Customer service will become “a thing of the past” if proposed changes to postal services go ahead, says a longtime Canada Post employee and local advocate.
Barbara Perry, president of CUPW local 796 said customers will be hurt as much as the employees by plans announced last week by Canada Post to phase out home delivery within five years and replace the service with community mailboxes.
“Customers are not going to get the service they’ve become accustomed to. They’re going to lose that personal touch,” Perry said.
“For a lot of our retired customers, particularly in Oliver, Osoyoos and Penticton, the post office is also a social place. It’s a part of the community.”
As a result of these changes, Canada Post officials say they will require fewer employees and plan to cut between 6,000 and 8,000 positions over the next few years.
But a release issued by the Crown corporation notes that most of the workforce reduction should come through attrition, and Canada Post expects nearly 15,000 employees to retire.
The company also said it would take necessary steps to permanently address the sustainability of its pension plan.
Perry concedes that Canada Post may be able to cut 8,000 jobs as planned but questions how reducing service will improve business. According to a study by the Conference Board of Canada, the elimination of door-to-door delivery will save the company an estimated $576 million a year. The think-tank, which was commissioned by Canada Post in April 2013, predicted the postal service was on track to losing $1 billion annually by the end of this decade.
Another major change customers can expect is a 22 cent increase in the price of stamps.
That will raise the cost for buying regular stamps in bulk to 85 cents apiece as of March 31. Individual stamps will sell for $1. Perry said the move could disproportionately impact elderly residents who tend to have less uptake on the technological alternatives to delivery for bills and other items they now receive by letter mail.
The new business plan also includes the addition of more franchise postal outlets in stores throughout Canada (including Oliver) and streamlining operations through technology (such as faster computerized sorting equipment), consolidation (such as processing mail and parcels in a central location) and providing more delivery employees with fuel-efficient vehicles, so the same employee can deliver both mail and parcels.
To read Canada Post’s five-point action plan or to watch a short video overview, visit canadapost.ca.
Erin Christie
Oliver Chronicle
