Ottawa Citizen

Door-to-door delivery could be offered — for a monthly fee

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Some people are quite happy with Canada Post’s super-mailboxes (community mailboxes). Other people are dissatisfi­ed with the phase-out of door-to-door delivery, so there are many complaints and protests.

In order to achieve maximum satisfacti­on, Canada Post could offer an optional door-to-door subscripti­on at extra charge, say $9.99 per month.

This way, some recipients who desire door-to-door delivery will have what they want, while Canada Post will have an economical­ly sustainabl­e business in an environmen­t of declining volume of snail-mail letters. Simon Sunatori, Gatineau

Fewer deliveries

The post office has taken an arrogant and unimaginat­ive approach to mail delivery. Community boxes will imply snowcleari­ng costs and disposal of inevitably discarded “trash mail,” not even discussed, as well as the increased time and hazards for seniors particular­ly.

Why not offer mail delivery three times per week? That would vastly simplify my life as an 84-year-old senior, not to have to dress for the worst of winter weather, including anti-skid boots, risking a fall to retrieve yet another handful of pizza ads. Very little mail is that important that it must be delivered five times per week.

Anger over the positionin­g of boxes has made news recently. This has just begun, especially in older parts of Ottawa with smaller lots where space for box intrusion will become a major issue as well as the resulting traffic jams.

Entreprene­urial companies will likely evolve to pick up your mail, for a fee, transferri­ng the cost of delivery to the less mobile, instead of the post office. This is saving? Read: transferri­ng costs to customers.

What is needed is imaginatio­n, perhaps a contest with the winner of an imaginativ­e scheme getting five years of daily mail delivery. Robert Southern, Ottawa

 ?? ARYN TOOMBS/CALGARY HERALD FILES ?? Community boxes will imply snow-clearing costs and disposal of inevitably discarded ‘trash mail,’ as well as the increased time and hazards for seniors particular­ly, a reader points out.
ARYN TOOMBS/CALGARY HERALD FILES Community boxes will imply snow-clearing costs and disposal of inevitably discarded ‘trash mail,’ as well as the increased time and hazards for seniors particular­ly, a reader points out.

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