Local residents will soon have one less place to send and receive parcels, buy stamps or mail a letter.
Canada Post this week announced that, after a 30-day public consultation period, it is closing the retail portion of the Ladner post office on the corner of Delta Street and 48 Avenue. The building will, however, still act as a letter carrier depot.
Canada Post spokesperson Anick Losier said the company has had to close other locations across the country due to a change in how people use the service. People are increasingly choosing to do business and communicate with friends and loved ones electronically, and stamps and many other products can be purchased online.
"I think it's no secret that people aren't using the post office the same way anymore," she said, adding that the company is seeing two million fewer letters a day compared to last year.
"We're just trying to be as efficient as possible."
The retail portion of the Delta Street and 48th Avenue location, which has been open for about 50 years, will remain open until April 26. After that, Pharmasave will be home to the only post office in Ladner.
"It is a sad day for the people of Ladner and the postal workers that live and work in Ladner," said Stephen Gale, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Fraser Valley West.
The closure will affect two employees, both of whom have more than 25 years with Canada Post and live in Ladner.
Losier said the employees have job security and under the collective agreement cannot be moved to a location more than 40 kilometres away.
Gale said the union is unsure at this point of where the two employees will end up.
"Canada Post management would not discuss the future of the two employees prior to issuing this notice," he said in an email to the Optimist. "What we believe should happen is that there will be a bid, by seniority, among all the retail employees in the what will now be the Surrey/Langley/Aldergrove Post Office... There is not enough work at the current postal outlets for all of the employees. They could end up working in operations instead of retail...
"This is not a happy day for us."
