Canada Post Does Not Deliver on Saturdays

I’ve discovering that there are a number of things we take for granted in the States. Netflix. News, politics, even. Our politics are entertaining compared to Canadian politics. The ability to strike without permission and without restrictions, apparently, too. My Chicago brain has been unable to wrap itself around the local teachers “strike.” In Vancouver, teachers and education, I believe, are considered an “essential service,” right up there with fire fighters and police. I read an interesting Letter to the Editor in the Straight.com newspaper yesterday while waiting for a pizza. The basic premise is that education is an investment, not a business.

That is a line my parents have used often. And that has always been their view. When I was wondering law school, we had many conversations around education being an investment, and if law school was the kind of educational investment I wanted to make. I decided no, I didn’t really want to be a lawyer, but I did want to study technology and the law. And there was a masters program that did just that.

Reflecting on that now, it was a worthwhile investment. It seemed like an indulgence to many at the time. Internet and privacy law, but no law degree? What’s the point? And what does privacy have to do with anything? I saw the need to understand the background and potential issues before those issues came to light.

But I digress.

Aside from Netflix, politics and unions, another thing we Americans take for granted is Saturday mail delivery. And we’re still up in arms over the prospect of the US Post Office eliminating Saturday mail delivery, let alone closing post offices as well.

In Canada, as I found out this weekend since I was expecting something Friday that didn’t arrive, Canada Post, their version of USPS, does not deliver mail on Saturdays.

Canada Post is committed to delivering regular mail every business day, Monday to Friday.

I was rather annoyed about this, as it honestly didn’t occur to me that other countries simply didn’t deliver mail on Saturdays. Granted, I do my best to avoid USPS, but if something didn’t arrive on Friday, I knew I’d get it on Saturday. Here, in Canada, if it doesn’t arrive on Friday, you have to wait and see until Monday. An exception seems to be around the Christmas holiday, or so a search for “Saturday delivery” seems to suggest.

Who knew?

So now I’m curious about the operations of Canada Post, and how it compares to USPS. I’d be willing to bet Canada Post is in better shape than USPS. Marginally, perhaps, but even that is something, no?

I have yet to send something via Canada Post. Will have to try that out, too. And probably the obligatory post cards to people back home, though it might be amusing to send a note to someone in Canada, preferably someone I know, that just says “Testing out your snail mail system. Did it work? Write back. Thanks.”

Hrm…