April 16, 2010

(Letter sent to the editor of The Halifax Chronicle Herald)

Dear Editor:

Recently Canada Post announced that it was proposing to begin moving it’s external call centre operations to an outsourced service provider starting in 2011. We understand that this has raised some concerns in Antigonish, where one of the call centres is located. We’d therefore like to clarify what we’re doing.

As a commercial Crown Corporation, Canada Post needs to ensure the long term health of the postal system. This isn’t an easy task with mail volumes and revenues both in steady decline. In order to maintain or improve service while reducing costs, we have to make tough decisions. Our current in-house call centre approach costs significantly more than industry standards and we need to make a change.

We want to reassure people that this change will be managed over time. We anticipate that the selection process for a new external service provider will be complete in time to start transferring calls in 2011. About half of the calls would remain with our in-house call centres at that time and slowly be transferred over as people leave or retire.

While other call centres in Ottawa and Edmonton will close in 2011, the Antigonish call centre will remain open and continue to be staffed by the 49 permanent call centre employees who are currently there and have job security. Our plan is to reduce our workforce through attrition and when employees move to other positions. The 11 people on contract have essentially been given 11 months notice and will remain on staff until 2011. We feel this is a fair approach to a difficult situation.

We remain committed to serving the people of Antigonish and providing good customer service. Even with the change, all customer calls will continue to be answered in Canada. It’s important that our customers get the right level of service from someone who understands where they live.

I hope that has helped provide clarity to the situation.

Denise Corra
Manager, Communications
Canada Post