ELBOW - Kathy Korbo stands behind the counter at her store, the Driftwood Studio and Gift Shop, surrounded by displays of souvenirs, toys and clothes.

She offers a key-cutting service and distributes the new phone book locally each year. There's even a hairdresser who comes in from Outlook twice a week to offer services in the back room.

"In small-town Saskatchewan, you wear lots of hats," she says.

And despite the scale on the counter and the sign indicating "Postal Services," customers sometimes don't realize that Korbo's shop is also home to the Elbow post office.

Yet it is her work for Canada Post that takes up the vast majority of Korbo's time.

"I'm not getting anything done in my store," she says. "It's impossible to expect to run another business."

Korbo announced this week that she would not renew her contract with Canada Post after its expiration on May 16.

At the end of the month, the postal counter in her Saskatchewan Street store will close. Unless another business agrees to assume those duties, the village will be without a post office come May 31.

While she says she enjoys the work and would continue it if it were financially feasible, Korbo explains that she receives less money from the postal services than when she bought the shop 15 years ago, and she can no longer afford it.

"It was costing me more money than what I was bringing in," she says. "I can't afford to subsidize Canada Post any more."

Kathy Korbo will close the Canada Post counter in her gift shop at the end of May, after 15 years of providing postal services to the village of Elbow.
(Leader photo by Joel van der Veen)

Korbo makes an average commission of 10 per cent each year, with only a slim margin of profit on most items. For example, a domestic stamp sells for 57 cents, and Korbo earns roughly 3 cents for each stamp she sells. In a good year, she says, she'll earn about $2,000 from running the store.

The corporation dictates her business hours, she says, once forcing her to apologize for closing the store half an hour early to assist her mother, who'd suffered a stroke. Canada Post also deducts her charges from her bank account automatically, sometimes leaving her in a tight financial situation.

Canada Post says they are seeking another business partner in Elbow and that there will be no interruption in mail delivery, even if stopgap measures are required, such as rerouting the mail to another nearby community.

"We are aware that the retail operator has chosen not to renew her contract," says Teresa Williams, a spokesperson representing the corporation in Alberta and Saskatchewan. "We obviously can't force people to do business with Canada Post."

Williams says other businesses are welcome to contact Canada Post to discuss taking over the office in Elbow. But so far no one has jumped at the chance.

"This whole community's kind of up in arms about it," says Tom Wilson, a local shopkeeper. "It's not a happy situation."

Wilson wrote a press release on the situation. Following a suggestion from the office of Blackstrap MP Lynne Yelich, he has also collected about 225 signatures from concerned residents, asking that "appropriate measures be undertaken by the responsible authorities to ensure [the post office's] ongoing survival and future."

"So far all we're meeting with is arrogance," says Wilson. He says Canada Post has shown no interest in a proposed public meeting to discuss the situation, but has entertained the idea of a meeting with the village council.

The thought of her village losing its postal service upsets Korbo greatly. But she is forced to pay the expenses of running the counter and can't afford to hire any part-time employees, leaving her with few options.

"I think we deserve better," says Korbo, whose mother Lorraine first opened the store in 1987 and assumed the postal duties a few years afterward.

Lisa Hutniak, director of communications for Yelich's office, says the federal government is committed to quality postal services and maintains a ban on the closure of rural post offices.

But Hutniak also says that Canada Post operates "at an arms length" from the government. She encourages local residents to share their concerns with the corporation, adding that Yelich's office will do the same.