The slow conversion continues in Estevan, as nearly 2,900 residents with postal codes starting with S4A will switch from door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes by fall of 2015.
As part of the Canada Post’s action plan that was announced in December 2013 that included the conversion of all door-to-door services to community mailboxes, Canada Post is following through with that plan in southeast Saskatchewan.
“It’s about maintaining our postal service for the future,” said Anick Losier, Director of Canada Post. “We were heading towards a financial cliff of about $1 billion. We had to secure our future.”
Residents of the Energy City will be receiving - if they haven’t already - informational packages that will include a detailed outline of which areas are being affected and ways to express their priorities and preferences about the new delivery method.
“It’s an important layer for the planning process,” Losier said, referring to the packages. “Maybe you don’t want it on Main Street and instead want a multi-site further from home. These are things we want to know.”
She added that consultation with municipality offices is also important and assists them by making them aware of specific requirements.
“It’s a 10 to 12-month process,” the director said, noting a constant line of communication will be maintained with residents during the entire transitional phase to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
“You’ll receive a note that says, ‘based off of your feedback, this is what we’ve decided to do,’” she explained. “It will serve as another touch point, so if there are concerns it’s another opportunity for residents to let us know.”
Losier stressed the importance of feedback from residents.
“People in the community know the community best,” she said.
Canada Post will respect the collective agreement, Losier said, which states that no part-time or full-time employee will lose their job during the conversion. Instead, the work force will be minimized through attrition, meaning positions filled by employees who retire or leave the company won’t be replaced. The attrition rate, Losier said, is twice as high as the number of jobs they plan to eliminate.
“We’re actually still going to be hiring quite a lot of people after,” she said.
According to Losier, there has been a 40 per cent response rate across Canada to the surveys about community boxes, which she described as a “phenomenal” response from residents.
Attempts were made to contact the Union of Post Office Workers in Estevan for a comment, but at press time, no response was given.
