Canada Post Abandoning Rural Post Offices

OTTAWA – Canada Post has shut down over 1700 rural post offices since the 1980s. In spite of a 1994 moratorium on rural closures, the shutdowns are continuing right up to the present. A new survey of 1635 mayors, reeves and band chiefs, where a post office has been closed, documents the effects on communities. While some communities saw their federally run post office replaced with a franchise outlet, 53% of communities have no postal outlet of any kind. The closures of post offices are signalled out by many respondents as “another nail in the coffin of rural Canada”. Some 24% of communities expressed very high levels of dissatisfaction with present postal service.

In the Internet era, where sending and receiving parcels has grown, and where many small business depend even more on reasonably priced, reliable, local postal service, the closing or cutting back on postal services is hurting the development of rural Canada. The survey study recommends an end to all postal outlet closures and setting up national and provincial panels to examine postal service needs.

The survey study is available for free download in English and French at http://cpaa-acmpa.ca/pub/ . The survey was carried out by John Anderson of Anderson Consulting for the Canadian Postmasters and Assistants Association (CPAA). CPAA , founded in 1902, is a national association representing more than 10,000 members consisting of 5,651 full and part-time employees and 4,558 term employees of Canada Post, particularly in rural areas.

CPAA, with Anderson Consulting, will be holding a press conference at 281 Queen Mary St., Ottawa, ON K1K 1X1 on Wednesday April 9  at 11 AM.