A Burnt Islands business owner is sad an arrangement could not be found to allow Canada Post to continue operating in the community.
The Canada Post outlet at Harvey’s Grocery and Confectionary in Burnt Islands is closing—a victim, in part, of its own success.
Canada Post requires that the outlet operate 50 hours a week.
Owner Vicki Harvey says online shopping and parcel delivery has exploded since the business signed a deal with Canada Post eight years ago, and the funding arrangement for the dealership needed to be changed, but Canada Post was not willing.
She says the dealership gets a monthly supplement, which works out to less than minimum wage for the hours Canada Post expects the counter to operate. She says mail is arriving six days a week—including Sunday evenings, on holidays, and sometimes twice a day.
Harvey says all they asked for was enough of a supplement to cover a minimum wage salary for those hours but were denied. She says they don’t want to lose the outlet, but they can’t make it work economically anymore.
She says her employees cannot be expected to work for nothing, and that’s what she says Canada Post expects them to do.
Earlier Story
June 9, 2021 || Burnt Islands Canada Post to Cease Operations