‘Deserve transparency’
Dear Editor:
Many Canadians assume that when they visit a local postal outlet, it is operated directly by Canada Post. In reality, many of these locations are run by independent small businesses that provide the staff, retail space, utilities, insurance, and day-to-day customer service required to keep postal services available in their communities.
What most people do not know is how little some of these businesses are being offered in return.
Our business was approached by Canada Post to operate a postal outlet. Before we had received a finalized contract or fully reviewed the terms, equipment, signage, and infrastructure were installed in our store. The message was clear: the process was already moving forward. When the contract was finally presented, we were shocked. The compensation offered was approximately $650 per month.
After accounting for the hours required to serve postal customers, process parcels, handle administrative work, maintain compliance with Canada Post procedures, and dedicate valuable retail space to the operation, the effective compensation amounted to less than $2 per hour.
Small businesses are already struggling with rising rents, increasing wages, inflation, insurance costs and economic uncertainty. They are the backbone of many communities, creating jobs and providing essential services. Instead of supporting these businesses, arrangements like this shift costs onto them while allowing larger organizations to reduce their own expenses.
Canadians deserve transparency about how postal services are delivered and at what cost. Small business owners deserve contracts that are fair, transparent and reflective of the actual work being performed.
The issue is bigger than one store or one contract. It is about ensuring that community businesses are treated as valued partners rather than low-cost labour providers for a federally owned corporation.
If Canada Post relies on small businesses to maintain access to postal services across Canada, then those businesses should be compensated fairly and treated with respect. The public should know how these arrangements work – and policy makers should ask whether they are truly fair.
Curtis Bateman,
Keji’s Convenience, Moorefield