Nanaimo residents posting letters will notice some operational changes in September.
Starting Sept. 16, Canada Post is processing all Island mail in Vancouver.
During peak periods, this means roughly one piece of mail per seven Island residents – or 100,000 pieces of mail per day – will be processed in Vancouver instead of Victoria, an amount that can be processed in less than three hours using Vancouver equipment.
A Canada Post news release states that delivery standards for local-to-local mail will remain at two days; the difference for local residents is that people will deposit their letters into a single box instead of two.
The Victoria facility will remain open and will focus on incoming parcels and direct marketing mail. All current employees will continue to work there.
Canadians are sending one billion fewer letters a year than in 2006 and Canada Post, which has been financially self-sufficient since the late 1980s, must find ways to adapt itself to this new reality. The Vancouver facility can handle Island mail volumes easily and Canada Post already has a network of delivery vehicles coming to and from the Island several times a day, so no extra vehicles will be required.