Channing’s post office has closed and may not reopen, but not everyone in the subdivision sees that as a bad thing.
Residents in the Channing and Wally Heights subdivisions have been informed that their post office closed as of this week.
Mayor Cal Huntley said city officials met with Canada Post and while nothing is written in stone, the potential of community mailboxes, rather than another post office, is being explored.
Huntley said the community boxes would be open to residents at any time of the day, with parcel services also available through them.
Community boxes would suit Channing resident Allen Quick just fine.
“I actually think it’s a good idea,” he said. “This way it’s out in the open and we’re not relying on someone being in the office itself. And we’re five minutes from the main office for parcels, so I don’t have any problems with it.”
Huntley said the city also wants Canada Post to give Channing a postal code starting with R8A, like the rest of Flin Flon, as “Channing is not a community unto itself.” He said Canada Post is exploring this idea.
That change would bring postal parity to Channing and Wally Heights, which currently carry a postal code classified as “rural,” meaning there is a slightly higher cost to send parcels from the subdivisions.
The latest Channing post office had been located in a home on Channing Drive. It opened in 2013.
Until Canada Post makes a decision about Channing, residents will pick up their mail from the main Flin Flon post office.
