Today, the Honourable Joël Lightbound, Minister of Government Transformation, Public Works and Procurement, issued the following statement: “Canada Post is a national institution, older than our country itself, that has been serving Canadians for more than 150 years. For generations, postal workers have connected communities in every corner of the country, providing an essential lifeline to hundreds of northern, Indigenous, and rural communities. Canadians continue to rely on it today, and it remains a vital public service.

· Letter Mail Delivery Standards: Canada Post will introduce flexibilities to reflect today’s lower volumes. The average household receives just two letters per week, yet operations remain designed for far higher volumes. By adjusting standards so that non-urgent mail can move by ground instead of air, the corporation will save more than $20 million per year.

· Community Mailbox Conversions: The government is lifting the moratorium on community mailbox conversions. Currently, three-quarters of Canadians already receive mail through community, apartment, or rural mailboxes, while one-quarter still receive door-to-door delivery. Canada Post will be authorized to convert the remaining 4 million addresses to community mailboxes, generating close to $400 million in annual savings.

· Postal Network Modernization: The moratorium on rural post offices, in place since 1994, will also be lifted. The rural moratorium was imposed in 1994 and covers close to 4000 locations. It has not evolved in 30 years, but Canada has changed. This means that areas that used to be rural may now be suburban or even urban, but are still required to operate as rural post offices. Canada Post must return to the government with a plan to modernize and right-size its network.

  • GrindingGears@lemmy.ca
    6·
    5 days ago

    It’s hard for the rural areas. I see it both ways. I’ve got a community mailbox about a block away, takes all of a minute to reach and get back. I’m for it generally, but they do get busted into a lot closer to Christmas though. Grand scheme of things though, functional system.

    Where I grew up, you’d go to the end of the lane to get your mail, and a community box is probably going to mean a 10 minute drive down the concession and back. It’s not a big deal when the weather’s good, but when it’s bad and the lanes not blown out, or for the elderly, it’s a bigger deal.

    But facing all the facts, it’s probably the compromise we all need to make. I dont even get much actual mail anymore, I only go to empty it every week and a half, and only because it’s so full of flyers and junk that you can’t fit anything more in it, just in case something I’m interested in was to come, that would be a problem. This isn’t going to be a popular thought maybe, but it’s been a bit of a godsend this past little while without the flyer and junk deliveries, it’s been nice seeing an empty box. We don’t need junk mail, but that’s been a pretty big revenue line for Canada Post, so it’s kind of a reckoning moment there too.

    • Medic8teMe@lemmy.ca
      6·
      5 days ago

      I live rurally. We’ve had community boxes for decades. It’s not more difficult at all. Just means less of making bomb proof mailboxes because snowplows and teenagers.