Ottawa (ON) - As of January 2013, Canada Post will begin sharing part of the costs it has previously absorbed to activate addresses for new homes and commercial properties.
This national initiative will recognize Community Mail and Parcel boxes (CMPBs) as simply part of the infrastructure installed to support the lifestyle Canadians desire in new residential developments.
As a widely embraced delivery mode for new residential and commercial developments since the 1980’s, Community Mail and Parcel boxes are highly valued by the 3.8 million households who use them (one in four Canadian households). With the growth of online shopping and increase in parcel delivery, CMPBs offer sought-after convenience and security. Each box is locked, providing greater security for important items and the added flexibility of picking up items when it is most convenient.
As part of a modern residential development’s streetscape, CMPBs are no different than roads, streetlights, and fire hydrants, or such infrastructure as storm and wastewater sewerage, and utilities such as electricity, natural gas, water, and telephone and cable. Developers routinely bear much of the cost of these installations. In a successful example of cost-sharing, developers also currently incur costs associated with the installation of mailboxes in new apartment and condominium complexes, while Canada Post incurs the cost of the locks and keys.
Canada Post will continue to bear some of the installation costs for CMPBs, in addition to all costs associated with maintaining the equipment, clearing snow and providing reliable delivery.
In the past, Canada Post has absorbed the considerable cost of installation across Canada. New residential and commercial developments add between 150,000 and 200,000 mailing addresses every year. This increases Canada Post’s costs by millions of dollars a year, for installation and other costs.
Canada Post has a mandate from the Government of Canada to be financially self-sustaining, and its operations are funded by the sale of its products and services, not by taxpayer dollars.
However, with a historic technological shift underway from physical mail to electronic communications, Canada Post is experiencing unprecedented volume declines in its core business: delivery of bills, statements and letters. In 2011, Canada Post reported its first annual financial loss in 17 years, followed by losses in the first two quarters of 2012.
The sharing of a portion of the costs of installing CMPBs is necessary to ensure that Canada Post is able to maintain the high level of service that Canadians have come to expect, while helping to ensure the corporation does not become a drain on the taxpayers of Canada.
The cost-sharing will result in a fee of $200 per address for standalone CMPBs, charged not to homeowners or home builders, but to developers. This is in keeping with how other infrastructure costs are shared by utilities and other services, public or private.
The fee will not be introduced for apartment buildings and condominiums.
