A number of the changes to Canada Post’s Publications and Unaddressed Admail services in January have caused significant problems for Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) members. Two areas in particular, have raised real issues.
The first is the change to inserts in Unaddressed Admail. The new regulations required that inserts be folded into or firmly attached to the newspaper through a common fold. CCNA’s Distribution Committee has been working with Canada Post staff to find a more workable solution. We are working on the principle that changes should only be required if Canada Post is having a problem with inserts falling out during processing instead of being applied to all.
The Committee has been impressed by Canada Post’s willingness to sit down with us and discuss this issue. We hope that Canada Post will be able to announce amendments to their policy within the next few weeks. We have also been pleased that Canada Post staff has not been enforcing the current regulations during our discussions.
The other major situation that has emerged was the requirement for a 250 threshold for mailings. There has been some confusion about when the threshold does not apply. According to our most recent information, the threshold does not apply if 50 per cent of the addresses are in local and rural areas or are going to non carrier addresses in the same of neighbouring province. A non carrier address can be identified as having an O as the second digit in the postal code.
We are currently in talks with Canada Post on this issue. CCNA needs to determine how widespread the problem is and we are asking that members who are affected by the 250 threshold requirement contact us (Phone: 1-877-305-2262; E-mail: info@ccna.ca).