Canada Post is abandoning plans for a privately run postal outlet in Flin Flon while assuring residents that community mailboxes won’t be the nightmare opponents fear.
John Caine, a spokesperson for Canada Post, told The Reminder late last week the Crown corporation has no current plans for a secondary retail location in the community.
That news will be welcomed by local letter carriers, who opposed the once-planned outlet over fears it would mean service reductions at the main post office, a charge Canada Post denied.
Canada Post had announced plans for the outlet in May 2013, saying in part it would give residents the chance to pick up parcels and conduct other postal business on evenings and weekends when the post office was closed.
The local postal union says an existing Main Street business was approached about hosting the outlet but was not interested.
In an email, Caine did not specify why plans for the outlet are no longer on the table.
While the outlet factored into the discussion at a postal-union-sponsored forum in Flin Flon last week, so too did fears around the implications of Canada Post’s plan to end home mail delivery by late 2018.
Rather than home mailboxes, Canada Post would deliver to so-called community mailboxes, or CMBs, outdoor units with individual boxes that are placed in neighbourhoods across a town or city.
At the forum, alarm bells sounded over Canada Post’s legal right to place CMBs on public land. A large poster showed an unsightly row of 38 CMBs in Fort McMurray, Alberta, that were later removed amid public outcry.
Some attendees left the forum wondering whether CMBs would be installed in front of their homes against their and the city’s will.
But Caine said Canada Post collaborates with municipalities to determine placement of CMBs, and it is unlikely units would go in front of anyone’s home.
“We work with those residents that will be affected by the placement of CMBs,” he said, adding that half of proposed sites in five Quebec communities were changed based on community feedback.
Some residents have wondered if Flin Flon will get CMBs at all or whether they will have to go directly to the post office once home delivery ends.
Caine confirmed the plan for Flin Flon includes CMBs.
Canada Post has not specified when Flin Flon’s home mail delivery will end. The corporation announced last year that almost all home delivery in Canada will cease by late 2018, with different communities impacted at different times.
“Announcements will be made when a schedule has been determined,” said Caine.
Canada Post is also willing to continue home delivery in cases where someone has mobility problems. Those individuals will, however, be required to supply a doctor’s note verifying their physical status.
