By James Barrie W ell the news has been watching the negotiations between Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and it seems that they are at a standstill. It is not too often that technology plays a role in these types of nego- tiations, however with Postal Service Agencies around the world quietly exploring the potential of small, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) as a possible option for mail delivery; they could be in the future. Australia Post has been testing using drones to take packages into the air but it is still too early to see if this concept will fly, but Canada Post is starting to look at the impact of drones and how that might affect the delivery business. As thecost of traditional postal service continues to increase it is only natural that Postal Services are exploring the possibility of small, unmanned aerial vehicles one day helping get the mail to where it needs to go. In a recent interview Jon Hamilton, a Canada Post spokesman made ref- erence to the use of drones saying
“It’s not something that Canadians are going to see any time soon, if at all.” Still, Canada Post is conscious that companies such as online retailer Amazon are actively investigating delivery drones. With the growth of online shopping, Canada Post is trying to cope with the challenges of delivering more parcels to almost 16 million address- es across the country. For the moment, the Crown corpo- ration is focusing on better using its network of 13,000 vehicles, 6,000 post offices and over 50,000 employ- ees to get the mail to customers. That means using online technol- ogy to help people track parcels, testing same-day delivery in some major markets and offering flexible delivery options. Canada Post realizes technology is accelerating a lot faster these days, and “as things change we continue to look at new options,” Hamilton said. “There was a lot of time between moving from horses to trains. Things don’t move that slowly anymore.”
that, “In the post office’s 250-year history, the manner of getting letters and parcels to Canadians has evolved from a couple of horses to trains, trucks and planes — so it makes sense to eye lightweight, remote- controlled aircraft,” he said. Drones have gone from being popular with hobbyists, to being used for a variety of government- related and commercial applications, including agricultural surveys, movie shoots, police investigations, meteo- rology and search and rescue efforts. Hamilton insists there are no drone prototypes in the post office labora- tory — at least not yet. He characterized the effort as a “paper exercise” at the very early exploratory stages, aimed at “exam- ining what’s out there today.” “Is it at a point yet where it’s worth doing anything concrete in terms of testing? And so far, no,” Hamilton said.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • JULY 2016
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