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MERRITT HERALD FREE
TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
OFF AND RUNNING Eight-year-old Josh Kooijman (3128) from Lavington, B.C. leads the pack at the start of the five and 10-kilometre races at the 5th Annual Merritt Country Run, held Sunday at Voght Park. Earlier this year, Kooijman completed the Kilimanjaro 5K Run in Tanzania, Africa. Just behind Kooijman, and in red, is 23-year-old Tristan Sandhu from Vancouver. He is a trainer and physiotherapist with the B.C. Lions football team that is currently training in Kamloops. Sandhu, overall winner of the five-kilometre race in a sizzling 17:41, also won the race last year. Winner of the women’s 5K race was 12-year-old Chantel Jeffrey (3185) from Blind Bay, outside Salmon Arm. She completed the distance in a time of 21:35. A total of 293 participants took part in this year’s Merritt Country Run. Look for photos from the run on page 9 of this paper. There will be more pictures and a story in this Thursday’s edition of the Merritt Herald, and complete statistical results in next Tuesday’s newspaper. Ian Webster/Herald
Canada Post to downsize Merritt post office By Michael Potestio THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Canada Post has decided to downsize the Merritt post office. In a letter to city council dated May 21, Tom Creech, Canada Post officer for delivery operations communications informed them the company is introducing its new postal service centre model at the Merritt post office. The Crown corporation’s Merritt location has been on its radar for potential downsizing for over a year. Last August, Canada Post spokesperson John Caines told the Herald changes to the Merritt post office wouldn’t be considered until 2014. The letter from Creech states
Canada Post expects to have the reconfigured post office operational within the next couple of months. “Staff levels may change but no employee will lose his or her job as a result of this change,” the letter states. There are five employees who work out of the Merritt post office. “All of our most popular retail products and services will still be available. Our retail hours of operation will be Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” Creech’s letter also states. This means the post office will open a half-hour later than it does now. Canada Post spokesperson John Caines said the postal service centre model being introduced
will probably see the Merritt office eliminate one of its two counter stations. Products displayed in front of the stations will be removed from display and housed behind the counter as well. “The model is to provide for a more efficient post office,” Caines said. “A lot of times we don’t have a lot of traffic in the post offices so our people can be doing things in the back as opposed to standing out at the counters all the time because all the stuff is on display,” he said. Products sold at the post office will still be available to purchase, and employees who work at the counter will be working out of the back but have access to the front of the post office, Caines told the
Order at
Herald. The new configuration will also equip the local post office with new parcel compartment boxes set up inside the post office so that postal box customers can access their parcels without waiting in line. Kamloops area CUPW president Lara Plummer told the Herald she received notice from Canada Post regarding the planned downsizing. She said the company has asked to consult with the union regarding the changes – which is part of their collective agreement. Caines said not all post offices are being changed to a postal service centre model. “Only where it makes sense,” he said.
Caines said each post office is reviewed individually. “We look at the markets and we look at the [customer] traffic and the revenue in those offices and that’ll let us determine what we have to do going forward,” Caines said. Caines said customer traffic determines the hours of operation and whether or not a post office can be converted to a postal service centre. He said the number of packages received at a post office, the number of customers it brings in and transactions made there on a daily basis are taken into consideration.
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June 30, 2014
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