ERIKA WANG

Canada Post: Carriers that Care

An expansion on a service idea proposed by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Carriers that Care is a door-to-door check-in service that uses postal workers’ existing routes to reassure families that their elderly loves ones are safe and doing well.

Check out the 2024 UX Design Awards feature here!
TeamJasper Precilla
Samaila Newaz
Tristan Turisno
Hugo DuranMy Roles
Design Strategy
UX/UI Design
UX Research

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers have been advocating for a senior check-in service since 2016.

The 'Delivering Community Power' initiative, created by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), are a set of proposals inspired by a sense of need for Canada Post to innovate - one of which include a proposal for a senior check-in service, which their earliest version dates back to 2016.

With the rise of digital alternatives, revenue from letter delivery has been on the decline for the past 17 years, and in parcel delivery, Canada Post been losing market share to faster, cheaper competitors such as FedEx or UPS. Utilizing their reach to approximately 17 million addresses across the country (Canada Post, 2021), Carriers that Care would introduce a new stream of revenue to the business.

How might we utilize the existing infrastructure of Canada Post to support socially isolated seniors?


Carriers that Care is a service that comes in 3 steps. Each point involves different stakeholders and various touchpoints.
RachelLives in Nova Scotia.
Was recently widowed.SelenaLives in Calgary with her own family. Is considering the service for her mother. CindyCarrier for 17+ years. Recently trained for Carriers that Care.
WALK- THROUGH

Introducing: Carriers that Care, a check-in service designed to keep families connected with their elderly loved ones.

1. SIGN-UPS

Canadians can sign up for the service for themselves, or for their loved ones.



Our user, Selena, would navigate through the landing page to get information about the Carriers that Care. After ensuring that she has gotten consent from Rachel that she will be participating in this service, she can enter basic information about Rachel such as visitation schedules and family member contacts.
2. VISITATIONS

After sign-ups, a postie will start coming by for a visit - to have a friendly conversation, and to make sure everything’s going well.

Resources for unexpected scenarios
Resources for emergency contacts
Questionnaire to standardize reports
List of service recipients & their contact information
POSTAL WORKER APP

In order to alleviate the service being reliant on a postal worker’s individual ability to be able to report on seniors, postal workers will be supported through an app on their mobile devices.

A mobile intervention would reduce cognitive overhead on posties that are conducting check-ins by giving structure to the reporting process. In turn, this would ensure trust in the service by allowing posties to be confident and transparent, reminding them that 'conversations' is the core of the service.
3. POST-VISIT REPORT

At the end of each visit, a postie will send a short report ensuring that Canadians can stay updated about the social and physical well-being of their loved ones.

EMAIL & TEXT UPDATES
DASHBOARD
A short-hand version of the report will be sent through text and email. Selena can check the full report through the Carriers that Care dashboard, where she can also take extra actions, such as adjusting visitation schedules or editing family contact information.



A bonus: providing future opportunities for Canada Post
The dashboard is an opportunity for Canada Post to connect Carriers That Care to other services in their ecosystem. One such proposal we had was the ability to have gifts hand-delivered by trusted posties through connecting our service to Canada Shops, an e-commerce store that was piloting during Fall of 2023.

PROCESS

Adjusting the check-in service model for Canada Post’s customers