who are the biggest users of Canada Post, about their thoughts. Most of them agreed that mail should no longer be delivered to their door..Asked, “To what extent would you support or oppose an end to door-to-door home delivery and replacing it with community mailboxes,” 66% agreed..“When it comes to reducing Canada Post’s financial losses, more businesses than not believe that Canada Post should be supported by the federal government to maintain their current service offering in addition to directly subsidizing the more costly and less profitable postal services in rural and remote communities,” wrote researchers.
