Should Canadians pay mail pickup surcharge in Point Roberts?

POINT ROBERTS (NEWS1130) – A new survey shows the vast majority of Canadians crossing into Point Roberts spend less than an hour there, buying gas and picking up mail-order items.

It’s been suggested Canadians could pay a surcharge picking up their mail, to help the small community pay for projects.

The Friends of the Point Roberts Library is half-way through its fundraising goal of $500,000, to convert an old fire hall into a library. Judy Ross is the chair of the group, and doesn’t believe a mail-collection fee levied on Canadians would work.

“It puts an onus on these parcel companies to be willing to impose and collect that fee. Some of them might be willing to do it, but I don’t think it would work unless they all did. They’d need to all charge the fee, and I doubt they’d all be willing to do that,” she explains, noting that there are about a handful of such companies in Point Roberts.

She says visiting Canadians have been very generous contributing to their cause in other ways, such as buying raffle tickets and dropping change in jars at grocery stores.

She points out people who fill up at stations close to the border are already paying a surcharge on their gas. But that money goes towards highway maintenance.