Technology has shuttered a once flourishing service sector

 The complex realities of technological advancement have finally dealt a deathblow to the Canadian Post Office and the remainder of a once-flourishing service sector. The once job-filled service sector has been replaced by the very same automation that shut down the once massive assembly lines of companies like General Motors and Ford.  

The Carney Government is currently considering changes that may impact up to 55,000 Canadian postal workers. The post office, whose unions were once influential, now faces challenges to its sustainability as a crown corporation. Door-to-door delivery service is expected to be discontinued, marking a significant shift from what has traditionally been a part of Canadians' everyday lives.  

Also, there will be the frequency of delivery. Of residential services. 

Like anything else affected by technology, the ways Canadians do business have changed, and the need for a labour component continues to push traditional service sector jobs out of the marketplace. 

Following Minister Joël Lightbound's recent announcement regarding the Post Office, and Loblaws' decision to acquire several new autonomous delivery trucks for its stores, it is evident that robotics and automation are steadily transforming the Canadian service industry. This trend mirrors the technological advancements that profoundly impacted large automotive assembly lines. 

Suppose there ever was a question on anyone's mind about the negative impacts of changes in the very way our day-to-day lives exist. In that case, these two announcements should stand as a vanguard and foreshadowing of things that will ultimately continue to follow, as technological advancements improve with each passing day and more service jobs are wiped out in their wake.  

John Naisbitt, author of the 1982 book Megatrends, made these predictions years ago. It appears that few municipal, provincial, or federal lawmakers considered the underlying impact on Canadian workers. Many seemed unaware—or perhaps chose to overlook—the significant costs in human capital resulting from these technological advancements. 

For the consumer, most just enjoyed the convenience these advancements gave to us without a thought of the human cost to the equation.  

At the core of Adam Smith’s economic principles lies the investment in human capital. However, this foundational aspect has increasingly been overshadowed by substantial financial resources being allocated to technological advancements. At the same time, comparatively fewer funds are directed toward the development of human capital in capital works projects. 

Canadians, along with workers globally, have observed a consistent decline in purchasing power, while both consumer and public debt levels have continued to increase significantly. 

Observing political leaders address the extensive economic challenges suggests they may be overlooking key issues and appear unable to identify solutions to questions that have persisted since the onset of the technological boom in the 1980s. 

Technological advancement is an ongoing process that cannot be reversed. Within the private sector, corporations often prioritize maximizing profits for shareholders and CEOs, which can result in diminishing roles and reduced wages for workers. As a consequence, the stability once associated with factory employment and the middle class has increasingly declined over time. 

The squeeze that is being felt by Canadians, as well as those in the USA, has reverted to this vicious racial backlash, highlighted and mirrored by the rhetoric of not only the Carney Government but the MAGA movements, both in the USA and the Maple MAGA promoted by the Conservative Party under Pierre Poilievre.  

Many stakeholders tend to assign blame to one another, apparently in an effort to distract the public from the lack of substantive solutions to the underlying issue. This issue has warranted serious attention annually since the 1980s. 

The opportunity for governmental intervention has passed, resulting in increasing unrest in public spaces as an escalating number of individuals are affected by ongoing economic stagnation and challenges in social dialogue. 

The central question is how this will conclude and what impact it will have on humanity.