For those who pay regular visits to the Niverville Post Office, you will have noticed that the facility is over-crowded, to put it mildly.
The town has rapidly outgrown its post office in the last decade. Eleanor Kipe, Niv-erville Postmaster, says there are currently 1,890 postal boxes in town, with 1,015 of those located onsite at the post office. While the installation of community mailboxes in new residential developments has helped reduce pressure, 50 boxes are unfortunately still located along the outside wall of the post office.
All that is about to change.
“The space has been very tight in the Niverville Post Office for many years,” says Bernie Stahn, Canada Post’s Local Area Manager for Southeast Manitoba. “This is something we’ve been working on for probably, I’m going to say, 8 to 10 years already. And we finally got approval for the funding and we’re pretty excited about it.”
The current building is being expanded by over 1,000 square feet into the parking lot to the rear of the structure.
But the post office is getting more than just much-needed space. Once the addition is complete, the interior is going to get a makeover.
“The whole project involves the addition, new lock boxes, and a complete new counter upgrade,” Stahn says. “So it’s not just the addition. It also involves getting a whole new post office.”
While it’s not yet possible to pinpoint exact start and end dates for the construction, Stahn expects work to
continue very soon. “We would hope to be done the majority of our addition and subsequent renovation by year-end,” says Stahn.