Conservatives double postage charges

You hear of big spending for military police and the vancouver games. You hear nothing about increasing seniors pensions to cover the higher cost of utilities and services. You do hear of services cut and now a double hit on postage to the US out of consumers pockets. Bandits!

For Immediate Release
August 30, 2006

Canada Post Goes Ahead with Price Hikes Despite Public Outcry

Ottawa – Liberal Critic for Crown Corporations John McKay is once again calling on Conservative Minister of Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities Lawrence Cannon to stand up for Canadian small businesses that rely on Canada Post’s services to mail products to the United States.

“Despite the public outcry Canada Post is still going ahead with its plans to introduce a new “light packet” service for all light weight non-paper items, hiking its rates by up to 100% of the current letter mail service prices,” said Mr. McKay. “This kind of price gouging by a Crown Corporation is irresponsible and disappointing. It reflects a certain level of indifference towards Canadians.”

In a press release issued late last month, Mr. McKay drew attention to the planned rate hike, which would have seen shipping prices rise by as much as 230 percent. He argued that Canada Post’s proposed rate increase far exceeds both the rate of inflation and price increases introduced by US postal services, resulting in harmful consequences for Canadian small businesses.

For example, the cost of sending a 100 gram “light packet” from Canada to the United States will now cost $3.74, while the cost of sending the same packet from the United States to Canada only costs $1.40USD.

In addition, the new service will now require that sellers mail items from local post offices instead of their homes or businesses, resulting in added frustration for small business owners who mail several hundred items on a weekly basis.

Canada Post attempted a similar rate increase in early 2005, but public outcry at the time forced the company to listen to their customers, and retract the rate increase. Another price hike was attempted one month ago, and again, small business owners and eBay sellers responded, and succeeded in forcing Canada Post to postpone the introduction of the new service. The crown corporation is now again attempting to implement the same rate increase.