CUPW canvassing to save home mail delivery

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers is canvassing to find out how P.E.I. residents feel about the impending loss of home delivery.

Canada Post announced in December the delivery would start to be phased out.

The union is asking people to sign a petition and put up a "Save Door-to-Door" sign in their window or on their lawn, said Chris Clay, CUPW Charlottetown chapter president.

Response has been overwhelmingly positive at the 300 houses they've visited so far, he said.

"We're not being turned away at the door. We're seeing a lot of public support,” Clay said.

“A lot of people don't understand why this decision was made and why the corporation's going the route that they're going. Instead of trying to strengthen their brand, they're essentially killing it. So we've seen a lot of support. Very, very rarely have we been turned away.”

Union members will canvass in Stratford this week, after Tuesday's town hall, Clay said.

Canada Post has said the changes are necessary to reduce the cost of delivery after a drop in the volume of mail.

Anxiety and opportunities

The Crown corporation also wants to know what people think about its move to away from door-to-door service toward community mailboxes.

It has posted a 40-plus page survey on its website which it wants Canadians to fill out. Questions include feedback on the design and location of community mailboxes and ways to address access concerns for seniors and people with disabilities.

The input is being used to guide decisions as the end of door-to-door delivery rolls out, said Anick Losier, Canada Post spokeswoman.

"By knowing where the clusters of areas of Canada where there's some specific concerns, then we can go back and really drill down into the data and try to understand what are the concerns, and then see if the solutions that we develop are going to fit the problem,” she said.

One of the solutions is to put community mailboxes inside a business in a neighbourhood with a high density of seniors.

The online survey will be available during the five-year roll out, said Losier.

"There's a lot of anxiety out there, but there's also a lot of opportunities for people to tell us what they think. And we are really reading these reports every day, taking a look at them, trying to incorporate them in our planning.”

For mobile device users: Should Canada Post continue door-to-door delivery?