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p6 weekender october 31 1987 reader resents rams thrust dear editor i was reading the article on ram in the 24 october edition of the weekender and find it difficult to take those people opposed to the supermail boxes seriously they have that typical attitude some body else gets something that i dont now i want it too whats the big deal about cros sing the street to pick up your mail people have to go to work to the hairdresser to get their brie cheese to ram meetings or whatever cant they make a quick stop at the box on the way outorback personally i find the boxes very handy what could be more convenient than having the parcels delivered rather than getting a card and having to stand in those ridiculous lines at the post office it might be easier to support the cause if ram was concerned ab out the elderly or disabled those who will be inconvenienced by the boxes why not direct their efforts towards solvng those problems or ensuring the boxes are intel ligently located rather than com plaining about something they were well aware of when they purchased their house there is no doubt the supermail boxes will save canada post and ultimately us the taxpayers sig nificant dollars it takes five mi nutes for the entire street to have mail delivered at the boxes think of the savings in manpower canadians are so damned wor ried about not getting their fair share it seems to me the govern ment has to start saving some where and if it means the house five doors up the street gets home delivery and i dont so be it so get off your butts pick up your mail and stop your complaining mitchell o smith markham ontario we love letters if you have a beef or want to pat someone on the back sit down and write a letter to the weekender deadline is noon thursday prior to publication names may be withheld on request at the discretion of the editor under no cir cumstances will anonymous letters be published the editor also reserves the right due to space requirements and in the interest of conciseness to edit letters the address is 9 heritage rd markham ontario l3p 1m3 beam doityourself central vacuum installation information save 135 or more you dont have to be a do-it-your- iu selfer to install a powerful easy-to- use plugin central 3 vacuum system jj whats more rsf well prove it v because if you can use a drill handsaw and screw driver you can install a 3inlet builtin vacuum in half a day or less and then whether your home is new or fifty years old youll find youll be installing the last vacuum youll ever have to buy oof dates times location beam representatives will be in attendance to answer all your inquiries drop by fri nov 6th 1987 500 pm830 pm sat nov 7th 1987 1000 am330 pm 500 elgin mills rd e richmond hill phone 8833325 8954577 8875847 the appliance centre jcoasumeraoas supermailboxes cited as symptom of big problems dear editor the saturday october 24 issue of the weeken der carried a front page article describing the residents against mailboxes ram fight against supermailboxes a ram spokesperson is quoted as saying we cannot sit idly by and not oppose this highhanded discriminatory and unman- dated action by the federal government with all due respect to the ram spokesperson the mulroney government was elected to reduce the rapidly increasing level of government spend ing and thus reducing postal expenditures is not an unmandated action it is indeed unfortunate that some markham residents must now suffer the indignity of walk ing a few hundred feet from their 300000 homes to a common mailbox alas when a government attempts to cut spending some people will be hurt surely we can all agree that is is better for the second wealthiest area in canada to suffer slight ly inferior postal service than for the government to cut funding in essential areas such as education and health care this is not to say that the ram lobby group is incorrect in stating that markham residents re ceive very poor service from canada post any one who has ever spent a week waiting for a letter to travel to markham from that far distant land known as toronto will realize that the post office has not yet reached maximum efficiency unfortunately in their efforts to lobby for post al service improvements ram is attacking the symptom rather than the problem itself the problem is threefold first canada post as a government owned monopoly has no real competition and thus has no incentive to improve service second even if they wanted to the post office is prohibited by law from offering other services to increase their revenue the post office has outlets in every area of the country many businesses would no doubt jump at the chance to promote their products through such a vast dealer net work if only the government would change the law and allow canada post to of fer other services as is done in britain third the very powerful postal unions are most interested in preserving their present easy way of life than they are in encouraging positive change when canada post proposed opening retail postal franchises the unions became horribly upset be cause they realized that their 13 an hour jobs could easily be done by someone earning 8 per hour the problem then is an uncompetitive over- regulated unioncontrolled postal service as a result we get lousy service the fact that many markham residents do not receive door to door delivery is therefore merely a symptom of the far greater problem as any doctor knows in order to cure a patient you must correct the actual problem rather than merely trying to alleviate the symptoms simi- larily ram is fighting a battle that is destined to fail because they are attacking the symptom lack of delivery instead of the real problem postal inefficiency if the residents of markham truly desire better service we must look beyond our own difficulties i and lobby for real change at the national level we must advocate an end to canada posts monopoly an end to canada posts limited areas of service and perhaps even outright privatiza tion to make the unions stand up and take notice i sympathize with rams cause because as a longtime resident of unionville i remember hav ing to walk to the post office to pick up our mail however let us not let our current inconveni ences cause us to lose sight of what is a far more pressing problem only if these large scale im provements are made will all markham residents be assured of door to door delivery for many years to come j douglas hoyes unionville 9 international hair beauty centre 117 main st west stouffville 6402299 i ts pre christmas specials body perm reg now four hairstylists to serve you these specials are not available with andy suntan bed specials 15 sessions 7 sessions li w fisssmahsiams