Skip to content

Editorial: Another Blow to Virden Post Office

Public bulletin board gone
Post Office
The new parcel lockers that have replaced the bulletin board.

Canada Post has delivered another insult to its customers.

By now most of you know that the bulletin board in Virden’s lock box lobby was removed, permanently we are told, to make room for parcel lockers so customers can pick up packages after hours.

Now I don’t recall hearing Virdenites clamoring for access to their parcels 24 hours a day. Maybe they did. But more likely the top brass decided this was happening across the system, damn the torpedoes.

I guess they figured that losing a public message board isn’t a big deal.

But that board has been an integral part of this community for decades. It’s where funeral notices have been posted along with fundraising events, upcoming shows, and everything of local public interest.

It’s the one place in town where everyone could learn about a recent passing, a lost dog or a found set of keys.

No longer.

As Virden resident Kel Smith opined, it’s all about “City people making decisions for country people, which isn’t exactly right.”

Nor is it the first time.

Several years ago, local post offices were told to remove all garbage bins in an attempt to force users to bring their unwanted mail home.

Then, the recycling bins vanished too.

One day, workers came with tools and removed the handy little shelf in the lobby.

You know the one - the shelf where Virden Legion members set their poppy boxes for Remembrance Day? Where residents could sign petitions on issues that affect them? Or leave a found mitten for its owner to collect?  

Where neighbours stopped to lean and chat while they sorted their mail or scanned the bulletins?

Then we learned that all Virden mail was going to Winnipeg to be sorted before delivery, including mail bound for Virden! And we were asked to believe that was all about efficiency.

Just one thing after another.

Now, they’ve put a stack of lockers where the bulletin board used to be, in response to “changing customer needs” as Canada Post said in an email to the Empire-Advance.

But how do they know their customers’ needs if they don’t even ask? I, for one, would have preferred to keep the message board, even if it had to be moved to another wall. Wouldn’t you?

Because the fact is we have no other public bulletin board in Virden unless you count the weathered, unmaintained and poorly-located plank near the Farmer’s Market.

The post office is the one place where everybody goes on a regular basis, and so it’s the natural place to have it.

What a shame Canada Post’s relationship with its communities has become nothing more than a business transaction decided by far-away suits.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks