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Edmonton pilot project would see postal workers become community ambassadors

There are expected to be 8,000 jobs cut at Canada Post due to the phasing out of urban home mail delivery over the next five years.

Neither snow nor rain nor broken streetlight nor threat of pot holes would stay the postal carriers of Edmonton, should the city approve a pilot project tasking them with additional duties that would see them become something akin to community ambassadors.

At a point when groups and cities across the country are fight against losing door-to-door mail delivery, part of Canada Post’s money-saving restructuring process, Edmonton would see those carriers gifted more responsibilities.

According to QMI Agency, Edmonton’s community service committee voted this week to move forward with a motion to have Canadian Union of Postal Worker employees report issues such as pot holes and broken street lights in their neighbourhood using the city’s 311 service app.

According to the motion discussed on Monday, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers had expressed interest in the project, and would consider other responsibilities, including offering direct sale of bus passes or pet licences at residents’ homes, or doing wellness checks on vulnerable people.

“We are quite proud of the image that mail carriers have in their communities and something like this would even enhance it more,” CUPW national secretary-treasurer George Kuehnbaum told Yahoo Canada News. “I think that would be one of the reasons we would obviously support it.”

It’s not an entirely novel suggestion. Countless communities across the country have a neighbourhood watch, in which residents act as the eyes and ears on the street. Edmonton, as well as other cities, also employ a similar transit watch strategy. This strategy, however, would give government employees those same duties, and more.

In essence, the mandate would be to see postal workers remain in the communities, and expand their role of being “eyes and ears” on city streets. Instead of seeing the role relegated, it would be expanded into something larger than simply delivering the mail.

They would become caretakers for their community, ombudsmen who ensure the upkeep of their neighbourhoods and make life a little easier for those who live there.

This is not a stretch. The idea of mail carriers being a key member of a community isn’t a June Cleaver-era concept. Even today it is common to see postal workers waving happily and making small talk with those they pass by every day.

This is the service that those fighting against Canada Post’s service cuts have embraced. Since Canada Post announced they would phase out door-to-door deliveries and introduce massive community mailboxes last year, a flurry of opposition has come forward.

Communities across Canada continue to urge Canada Post to rethink their plan to replace door-to-door service with community mailboxes. There are handfuls of online petitions including this one, which has garnered more than 150,000 signatures.

My grandfather, god rest his soul, was a WW2 veteran and became a mailman. They take their work very seriously otherwise they would not brave the weather,” writes creator Susan Dixon. “My current mail carrier is also proud of the service she provides for the community. Why change something that is working well for communities across Canada?”

The move has been opposed by entire cities, including Edmonton, where council has written to Canada Post in the past and intends to do so again.

CUPW and the Canada Post have a “service expansion and innovation fund” set aside to help explore ideas that could innovate the role of postal carriers. And offering municipalities these services could end up being an additional revenue stream, though Kuehnbaum cautioned it would not be enough to solve the crunch that led Canada Post to axe door service last year.

“I’m not sure it would be the complete saviour of door-to-door delivery, but we would be very interested in testing it out and seeing what the effect was,” he said.

The “value added” pilot project, however, would not rely on keeping door-to-door service. As the Edmonton committee motion notes, Canada Post employees will still make parcel deliveries and bring mail to community mailboxes once door-to-door service is phased out.

And a major hurdle would be the Canada Post itself, who would need to sign off on giving their employees additional duties. If it gets off the ground, you can guarantee other communities will be watching to see how Edmonton’s “value added” program plays out. Who wouldn’t love to see a community ambassador walking their streets?