Durham College and UOIT will be going electronic, due to the recent postage increase by Canada Post.
According to the college’s manager of facility services, Suzanne Chasse, both institutions will go electronic to help keep costs down.
“As an institution we really have to look at different ways for communicating with our students and with everybody we do send mailings to,” Chasse said. “We need to sit down and say how can we effectively communicate to people without using the postage.”
On March 31 Canada Post raised postage prices up to $1 from 63 cents for single stamps and 63 cents to 85 cents for a booklet or coil of stamps.
The college does get a discount of 10 cents on postage with being a postal meter, but even with that it will still pay 75 cents .
According to Canada Post, any oversize mail on a postal meter will now cost $1.15.
According to Chasse, about 18,000 pieces of mail are processed at the college and university on a monthly basis.
“That can go from anywhere between 32 cents for what we call ad mail, which is like a postcard, and up to items that cost $4 or $5 depending on how heavy they are and how much they weigh,” Chasse said.
She says something like a view book (a book published by the college and university outlining their programs) would be more expensive than someone’s paystub because of weight.
The increase will cost an extra $1,200 to $1,800 per month, from an average of $15,500 per month on a 10-month basis.
The cost includes both UOIT and DC, according to Chasse.
She said the average is high because in February all offer letters and T4 slips for staff go out, and in June, second and third year students get all their information for next semester.
She said about 8,000 offer letters went out for each school in the first week of February.
“In the month of February 40,000 pieces of mail were processed,” Chasse said.
April and May are the lowest mail out dates because, according to Chasse, there are no big mail-outs to students.
She said the college and university are definitely trying to save money.
