Vancouver city council is speaking out against Canada Post’s plans to phase out home mail delivery.
Council voted unanimously January 21 to call on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to tell Canada Post to put the brakes on the delivery cancellation. It has also asked city staff to prepare a report on what the Crown corporation’s plans might mean for the city.
NPA councillor George Affleck had originally introduced the motion after Canada Post’s December 11 announcement that it would be phasing out home delivery and replacing it with community mailboxes over the next five years, citing increasing labour costs and decreasing mail volumes.
“My motion is really to address the fact that I’m concerned for seniors and persons with disabilities in the city, and what impact it might have on them,” Affleck told Business in Vancouver. “I’ve asked for a staff report on not only that but also, what could this mean in a general sense for the city of Vancouver.”
Seniors and those with disabilities would not be the only ones to suffer from a lack of home mail delivery, said Affleck. There would also be negative repercussions for businesses in the city.
“In Vancouver we have a significant amount of home-based businesses who rely on Canada Post so that is something I will be interested in hearing more about,” he said. “We rely on package delivery to homes, and given the number of home-based businesses in Vancouver, what impact will that have on the city’s prosperity and operating businesses in the city?”
He questions the efficiency and cost effectiveness of setting up community mailboxes and said public consultation is needed before a change of this magnitude.
Councillor Geoff Meggs told BIV that the logistics behind Canada Post’s plans are questionable.
“We don’t understand how you can withdraw home delivery and put in super boxes where there is no design consideration in built neighbourhoods,” Meggs said. “Community mailboxes aren’t popular [even where neighbourhoods] were actually designed for community mailboxes.
“Our neighbourhoods were built and installed for home delivery.”
Meggs said it is not as simple as Canada Post deciding to install community mailboxes and then just coming in and doing it.
“If you allocate two spots for car sharing on a street that has busy parking, you hear about it,” Meggs said.
“The post office thinks they are just going to be able to waltz in and dump this on the sidewalk? Wrong.”
