CANADA POST A MONOLITHIC MONOPOLY

 

Canada Post: A Monopoly That Forgot It Could Fail

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. With coast-to-coast infrastructure, taxpayer backing, and a decades-long head start, Canada Post should have been untouchable. Instead, it’s become the poster child for what happens when a government-protected monopoly is allowed to grow bloated, inefficient, and insulated from the real world. As Canadians wait longer for mail, watch prices rise, and see private couriers outperform a crown corporation, one question looms large: Why are we still funding a monolithic monopoly that no longer delivers?

The Missed Opportunity

Decades ago, Canada Post had what every logistics startup dreams of: coast-to-coast coverage, door-to-door reach, daily service, trucks, sorting plants, and a built-in customer base. It was the undisputed delivery giant.

If Canada Post had simply kept pace with technology and customer expectations, there should have been no room for FedEx, UPS, or Amazon delivery vans. But instead of innovation, Canadians got bureaucracy. Instead of tracking and two-day delivery, they got lines at the post office and a week-long wait for a package to cross town.

Union Rigidity and the Absence of Pressure

Why didn’t it improve? Because it didn’t have to. As a closed union shop and government-run monopoly, Canada Post was insulated from competition. Performance didn’t dictate survival. And when there’s no penalty for inefficiency, inefficiency becomes the standard.

Protected contracts, rigid job classifications, resistance to automation, and guaranteed pensions created a culture where change was resisted and customer experience was secondary.

The Rise of the Private Sector

Into that vacuum stepped the private sector. They weren’t supposed to win. But they did—by simply offering what Canada Post wouldn’t: reliability, speed, transparency, and service. And Canadians paid extra for it.

FedEx and UPS didn’t out-muscle Canada Post—they just out-served it. Because unlike Canada Post, they couldn’t afford not to.

The 2025 Irony

Now in 2025, we find Canada Post hemorrhaging money, begging taxpayers for support, and losing the very market it once owned. It’s not a story of unfair competition. It’s a story of complacency, entitlement, and missed opportunity.

The sad truth? Canada Post didn’t get beaten. It surrendered.

A Final thought

A monopoly that forgets it can fail, eventually will. Canada Post is learning that lesson the hard way—and asking the rest of us to foot the bill.