Canada Post is being shortsighted

To the editor:

Re: 'Loss of local Canada Post outlets sparks community meeting,' News, March 11.

Thank you for having a wonderful article, written by Joanna Lavoie, printed to bring public attention in regards to local post office closures.

I just wanted to say that NDP leader and Toronto-Danforth MP Jack Layton is forward thinking when he talks about livable cities and walkability, especially in the downtown core, and especially with a growing aged population, not to mention the environment and global warming.

I believe we will one day grow backward from expanding into suburbia and will have no choice but to dwell within our own communities.

Communications Manager Eugene Knapik has his points in regards to supporting the Shoppers Drug Marts takeover of a majority of independent postal outlets. However, I believe it's the desire of management at Canada Post to become more accessible by car and be more brand-image oriented. He fails to understand the idea of humanity and community.

Closing the independent non-Shoppers Drug Mart outlets that have been tried and true for decades, and trying to find replacement locations and qualified operators within the same community, is an inefficient and costly way to run business. Instead of trying to gain public support in times of ever-growing electronic mail and private courier competition, Canada Post is leading to an unforeseen detrimental outcome for all neighbourhoods and communities.

Time will tell regarding whether this is a positive and economical business decision, but I feel they just might be putting all their eggs into one mailbox.

I have lived and grown up in the Coxwell Avenue and Gerrard Street East neighbourhood for 40 years. I have known the local merchants and business managers, and would like to mention there is a history here.

There are people who reside in this neighbourhood who have contributed to and changed what the east end of Toronto is today.

The ever-changing new management at Canada Post does not know or foresee the next 40 years, nor do they seem to care about the next decade. This callous distribution of power in being called a Crown corporation, is another step in the wrong direction.

Diane Inouye