Canada Post: Say No to Downsizing -
 

Canada Post: Say no to downsizing

say no to downsizing

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) wants Tillsonburg to know the downsizing of post offices is happening across the country.

And Tillsonburg is on the list.

“What’s going on at Canada Post is pretty well what’s going on with the whole Conservative government as far as cuts go to not just the post office, but to veterans offices and stuff right across the country,” said Peter Ainsworth, president of CUPW Local 622.

“We’re trying to stop them, but short of an election, I don’t think we’re going to have much success – until we change the government. And that’s kind of our message here because we’ve talked to Canada Post, and we don’t seem to be able to talk to the government about the changes they’ve made.

“We’re going to keep trying to campaign here to save our local post office. How much success we’ll have, I’m not sure. They’re cutting and downsizing post offices right across the country, and that’s basically the message we’re trying to get out. We’re going to keep campaigning all the way up to the next election.”

Ainsworth said changes will not happen at the Brock Street post office until at least September when a decision will be made at that time. In Tillsonburg, a post office franchise is expected to open later this month at Canadian Tire.

“We heard June 20, but it keeps changing,” said Ainsworth. “It’s under construction right now… and they still have some work to do.”

Last Friday, several members of CUPW Local 622 set up outside the Canada Post Office at 54 Brock Street East to hand out information and talk to people on the street.

“What’s happening is that there’s a franchise opening up in Tillsonburg,” said post office counter worker Kari House. “So basically what they’re trying to do to with your local post office here is they want us to go down to one till, instead of two counters right now. They’re going to reduce the service here.”

“Well, reduce the size,” said Jacqui Hicks, who has been working at the Tillsonburg post offices since 1977, first at 164 Broadway then at the current location when it moved in 1989. “So yes, the service, because instead of having two wickets (counters/tills) we’ll be down to one.”

“It’ll be like this when they do it – it’ll be a window,” said letter carrier Donna Van Dyken, showing the before and after photos they were handing out.

“We’re just letting public be aware of what’s happening, and trying to prevent it from happening,” said House, who first heard about the new Tillsonburg franchise in March. “It was toward the end of March they told us it was going to be happening here. Us and Ingersoll, and eventually it’ll be happening all across Canada.”

“When you go into a major centre right now, most of them have them already. This town has had it three other times…”

“And it has not succeeded,” noted Hicks.

“We’re giving good service here,” said Cindy Mendler, who does some clerk work at the post office. “Really good service. So why remove the quality service you have now? Why fix something that’s not broken? We have an older community that really relies upon this post office. They enjoy the one-on-one and the type of service they get. We are an older community.”

“For some of them, the franchise will be a huge inconvenience,” said Van Dyken.

“Parking’s an issue now,” nodded Hicks.

“The biggest concern is… we’re seeing our customer service, and stuff that we value, is being taken away and there’s no real tangible reason for it,” said Mendler. “Because we truly believe in customer service. We want to give good customer service. It’s important to us – it’s a service we all depend upon.

“People think that maybe Canada Post is changing, but one thing you’ve got to remember – Canada Post delivers everywhere, anywhere. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the middle of nowhere. You’ll always get it. It’s not like some of the other ones where they take it to a big centre and you have to drive three hours somewhere to get it.

“We need to preserve that,” Mendler concluded.

 

CANADA POST LOSSES

In a recent QMI Agency story, it was reported Canada Post lost $27 million before taxes in the first quarter of this year largely because of a big drop in letters and bills being sent through the mail.

The company said revenue for transaction mail – mostly letters, bills and statements – decreased by $50 million. But it hopes rising the price of stamps as of March 31 will help recover some of those losses in the second quarter.

Canada Post said five initiatives – introducing community mailbox delivery to 11 communities this fall, hiking the price of stamps, opening more franchise postal outlets, adjusting hours in low-traffic offices and streamlining its operation network – will help the company save money.

The Canada Post Group of Companies, which includes Canada Post, Purolator, SCI Group and Innovapost, reported a loss of $37 million.

Earlier in May, Canada Post reported it lost $269 million in 2013 due largely to the decline in mail volume.