Post Lockout

CAPTION: Summerside’s Canadian postal workers picketed outside of the Post Office after Canada Post put lockouts into effect this morning. From left, Lois McAndrew, Dave Kirkpatrick and Gordon Perry.

Postal Lockouts changing billing systems

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

SUMMERSIDE- The city will be using different methods to ensure residents receive their utility bills after Canada Post implemented a lock out of their employees Wednesday.

Currently about one-third of the city’s residents are paying their bill automatically either through credit card or automatic withdrawal but for those without the option the city is currently looking at a delivery service, either an existing service or someone hired by the city, to mail the bills.

The city would then deliver the bills directly to the service address of the inhabitant.

The city is also looking at electronic options to get people their utility bills such as email.

After strikes from Canada Post Union employees recently, Canada Post initiated a national lock out early Monday morning.

Malcolm Millar, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer said that residents would also be able to call in and pay their bill over the phone or come into city hall to pay it.

“People can also call in for the information,” he said. “We take payments over the phone using credit cards.”

Millar said the city is can email the bill at this moment, but does not have an automated service set up.

“Right now we can make an electronic copy of the bill and attach it to an email if we have someone’s email address,” he said. “We suspect we will perhaps be able to do some of those, especially if there’s people who get their bills out of town.”

He said the way the city wants to go with the bill is to put it on the website in the future.

“We want to eventually build it into the city’s website that customers can access and go and get their billing information directly if and when they want to go get it,” he said. “That’s probably a two month process to get the programs up and running.”

Millar said in the future they were heading towards electronic billing as another form of billing anyway.

“So then this will accelerate those considerations.”

He said the city won’t be starting with any of the resolutions until at earliest Monday.

“We’ll wait for a few days to see if anything changes in the situation with Canada Post before Sunday, but we’ll start planning as though we’re starting on Monday.”

Millar said the city is going to continue to use Canada Post once the lockout is finished.

“Canada Post provides a good service and we like using their service. If it wasn’t the best service for us to be using we wouldn’t be using it anyway,” he said. “I don’t expect this to go on for the long term, if it does, the whole country’s going to change isn’t it?”

Like the city, both Eastlink and Maritime Electric will have their billing systems affected by the lockout.

Both companies are urging customers to call their customer service lines for assistance to pay their bills.