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Thorhild County to Conclude Radway Post Office Dealership Agreement
Hamlet of Radway…Thorhild County has made the difficult decision to notify Canada Post that it intends to conclude its dealership agreement as the operator of the Radway Post Office in six months. This decision comes after years of the County subsidizing the post office operations through property tax dollars collected from all County property owners.
An annual savings of over $65,000 will result from the County releasing the Radway Post Office operations back to Canada Post.
Postal services and related operating costs are the responsibility of the federal government. While unique for a municipality to operate a post office in Alberta, Thorhild County entered into a dealership agreement with Canada Post to fund the operation several years ago. However, the costs of running the post office continue to rise.
“Throughout the past few years, Council revisited and examined the rationale for a municipality to incur costs to offer a federal service,” said Reeve Joyce Pierce.
The County is budgeting $125,700 to operate the post office in 2023; $40,000 in revenue is estimated. Of the operating costs, $20,000 is used for fixed building costs – this expense would remain as the County owns the building. In addition, the revenue generated from the operation of the Post Office is forecasted to cover only 50 percent of labour costs. As such, over $65,000 would still be required to subsidize the operation even without any other expenses, such as building-related costs.
“We recognize the importance of postal services for Radway and surrounding area residents. When the County reached out to Canada Post to explore options, we were advised that submitting a notification to end the agreement would trigger further consideration for service delivery,” added Reeve Pierce. “Notifying Canada Post is the first step to moving this forward.”
The contract conclusion does not mean postal services in the Hamlet of Radway will end. During the next six-month period, Canada Post has an opportunity to seek another operator to transition into assuming post office services.
“The County is committed to assisting Canada Post in the transition process to ensure uninterrupted mail delivery to citizens using the post office.”
Thorhild County does not operate or fund other post offices. Therefore, the Radway Post Office dealership contract conclusion in six months does not affect other post offices operating within the County.