What has Moya Greene really done?

The Vancouver local of CUPW posted a really good article about Moya Greene's departure from Canada Post. A lot of bent spin doctors like to pretend Moya Greene is good at business when we know that is simply false. She is just a one trick pony.

She is, in essence, an axe murderer who cuts jobs viciously with no thought or plan on how to build business revenue. The common misconception is if the headlines read jobs were cut then shareholders will jump for joy and stock will rise which is not the case in a service based industry. In a service based industry, if you slash all your services you will reduce your business revenue.

So let's take a step back and look at what Moya Greene has really done to Canada Post. The Vancouver local pointed out the simple truth that cannot be escaped. Before Moya Greene came to Canada Post it was a vibrant business that consistently made profit and consistently paid large amounts of dividends and Corporate tax to the government which increased the government's tax base. Canada Post was in essence a cash cow for the government.

In one sweeping movement with her axe she turned a profit making company into a company that was $2.5 billion in debt. Instantly. It took generations to build the business into a efficient profit making machine and in one foul swoop she killed the profit making company and made it $2.5 billion in debt.

Her rational was she wanted to borrow the money to cut jobs which one day would save money. One day save money. Why does that sound like a snake oil salesman? Maybe because she left right after the devil's deed was done. Long before any future profits would be seen by the dastardly deed.

True the Union can't stand against technology forever. Yet Moya Greene refused to consult the Union or ANYONE skilled in the business. She had no skills in the business and refused to consult with anyone who did have skills in the business because she claims all her managers in the public sector are stupid. That was somewhat ironic.

If Canada Post had invested in machines that would sort the mail to line of travel so letter carriers would basically come in to pick up their mail and go deliver it, that would indeed have cut a huge amount of jobs which in turn would have greatly reduced labour cost. However, she didn't because those kind of machines don't exist in Canada.

For those kind of machines to exist in Canada we would have to completely change our postal code system to a system similar to what's used by the US. Right now everyone on the same side of the street has the same postal code. You can create machines that will sort letter mail to specific routes but not to line of travel which they are hoping for.

Spending money on good technology can save money in the long run. Spending a huge amount of money on bad technology with false promises will not. Oh but Moya Greene is long gone before we can see the results of her foul swoop.

We can go on and on about all the other blunders Moya Greene made at Canada Post which were bad for business but the simple conclusion is the point raised by the Vancouver local of CUPW.

She turned a profit making dividend paying company that took generations to build into a company that was $2.5 billion in debt instantly then left.