The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canada Post is one step closer to sealing the deal on a new post office for Channing. Spokesperson John Caines says the corporation has completed interviews for the vacant postmaster's position, with a candidate now recommended. 'The process is underway for a letter of offer to be issued (to the candidate),' Caines told The Reminder last week. It's still not clear when the new postmaster will be in place or where the new post office will be located. Channing's tiny post office closed March 28 following the resignation of the latest postmaster, whose home housed the facility. After Canada Post met with community leaders, a decision was reached to continue to serve Channing with its own post office. Until the new post office is open, Channing residents are picking up their mail at the post office in Flin Flon. For decades a Channing post office has served residents of the Channing and Wally Heights subdivisions, both of which lack door-to-door mail delivery. Wally Heights resident Lois (Bunny) Burke called it a vital service. See 'It's' on pg. Continued from pg. 'I think it's very important for the people who live in Channing because a lot of them are single-vehicle owners and the working partner takes the vehicle to work,' she told The Reminder previously. 'So (the other person) has no way of getting into Flin Flon to collect their mail. This (post office) is in walking distance.' Meanwhile, the local postal workers' union alleges Canada Post harbours a plan to close the Flin Flon post office, a charge the corporation denies. 'The long and the short of it is, if we lose the post office, it's another loss for our community,' Rena Gummerson, head of the union, recently told city council. 'It's a loss of revenue, it's a loss of income for people that live here and it's another loss of service that we can't afford.' But Caines said there are no closure plans and that a planned dealership post office _ to be based inside an existing business _ would complement existing service, not replace it. 'Dealership post offices are opened to provide additional services to our customers,' he said. 'These outlets are in established businesses that offer longer hours and provide space for customers to pick up their parcels and packets in the evenings and on weekends. They usually are in areas where people already shop, so they can do their postal business while they do the rest of their shopping.' Earlier this year, a Conference Board of Canada report predicted falling mail volumes will see Canada Post lose $1 billion a year by 2020.
