New Dunvegan postmaster loves her new gig

Considering the size of Dunvegan, one wouldn't expect to have much trouble connecting with its postmaster.

Yet The Review spent a couple of days playing phone tag with Marion Howard, who took responsibility of the village's Canada Post outlet on Monday, January 17.

Howard now operates it six days a week from her sister's home on the north side of County Road 24 and, as she can readily attest to, there's hardly ever a dull moment.

At only three weeks into the job, she does admit there hasn't been time to practice the "one thousand and one things" that come with running a post office. But the beauty of doing it from home is that she spends her day meeting and serving the village's residents - and she can spot them coming from her kitchen window.

"Actually, I love it," she said, when asked about the new post. "There's really not much to complain about. You're in your home and you get to meet people."

The future of the outlet became unclear late last year when its former postmaster, James Joyce, notified Canada Post that he could no longer house the operation. Joyce had been doing so for the last decade in an effort to help Dunvegan maintain local services.

It was upon learning of the news that Howard decided to step up to the task.

"I went on the Canada Post website, saw the job posting and said, 'Well, I can't go terribly wrong,'" she said, adding she was ready to return to Montreal when the crown corporation invited her for an interview.

Looking back, Howard is glad she stayed in Dunvegan, where she can continue to live with her sister in a village that has been so welcoming: "It's a great place to work, and people here are just amazingly nice. Everybody around is so helpful."

For his part, Joyce is encouraging residents to stay local. Without their financial support, it's simply too easy to lose the service, the former postmaster explained.

"If people want to keep their post office, they have to support their post office," he said. "The reality is that every cent you do not spend at your neighbourhood post office is one more black mark in the decision when politicians decide to close rural post offices."

The relocated Canada Post outlet is located at 18533 County Road 24. Business hours are from Monday to Friday, 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m., and on Saturday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Canada Post pays a small fee to postmasters who house the operation in their home or business. However, as Joyce explained, the ideal candidate is someone who is already operating a business (such as a convenience store) where they don't have to pay to rent additional space.

In his case, Joyce was paying the electricity, insurance, and heat on his barn, where he operated the Dunvegan outlet for 10 years. He said it was important to maintain the service for the village, but eventually it was no longer affordable.

"These post offices give meaning to small communities and their closings have a significant impact," he said. "In Dalkeith, the people who used to be served by that post office now have to go to Glen Robertson to pick up a package.

"That's what we were trying to avoid here. We were desperately trying to ensure that we'd find a home for it, at least within the environs of Dunvegan."

For the time being, it seems that home - and its new master - has been found.