President’s Message
AS THE NEEDS OF CANADIAN BUSINESSES AND CITIZENS EVOLVE, CANADA POST HAS POSITIONED ITSELF TO BECOME A TRULY MODERN POST. WE ARE READY TO BUILD THE FUTURE TOGETHER.
When I first joined Canada Post three years ago, I set two important goals: to engage our employees and to make our customers the focus of all that we do. I’m proud to say that, during 2007, we have made real, measurable progress on both, thanks to the tremendous efforts of our people, Canada Post employees.
This progress was made even though 2007 was a challenging year. We saw a softening in revenues for our core product of domestic Lettermail™, where volumes decreased by 0.9 per cent compared to 2006. While we experienced solid revenue growth in our Parcels and Direct Marketing lines of business, they were not sufficient to help us meet our revenue objectives. As the year unfolded, there was growing uncertainty about whether we would meet our financial targets. Across the company, however, people rose to meet the challenge by applying stringent cost-cutting measures, which resulted in $93 million in savings, enabling us to reach our financial threshold. As a result, a team incentive was triggered to reward employees’ extraordinary efforts and to encourage even greater engagement in our business.
Particularly gratifying was that 2007 marked the first year that the vast majority of employees were able to participate, as members of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) became eligible to share in the team incentive. This agreement was part of a negotiated, four-year settlement reached with the CUPW in the spring of 2007 – a milestone settlement that stands as testament to the improved relationship we have built with our largest union.
As a Modern Post, our people are the heart and soul of our company; their commitment to deliver the best products and services to Canadians is truly the foundation of our success. As such, we set out to meet, share with and learn from our employees in open, face-to-face exchanges. In 2007, we conducted 22 regional forums and more than 450 senior-executive visits, sharing the “big picture” and listening to the opinions and suggestions of thousands of employees.
CHALLENGE: Delivering the Mail to Rural Areas
Canada Post’s 6,000 Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers (RSMCs) use vehicles to deliver the mail to more than 800,000 rural mailboxes. These employees pull their vehicles over at each rural mailbox, deposit the mail, and then merge back into traffic. The nature of roads (narrow or no shoulder), visual obstructions like curves and hills, and greatly increased traffic volumes are just some of the hazards during mail delivery.
Our RSMCs have been involved in more than 70 accidents since 2005, including three fatalities, and more than 1,400 workplace safety complaints have been received since 2004. As a responsible employer and respected service provider, Canada Post has a moral and legal obligation to address this issue. Under the direction of Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Canada Post has begun a Rural Mail Safety Review. The $500 million review will assess the safety of all rural mailboxes in Canada. Changing a customer’s mode of delivery is only undertaken when the safety of our mail carrier is at risk and no other alternative is feasible.
