Stop closing post offices: NDP, union
Mail volume dropping, Canada Post says it has to cut costs to protect taxpayers
As Canada Post cautions Canadians about fundamental changes coming to its services, the official Opposition NDP and postal workers’ union are raising concerns about continued closings of post offices across the country.
Canada Post has closed nearly 300 post offices over the last five years — including 57 since 2012 — and cut thousands of jobs as it grapples with a significant decline in letter mail and faces questions about its future mandate and operations.
The Crown corporation still has more than 6,300 post offices, including franchised postal counters in retail outlets, along with traditional corporate post offices.
But the continued closings and layoffs — along with the move to franchised postal outlets — are sparking concerns with the postal workers’ union and the New Democrats, who say it’s the largest number of closings since the 1980s and part of a worrisome trend toward privatizing services.
“Canada Post is cutting and closing post offices around the country without listening to what the public wants and needs; the postal service belongs to us all,” Gayle Bossenberry, a national vicepresident with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, said in a statement.
“Cutting isn’t Canada Post’s only option, and erodes the very network that Canada Post will need to leverage for the future,” she added.
The union suggests Canada Post could follow a business model similar to other postal services around the world facing declining mail volumes and revenues, including adding lucrative financial services such as bill payments, insurance and banking.
The public and small businesses can’t get the same full range of services and reliability at the private franchised outlets as they can at public post offices, the union argues.
Canada Post has been holding online and public consultations to gauge Canadians’ input on what they want from their postal service.
While the organization is still accepting feedback, officials say one thing is clear: they need to adapt to changing times.
Canadians mailed one billion fewer letters in 2012 than in 2006 (down to around four billion from more than five billion), a trend that is expected to continue and erode the organization’s finances.
Yet, Canada Post still recorded a profit of $127 million before taxes in 2012.
The federal corporation is projected to face an annual operating loss of about $1 billion by 2020, according to a recent Conference Board of Canada report. Canada Post points to this as evidence that it must trim costs and adjust its operations.
Canadians are increasingly relying on digital communication and transactions instead of traditional letter mail, driving down the total volume of mail at the same time the number of physical addresses continues to increase.
Canada Post says the report’s findings are further proof that “fundamental changes” are required at the corporation if it’s to avoid being a burden on the taxpayer.
“We need to get it right in terms of the changes we make for the future,” Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said Friday. “We’re in a spot right now where we can see Canadians’ behaviours and needs (are) changing. We’re doing what we can to evolve to meet those.”
Despite the post office closings in recent years, Hamilton maintains the total numbers have remained “relatively constant” and that Canada Post recognizes post offices are the “lifeblood” of rural Canada.
Canada Post is considering costcutting options raised by the Conference Board report, including: wage restraint; alternate-day delivery for mail (except parcels); converting Canadian households’ receiving door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes; further replacing corporate post offices with franchised postal outlets; and reduced speed of delivery.
NDP treasury board critic Mathieu Ravignat, whose west Quebec riding, he said, is facing two post office closings, argues the Conservative government doesn’t understand the crucial role post offices play in communities across Canada. They are a hub of activity, a place to meet neighbours and exchange ideas, he said.
It’s clear the Crown corporation needs to implement changes to keep up with Canadians’ move to online transactions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer post office counters across Canada, he said.
He believes the Conservative government’s ideology is driving Canada Post’s decisions more than any economic argument.
“This government has a vision for privatizing postal services in this country and that’s where they are going full-steam ahead,” Ravignat said.