Putting a stamp on a new street
When you buy a brand new home there is a checklist of 199 items (or more) to consider, but now there are 200 more items -- dollars.
Canada Post is now attaching a $200 free to all new homes to assist in setting up the postal or mail delivery to new subdivisions.
A new home owner must factor in everything to do with constructing the bricks and mortar, and its costing (labour and building materials) as everyone is on a budget. Then, the owner must fund the opening-day necessities such as a water softener, custom blinds for the windows, shower curtains, and appliances.
In the U.S., their post service loses billions annually.
In Canada it is easy to see that with fewer people and more area to cover, our postal system also loses money (see below), and it does.
However, should Canada Post be charging to add these new clients in a new area -- a brand new street.
Wishing someone a Happy Birthday on Facebook, or seasonal greetings on other social media or email has reduced the physical volume of mail. With buying products online, parcel service numbers are on the rise.
At the same time, the mail is a necessary vital service.
It's an interesting debate. I would hope that if it is necessary to pay for a new address to be added to the system, that it could be covered by the added municipal taxes gained or subdivision development charges.
There is no such thing as a free lunch and no such thing as a free postal code.
Here is The London Free Press story:
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Canada Post to begin charging new homeowners $200 fee in 2013
By Kelly Pedro, The London Free Press
Monday, December 3, 2012
You’ll pay more for a new home in Canada next year, for — wait for it — snail mail.
Canada Post will start charging homebuilders a one-time $200 for every new home built Jan. 1, to cover the cost of installing community mail boxes and arranging delivery to them as traditional mail volume falls.
The fee — which homebuilders pass on to buyers — is simply the cost of doing business, says the Crown corporation. It argues the charge is no different than setup fees charged by utilities or cable companies.
But a watchdog group has slapped a ‘return to sender’ on that explanation, calling the fee a tax grab from Canadians and “gouging” of homebuilders.
“There’s no question, it’s a tax grab,” said Gregory Thomas, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“For $200 per household — (and) these boxes have 40 addresses — Canada Post is asking for $8,000 to install a 500-pound hunk of metal and it’s not a user fee.
“That fee is completely disproportionate to the service that’s being performed, which is taking one of their prefabricated boxes and installing it in a subdivision . . . There are better ways for Canada Post to break even than gouging homebuilders and charging $8,000 to install a mailbox.”
The fee represents only partial cost recovery, says Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton.
Not impressed? Neither is the London Home Builders’ Association, which is fighting the charge.
“New home buyers are already receiving a reduced service, so to add a cost to a reduced service just doesn’t seem right,” said association president Toby Stolee. Community mailboxes were introduced a generation ago as a cost-savings measure, rather than the door-to-door delivery older neighbourhoods still get.
“It’s not equitable or fair,” Stolee said.
The local association is encouraging homebuilders to tell their MPs they’re unhappy about the charge.
Thomas questioned how the fee got past politicians.
The answer is simple — it didn’t.
“As a Crown corporation, Canada Post operates at arm’s-length from the government and is responsible for its own operational decisions,” Brayden Akers, press secretary for Minister of State Steven Fletcher, whose portfolio includes Canada Post, said in an e-mail.
Hamilton said the fee is reasonable, especially since Canada Post has to add up to 200,000 new addresses to its network each year.
While Canada Post once ate that cost, he said it can’t afford to any longer as more Canadians abandon traditional mail.
But Stolee calls the fee arbitrary, saying there’s no provision in development charges legislation to capture that cost.
“There’s been no consultation (with the industry) and very little information,” he said.
“They haven’t even let us know how are they going to go about forcing developers to pay.”
With about 193,600 new housing starts forecast in Canada next year, that $200 fee could rake in $38.7 million.
The volume of core mail handled by Canada Post fell by 5.9% — or 207 million fewer pieces — in the first three quarters of this year, compared to last.
The corporation posted a $327-million loss last year and in its third quarter this year lost about $1 million a day.
At the same time, parcel delivery is up 7% as Canadians shift to more online shopping.
Hamilton said Canada Post needs to charge the fee — one of many changes its plans — so as not to rely on subsidies from taxpayers.
He wouldn’t say how much it costs Canada Post to install the mailboxes.
“Are we banking our future on a $200 fee per house per developers? Absolutely not. But we do look at it and say every other service and utility that is part of a new development . . . comes with some type of cost recovery or some type of fee.”
Stolee said if Canadians aren’t using traditional mail like they once did, Canada Post should change its business model to become self-sustaining.
The fee won’t be added to apartment or condominium buildings, he said, because Canada Post isn’t paying to build those mailboxes.
BY THE NUMBERS
3.8M: Addresses served by community mailboxes
1985: Year they began, to save costs
$327M: Canada Post’s loss last year
5.9%: Decline in core mail handled in first three quarters of 2012.
7%: Increase in parcel volume delivered by Canada Post
