Pam Wilson is the CEO of the Association of Alberta Registry Agents. She recently wrote an opinion piece for the Edmonton Journal outlining the plight of private registry agents in Alberta.

Local agents Bud James, and Greg Lemay, who is on the board of directors for the provincial association, say things are not looking rosy.

Wilson says that almost 80 per cent of registry agents are in rural Alberta, in small communities. Lemay says these are owned and operated by local business people, and often at a loss.

The Association conducted an independent poll, and discovered that 90 per cent of rural Albertans feel that it’s important to have access to registries services in their communities.

The poll indicates that 80 per cent of rural customers are satisfied with the service they are receiving from private registry agents.

Wilson says the average private registries agent is operating at a loss of $4,000 per year.

Lemay, of Forestburg Agencies, says he thinks the losses are bigger, and that average is brought down by larger urban registries services. “I’d guess it’s more in the nature of $20-25,000.”

Private Registries agents receive a set fee per service performed, with very little leeway on how much they can collect for services.

One of the higher forms of revenue, collecting payments on overdue fines, was discontinued by the province.

“They said we were making too much profit on fines,” Lemay says.

In 2016 the Association prepared a report for the province, outlining the importance of retaining the services in small urban and rural locations, and some of the challenges of providing the services.

When the province introduced online vehicle renewals and online fine payments, in direct competition with registry agents, the Association told the province that easily processed, high volume vehicle registration renewal transactions essentially subsidize other more intricate, time consuming transactions.

James, of James Insurance Group and Hardisty Registries agrees, “With the province’s move to offer online services, the challenge then is that we are going to lose those routine, quick, and easy services that subsidize those which are harder, and that take longer. It also competes with the private registry agents for the same services.”

Over the period of a decade, from 2005 to 2015, online renewal transactions increased tenfold, from somewhere near 35,000 in 2005, to a figure approaching 350,000 in 2015, representing a lot of lost revenue for registry agents.

Private Registries Agents have not seen an increase in their portion of the fees since 2005. “In the meantime, other expenses continue to rise,” says James.