Canada Post on Strike

Oh well no mail again. We've been through this scenario many times over the years!

A few years ago I was in England visiting relatives. I left one glove in my aunt's car in London. She mailed it to my aunt and uncle's house where I was staying near Manchester. The glove arrived the next day and cost less than 10 cents to mail.

Now that's service!

They get mail delivery twice a day and once on Saturday. No mail on Sunday. And they do it for very good postal rates.

Here the cost of postage goes up every year while Canada Post says they have to deal with rising costs and lower customers.

Well, yeah, in this day and age of emails, couriers, and sending money over the Internet patrons don't need to rely so much on Canada Post.

Until they got locked out last night they decided to cut mail delivery to 3 times a week. That idea is actually not too bad. Mostly all I get in the mail is junk mail and bills so getting them 5 times a week or 3 times a week doesn't affect me. Most everyone I know sends emails and letters only seem to arrive for birthdays and with Christmas cards. If cutting mail delivery back to 3 times a week of even twice a week helps Canada Post save money and get their act together and stop raising postal rates all the time then I'm all for it.

Actually we're so close to Blaine that if I'm sending packages I head to the Blaine post office along with many other British Columbians to mail them. However I rarely mail packages. Again in this day and age of gift cards that's the option many people take when it comes to buying presents.

We have a post drop off box near our house and I often see a Canada Post van show up to drop off a mail sack and pick up empty sacks inside the bin. What really irks me is the times I see the Canada Post delivery person showing up or leaving in a taxi to start/finish the route. I've talked to other people who say they've observed this in other areas of Canada - taxi service for Canada Post employees. Who do you think is paying for this?

We live in an area with door to door mail service. Many new subdivisions have mailboxes and the residents in those neighborhoods go to this central area to pick up their mail. I can see how that saves costs. If there's a hundred mail boxes in one spot that saves a mail person from walking the route. Save time, save money. I'd be all for that in our neighborhood. I have no problem walking to a centrally located mail box. The problem is someone I know says they're still on a waiting list to get a mailbox. Hunh? It seems to me Canada Post should install some more boxes? You'd think they'd build enough for all the houses in the area. I guess the problem with these new houses is that they also have basement suites and coach house suites. Instead of being one family houses they're 3 family houses so perhaps that's where the shortages come from.

When I was a kid we had a mailbox in the Canada Post building on the corner of 176A Street and 57 Ave. We were Box 165. When we wanted our mail we had to drive down to the post office, go to our box, open it with a key, and get our mail. Sometime in the late 60's door to door delivery started in Cloverdale.

So there you have it Canada Post my suggestions for saving money. Enough mail boxes to supply the neighborhood. Deliver mail 2 or 3 times a week. Cut out taxi cabs.

The Missing Mailbox

Further to my post about the mailbox in Cloverdale at the corner of 176th Street and 58th Avenue, yesterday I drove past and the mailbox is missing. Gone! Hmmm. Wonder where it is....

You'd think if Canada Post removed it, they would have replaced it. Perhaps the same person who took my slightly rusty Frosty the Snowman has helped themself to a slightly rusty mailbox.

Canada Post security?

I had to mail a letter so I walked down to the mailbox located on the corner of 176th Street and 58th Avenue today at noon. The mailbox is unlocked. The bottom part where the mail carrier unlocks it is wide open. Oddly enough some people have put their mail in here. I can see it, quite visible through the open door.

I tried to close it, but the door is in the locked position and only dropped down again. It would appear the the Canada Post carrier emptied the mailbox on Thursday December 10, closed it, locked it, but didn't ensure it was in the latched position. So eventually it dropped down. Surprised it didn't drop down while Canada Post was still there.

I decided I wanted to make sure my letter gets where its going so I walked up to the mailboxes in front of the old post office on 176A and 57th to put my letter in.

When I got home I tried to phone Canada Post to let them know about the security breach, only to get a recording that all lines are busy and to try back later. I realize its the holiday season and lots of people are probably phoning with questions about their parcels, but shouldn't Canada Post anticipate this and hire extra seasonal employees? All I could do was use their feedback form on their website and let them know about their unlocked mailbox. Someone will probably read it next week.

In the meantime anyone can come along and remove the mail inside this box.

So if you're mailing anything today, use another mailbox. The one at 176th Street and 58th Avenue in Cloverdale is not secure.

Update to getting my package of books from Canada Post

We had to pick up something at the Clover Square Village last night so I stopped back at the postal outlet at Shopper's Drug Mart to pick up my books. It was a bit after 7:30pm.

I waited in line for 5 minutes. A woman sending a package couldn't decide how she wanted to send it and got prices on just about every imaginable way of getting her package to its destination.

Finally it was my turn. The clerk scanned the bar code. My package still hadn't arrived!

However, when I returned around 8:30am this morning my package was there and I now have my books in hand.

I did email a complaint into Canada Post. There's no point for the employees to lie and give a date and time to pick up something at an outlet if they won't have it there at that time. They can write in a different date and time, say 2 days later, as it was in my case. By the time I returned home this morning I'd received an email from Canada Post. They did not know about my second visit there last night. I was told in the email that my package was available for pick up as of 6:00pm October 1. An hour and a half before I showed up at Shopper's Drug Mart only to be told my package had not arrived yet.

I don't see the point in lying to consumers.

Canada Post woes

Yesterday, September 30 2009, I arrived home to find a delivery notice from Canada Post. The Canada Post employee stopped by my house at 12:40 and I was home about an hour later. So I missed it fair and square. Can't be home all the time. I know its 4 paperback books I ordered from Chapters last week. Nothing urgent, but I'll be happy to start reading one of them soon. I kind of wondered why it wasn't just left in my mailbox, albeit sticking out a little, or else left in the gap between the storm door and the front door. I mean its 4 paperback books. How big a package can they come in?

My notice says to pick up after 1300 tomorrow. So that would make it today, Oct 1 after 1pm.
Today its raining but I took my dog, Lacy, and walked to the postal outlet in Shopper's Drug Mart at the Clover Square Village. I arrived at 2pm. The clerk looked at my card, punched the number into her computer, and said she didn't think my package was there. To her credit she went into the back room and searched and also went through some drawers behind her counter looking for it. Nope. Not there. She offered the explanation that the driver must not have dropped it off last night and suggested I phone after 7:30pm tonight and see if its shown up.

Gee, I sure hope the package does turn up. I'd hate to think its lost in action or some Canada Post employee is kicking up their feet and enjoying one of my novels.

It makes one wonder why did the Canada Post employee who left the card put on it to pick up after 1300 tomorrow if he or she was unable to meet that time frame? Like I said its raining and being outside for over half an hour and now dealing with a wet dog all for nothing is not my idea of a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Curling up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate. Now I'm talking!