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.
City council opposes plans for a secondary postal outlet in Flin Flon, fearing the privately run service would damage the main post office despite assurances to the contrary from Canada Post. Council voted last week to write to the federal minister responsible for Canada Post, Steven Fletcher, to 'voice our opposition' to the proposal. The motion passed at the request Rena Gummerson, head of the local postal workers' union, who alleged Canada Post has a plan to close retail counters at the main post office _ and, in fact, the entire post office. 'The long and the short of it is, if we lose the post office, it's another loss for our community,' Gummerson told 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 Canada Post spokesperson John Caines said there are no closure plans and that the proposed secondary outlet, known as a dealership post office, would complement existing service, not replace it. 'Dealership post offices are opened to provide additional services to our customers,' Caines 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.' Canada Post notified workers last month about the possibility of a dealership post office. Caines said it's undetermined which existing building would host the outlet, as the required 90-day consultation period with workers has not ended. 'We have not yet conducted a site search for a dealership location, but we always try to locate our offices in a convenient place where people already shop and provide good hours and ample parking,' Caines said. 'If we add a dealership, it would be another point of service for our customers in Flin Flon to add to the service provided by the current corporate outlet. It would be a full service postal outlet.' While Caines said no site search has been done for the proposed outlet, a letter Canada Post officer Sophie Cormier sent to the national postal union provided a vague location. Cormier wrote May 7 that the dealership post office would be established 'at the intersection of Main St and 1st Ave in Flin Flon.' An accompanying document stated it would be located about 0.3 kilometres from the main post office. Had outlet At one time Flin Flon did have a privately run secondary postal outlet, located at the now-defunct Super Thrifty Drug Mart on Main Street, a short distance from the post office. Gummerson said that outlet sold stamps and served as a parcel pick-up point but did not offer 'counter service' like the post office does. Council voted to oppose a dealership post office without, apparently, hearing Canada Post's side of the story. It's not clear whether that would have impacted their vote. See 'Staf...' on pg. Continued from pg. 'The way I understand it, (Canada Post is) not saying they're going to close (the post office) down, we're just assuming they're closing it down,' Coun. Skip Martin said at one point, seeking clarification. Gummerson responded by stressing that 'our post office has been tagged for closure,' again in direct conflict with what Canada Post is saying, at least publicly. Gummerson told council the post office has experienced staffing reductions, going from four to two counter clerks and from six full-time routes to four full-time routes and two part-time routes. 'We're understaffed and they're not replacing positions,' Gummerson said. Gummerson cautioned that private postal outlets are not necessarily stable. 'What you have to realize with franchises is that if the franchise owner decides that they're not making enough money, they shut it down,' Gummerson told council. While council opposes a dealership post office, it remains to be seen whether that will influence Canada Post's decision-making process. Earlier this year, a Conference Board of Canada report predicted falling mail volumes will see Canada Post lose $1 billion a year by 2020. According to CBC, the report estimated that the volume of mail in Canada will fall by more than a quarter by that time. It predicted that parcel volumes will rise but will not offset financial losses elsewhere within Canada Post, CBC reported.
