CANADA POST
Community mailboxes nearly all in operation
All new community mailboxes should be in place by Thursday, though some still require final installation, according to Canada Post officials.
However, the union representing postal carriers and some residents are questioning the operation.
Some 14,000 addresses will lose home delivery this month after the Crown Corporation announced a nationwide program to cut costs and door-to-door service by 2018.
“By the end of ( Wednesday) all the boxes should be in,” said Canada Post spokesman John Hamilton of Medicine Hat. “Anybody where the box wasn’t ready to go, we delivered mail to the door just as all along ... The majority of homes made the switch Monday but we still had some boxes to install, so the crews have been out.”
Locally, the change has required 458 new community mailboxes to be placed in mature communities, which means finding space on road right-of-way that often extends beyond sidewalks onto residential lawns.
Finished boxes are set in the ground, on concrete bases surrounded by paving stones and, in some cases, landscape ties.
Some residents say that expedience has eclipsed common sense in box placement.
Riverside resident Robert Schmidt says his pick-up location, beside St. Patrick’s Church, is an eyesore in front of an historic building and another one nearby blocks handicapped parking.
“Thousands of people take pictures of that church and (the box) takes away from something that I think is pretty important, said Schmidt. “I’ve lived near the church all my life. I don’t go to it or anything like that ... but I feel a little bit bulldozed by Canada Post.”
He also has safety concerns, considering the amount of traffic at the busy intersection of Third Street, NE and Fifth Avenue.
Schmidt said a visit to the site would have shown a better site near the church’s parking lot.
Canada Post officials said planners with the corporation have been planning the locations for more than a year, first with site selection and then with discussions with the municipality and then residents most affected by the location.
“We’ve gone street to street looking for the best locations,” said Hamilton. “That doesn’t mean we can address every change but we’ve tried to make changes.
Hamilton also said a smaller number of boxes at each location is preferable because there is a smaller chance of litter when residents are closer to their own property.
While the program in Medicine Hat moves toward completion, the national leadership of union representing postal workers is hoping to make the issue more prominent in the federal election.
They have been critical of the Conservative Party of Canada, which has strongly backed the Canada Post program.
“A huge majority of the people ... have told us they want to keep their home mail delivery,” said Mike Palecek, president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in a recent release.
“All of the opposition parties have vowed to stop the conversion to Community Mail Boxes and keep home delivery should they be elected and the NDP has promised to restore delivery to areas which have recently lost it.”
CUPW recently toured Alberta to discuss the issue in different municipalities.