UWindsor Lance
Issue 34, Volume 85
March 13, 2013
Jon Liedtke

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With Canada Post’s decision to move mail sorting facilities from Walker Road to London, Ont., those seeking to use the university’s distribution services to send a letter must have materials submitted an hour and a half earlier than before.

“They’re picking our mail up at 2:30 p.m. now as opposed to 4 p.m.,” explained Lynn McLeod, manager of Distribution Services. “Everything has to be in the post office here that’s expected to go out that day by 2 p.m. so that we can prepare and get it
ready for Canada Post at 2:30 p.m.”

McLeod doesn’t believe that the change will affect mail delivery on campus but encourages those seeking to send mail to send things in early.

Several faculty members at the university, who opted to remain anonymous,
voiced concerns regarding the change of mail pickup. They said they believe it
will increase both “stress” and the likelihood that mail will be received on time.

According to Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post, the decision to move the processing of mail from Windsor to London was to “take advantage of the capacity that we have in the London plant and try one of the many moves to make our operations more efficient.”

While many of the changes at Canada Post have been “behind the scenes changes,” Hamilton added that the delivery standard will be maintained and the changes were needed due to an overall reduction in the amount of mail Canadians send.

“It’s really just with less and less mail in the system, every single year we need to continue to look at our network to ensure that we are being efficient allowing us to continue serving Canadians in a financially self-sufficient way,” said Hamilton, who
explained that mail volume dropped 25 per cent in the last five years and that there are a billion fewer letters in the system in 2012 than in 2006.

Hamilton maintains that moving away from hand sorting of mail at Walker Road will be more efficient due to “state-of-the-art equipment in places like London that can handle a higher capacity.”

While an accident on Highway 401 could potentially cause a delay in mail delivery, Hamilton explained “that kind of stuff happens from time to time and it can happen anywhere, but we have contingencies. We monitor the roads for storms and anything else that could happen and we put contingency plans in place when necessary, but there isn’t only one road that goes between the two, we have options.”

“The majority of the time the road network works well and you build in contingencies in terms of your timing so you can ensure that you’ve got enough of a buffer to make the service standards,” said Hamilton.

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Jon Liedtke was the Features and Opinions Editor, Associate News Editor, Advertising Manager and Deficit Consultant at the UWindsor Lance.