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How Canada Post can deliver community power to the new green economy

You likely haven’t set foot in a post office in a while. Well, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and the peeps behind the Leap Manifesto have been jamming on how to turn more than 6,300 Canada Post locations across the country into community hubs for the next economy. Here are a few ideas they’ve been kicking around at deliveringcommunitypower.ca

Our greenest, most accessible bank

Imagine a bank owned by the people. Until 1968, Canada Post offered banking services in Canada. Postal services in the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland and Japan still do. Why not use post offices to help bring everyday financial services to all Canadians, including remote low-income indigenous communities that don’t have local bank branches? Not to mention the more than two million Canadians every year who pay crippling interest rates to payday loan companies. Post offices could also offer affordable green-power grants and cost-saving retrofit loans. We’d be richer than we think. 

Farm-to-table food delivery – and eldercare

Japan has done amazing things with its postal service, expanding its network to deliver food and check in on older citizens and those with limited mobility. France’s and Australia’s postal fleets connect farmers and local businesses to customers by delivering fresh and frozen food. CUPW wants to start doing the same by bringing farm-fresh local food right to your door, all while offering home visits to Canada’s aging population.

Leading the electric charge

With the largest public vehicle fleet in the country, it makes sense for Canada Post to lead the way to a new green economy by transitioning to an electric fleet, the way Norway did. While we’re at it, federal infrastructure dollars could add electric charging stations to every post office and depot, building much-needed infrastructure for e-vehicles and encouraging the public to get in on the e-car action.

Get more Ecoholic here.

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