Many seniors have told Canada Post they will be physically unable to pick up their mail from community mailboxes as door-to-door service is phased out over the next five years.
Now the postal authority wants them to prove it.
In a mailout questionnaire, Canada Post is requiring seniors to provide them with medical information to determine if they are eligible for at-home mail delivery. But New Westminster Coun. Chuck Puchmayr is anxious to know how many seniors will actually receive the service and how long it will last.
“There are numerous seniors living in New Westminster and I’m sure many of them have difficulty getting to the post office boxes,” said Puchmayr, questioning the permanence of the provision. “Is this something that’s going to be in place continuously?”
Puchmayr said he feels the elimination of door-to-door mail service is wrong, echoing previous statements from New West city council. The decision by Canada Post to eliminate home delivery is an effort to save money, but he noted there are options to subsidize the national service.
He suggested postal banking, a system implemented in other countries in which the post office offers financial services that help fund mail delivery.
“To create a banking system through our postal service would more than counter the costs of the delivery of that service,” he said. “It’s a profitable service – the stamps have just skyrocketed in price.”
Puchmayr added that he fears that getting rid of the federal government’s at-home mail service will create more expensive options from private companies.
“I sense that there will be companies waiting in the wings for this to sort of play itself out, and they’ll start to provide that service at a huge cost to our seniors and our shut-ins so that they can get their mail delivered to their homes,” he said. “I just fear that it’s another step in the privatization of mail service.”
Door-to-door delivery will be nixed in 11 communities across Canada this fall, including parts of Calgary, Halifax and Ottawa. No B.C. neighbourhoods are among those 11 affected communities.
The switch to community mailboxes is scheduled for completion by 2019.
