Perron post office to close?

Canada Post is proposing to shutter the Perron Street post office.

The Crown corporation gave notification on Thursday that the closure is being contemplated. A 30-day community consultation will take place before a final decision is made.

“We have not made a decision. We are proposing to close the post office,” said Anick Losier, a spokesperson for Canada Post.

She said the organization is always looking for ways to make sure the Canadian postal service is operating in the most efficient way possible.

There are four other post offices within five kilometres of the 13A Perron Street location. Those outlets are based within host businesses like Shopper’s Drug Mart and London Drugs, often with more accessible hours, Losier said.

Losier said the hope is customers will let Canada Post know how they’d be affected by a closure during the 30-day consultation to help with the decision.

The national post office network is often reviewed, Losier said.

“People are not using the postal service as they used to,” she said.

The three employees who work at the Perron location would not be laid off in the case of closure, she said. The collective agreement would be honoured and the employees can be reassigned.

“No matter what, they have job security,” Losier said.

If the post office is closed, there will be 30 days notice before the doors are shut.

Phil Legault, manager of media relations for Canada Post, said in an email customers who use post office boxes at the Perron office would have the option of moving their boxes to the depot on Carleton Drive without an address change. Alternatively, post office box customers could move to one of the other four nearby post offices with an address change but free mail redirection.

Mayor Nolan Crouse said in an email the spot the post office occupies downtown is valuable real estate.

“If the current building is shut down, it is another wonderful opportunity to revitalize our downtown consistent with DARP (Downtown Area Revitalization Plan),” Crouse wrote.

He said he is not surprised at the proposed closure “knowing what I know about the locations elsewhere in St. Albert.”

Ray Pinco of the St. Albert Historical Society said the location on Perron Street was the first dedicated post office building in St. Albert.

“That building actually was built in 1962,” he said, with an addition coming later. There were three full-time employees and one working part-time when the office opened.

Before the Perron Street post office opened, St. Albert’s postal services had been housed in a variety of places, starting at the mission and later being operated from private homes or rented spaces, Pinco said.