Canada Post plans to stamp out door-to-door mail delivery across Flin Flon in 2016, ending months of speculation about when the service would end.
The postal provider will now begin surveying residents to determine where to locate central mailboxes to serve the nearly 2,200 addresses losing home delivery.
Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton said it generally takes 10 to 12 months to complete a conversion from door-to-door service to central mailboxes.
He could not provide a specific time as to when the service will end in 2016, but he said this typically occurs in either late spring or early summer, or the fall.
While some residents have speculated that Canada Post would convert the Flin Flon post office into a central pickup location, Hamilton said there will indeed be neighbourhood mailboxes.
How many boxes? That depends on feedback from residents, who will be asked whether they prefer smaller clusters of boxes closer to their homes or larger clusters of boxes further away.
Most people who have already converted to neighbourhood boxes have preferred smaller clusters of two or three units, Hamilton said. Each unit can serve 16 households. Each household is given a key to its assigned box.
Once sites for the neighbourhood boxes are chosen, residents near those locations will be asked for feedback. Adjustments can be made before installations begin, Hamilton said.
Canada Post announced in late 2013 that most home mail delivery across the country would be eliminated within five years, but it was not clear until last week when the move would impact Flin Flon.
“Today, we informed municipal officials as well as affected employees that neighbourhoods of Flin Flon – postal code starting with R8A – will be next in the conversion of door-to-door delivery to community mailboxes,” Canada Post spokesman
Phil Legault wrote in an email to The Reminder last Fri-
day. “This represents 2,189 addresses to be converted in 2016.”
Legault wrote that in the next couple of days, each affected resident would receive the first of many communications from Canada Post.
“The first one is an information package with a mail-in survey,” he wrote. “The package will tell them how they can express their priorities and preferences about their new delivery method. This is a process we have used since the beginning of the process. So far 260,000 Canadians have shared their insights through this survey, which proved very helpful in choosing safe, suitable locations.
“Customers who have concerns about their ability to access their community mailbox will be invited to contact us via a dedicated phone number and we will work with them to find a solution that meets their needs.”
Legault added that no regular full-time or part-time employee would lose his or her job as a result of the
initiative.
“As we have stated throughout this process, we will reduce our workforce largely through attrition as people retire.”
The Reminder will have more on this story.
