Canada Post's phasing out of home mail delivery

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by umbria27

I too prefer Canada Post for parcel delivery, mostly because they are cheaper including generally having lower broker fees, but their advantage disappears as soon as they no longer deliver to my door.

You're right too about the remote depots if a courier misses you at home, but this is rarely a problem for me since my spouse and I both both work from home 80% of the time, so we rarely miss the courier.

If I'm not home for Canada Post, the parcel is kept at the local post office in the Shoppers. I walk there nearly every day anyway, so that's great. This network of local Post Offices is a fantastic competitive differentiation for them. If Canada Post can contrive to send me an email when mail arrives telling me the sender, I'd be happy to come to the post office to pick it up, but don't make me come every day to see if there's anything worth picking up.

I work for CPC.

You might want to try a new service called FlexDelivery, which has capabilities very similar to what you were describing. You can have an item directly sent to a post office, and you will receive an e-mail when it has arrived.

It is in something of a "beta" and has not been officially launched yet, but it is available for anyone to sign up:

www.canadapost.ca/FlexDelivery

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I work for CPC.

You might want to try a new service called FlexDelivery, which has capabilities very similar to what you were describing. You can have an item directly sent to a post office, and you will receive an e-mail when it has arrived.

It is in something of a "beta" and has not been officially launched yet, but it is available for anyone to sign up:

www.canadapost.ca/FlexDelivery

I just wish I could get an email/text when I get mail in the superbox, since I tend to only get mail 1 or 2 days a week. CP already has tracking for packages and OCR software for mail, so this should be theoretically possible.

[umbria27]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I work for CPC.

You might want to try a new service called FlexDelivery, which has capabilities very similar to what you were describing. You can have an item directly sent to a post office, and you will receive an e-mail when it has arrived.

It is in something of a "beta" and has not been officially launched yet, but it is available for anyone to sign up:

www.canadapost.ca/FlexDelivery

Thanks Brad, I'll check it out.
As someone else has noted, we really need notification for letter mail too, since letters are relatively rare now.

[Cre47]

Any areas in Gatineau that will lose door to door soon? Most of the suburban-ish like areas already have street boxes. Still if the Grits would win in 2015, I hope they would reverse the changes (not for me but for the seniors, disabled, etc)

[DEWLine]

I'd prefer the changes were reversed nation-wide with everyone getting delivery to the door as used to be the rule.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

I'd prefer the changes were reversed nation-wide with everyone getting delivery to the door as used to be the rule.

Yes, I'd like that, but with mail delivery reduced to 3 days a week. Something's gotta give at CP, and I think a reduced workweek is the best bet.

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Yes, I'd like that, but with mail delivery reduced to 3 days a week. Something's gotta give at CP, and I think a reduced workweek is the best bet.

Although I will miss the service, I see the positive of having a locked compartment for them to put packages in. More and more of what I get from Canada Post doesn't fit in my mailbox and is left on my doorstep. Usually Amazon.

[HighwayStar]

Originally Posted by Catenary

Although I will miss the service, I see the positive of having a locked compartment for them to put packages in. More and more of what I get from Canada Post doesn't fit in my mailbox and is left on my doorstep. Usually Amazon.

or worse... usually they won't leave packages on my doorstep and I have to trudge down to my local post office and wait in line for 20 minutes to retrieve it.

[MoreTrains]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

I'd prefer the changes were reversed nation-wide with everyone getting delivery to the door as used to be the rule.

From 1990- present day; From when I moved from Germany to Kingston. I have not once recieved any door delivery from CP. I have always, since 1990 had a communal mailbox that I had to get my mail from. So I would not say that everyone used to get door delivery. Only since I moved to a location in Ottawa did I get any door delivery.

Personally, the communal system makes more sense. You can send mail from there and pick up regular mail and also pick up boxes of certain sizes in the oversized cubbies. It also reduces man hours and makes for greater efficiency.

And doing door to door every other day is not possible as the mail must be delivered. Canada Post must deliver mail every business day to stay competitive with private couriers.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by HighwayStar

or worse... usually they won't leave packages on my doorstep and I have to trudge down to my local post office and wait in line for 20 minutes to retrieve it.

And present proof of address along with your identity because the delivery notice doesn't stand as proof of address!

[gjhall]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

I work for CPC.

You might want to try a new service called FlexDelivery, which has capabilities very similar to what you were describing. You can have an item directly sent to a post office, and you will receive an e-mail when it has arrived.

It is in something of a "beta" and has not been officially launched yet, but it is available for anyone to sign up:

www.canadapost.ca/FlexDelivery

Do you know if there is any plan to make all the mail come this way?

I'd much prefer to just pick it all up at the post office than at a community box.

Seems like a good business opportunity for small stores as well. Could be an opportunity with the new local commercial zoning in residential areas to boot.

[harls]

I get important mail probably 2 days out of the week now. A lot of the time it's just junk mail or pizza coupons. I feel sorry for those guys that have to deliver just a wad of crap up some snow-filled driveway.

[rocketphish]

Thieves crack Canada Post 'superboxes' in Surrey, B.C.

Josh Elliott, CTVNews.ca
Published Sunday, February 8, 2015 2:34PM EST

The end of Canada Post's door-to-door service has introduced a new problem in Surrey, B.C.: a rise in community mailbox break-ins.

Thieves have apparently figured out how to break into Canada Post's supposedly high-security "superboxes," leaving residents' mail vulnerable.

Surrey resident Julie Parker says her community mailbox has been broken into three times since autumn, with the latest break-in coming on Wednesday. The multi-compartment mailbox was still broken and taped up on Saturday.

"It's terrifying for some people, especially the older people in our community," Parker told CTV Vancouver on Saturday.

She said she plans to buy a separate, private mailbox so her personal information will not be stolen.

Tim Armstrong, of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, says he's seen a rise in the number of community mailbox break-ins recently in the B.C. area.

"It's been an epidemic in B.C., especially the Lower Mainland," Armstrong told CTV Vancouver.

"We think It will continue and it will get worse," he added. "Thieves are ingenious."

Canada Post spokesperson Jon Hamilton says the organization is "working closely with police" to help investigate the break-ins and prevent future ones.

Canada Post has begun replacing its broken "superboxes" with new designs, but thieves have apparently found ways to break into those, too.

Armstrong says door-to-door mail delivery is still the safest way to keep people's personal information out of the hands of would-be thieves.

Canada Post began eliminating door-to-door mail delivery last year. The organization plans to replace its home-delivery service with community mailboxes in a gradual rollout over a five-year period.

About one-third of Canadians relied on door-to-door delivery before Canada Post began the transition to community mailboxes.

Video

With files from CTV Vancouver

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/thieves...-b-c-1.2226329

[Catenary]

I really don't see how putting all the mail in one place in locked boxes is less secure than spreading the mail out and leaving it in individual unsecured boxes at each house. The only issue I can see is if parcels that would normally get a door notice are left in the boxes instead.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by harls

I get important mail probably 2 days out of the week now. A lot of the time it's just junk mail or pizza coupons. I feel sorry for those guys that have to deliver just a wad of crap up some snow-filled driveway.

I could live with mail 2 or 3 days a week. Other than bills and the occasional magazine we don't get much in the way of personal mail. I find some days it seems like we get 2 or 3 days worth of mail and then nothing for a day or two which makes me think we don't actually get delivery every day.

Canada Post in many ways have created this problem. Their reliability is low which causes people to not use Canada Post as much which causes them to raise prices which creates more drop off in utilization. The union vigilence in keeping jobs that are not all required also causes the costs to be high etc. Other than the fact that staff have to do the job in all weathers it isn't brain surgery in terms of work description and I don't feel is a high stress job.

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by Proof Sheet

I could live with mail 2 or 3 days a week. Other than bills and the occasional magazine we don't get much in the way of personal mail. I find some days it seems like we get 2 or 3 days worth of mail and then nothing for a day or two which makes me think we don't actually get delivery every day.

Canada Post in many ways have created this problem. Their reliability is low which causes people to not use Canada Post as much which causes them to raise prices which creates more drop off in utilization. The union vigilence in keeping jobs that are not all required also causes the costs to be high etc. Other than the fact that staff have to do the job in all weathers it isn't brain surgery in terms of work description and I don't feel is a high stress job.

Actually, their usage is low mostly because of new tech (e.g. email). There really isn't that much reason to send a letter anymore. No other company has the resources, or the will, to do what Canada Post does, nor do they need to. Canada Post needs to deliver to ever address in Canada, which tacks on high costs in remote locations, which gets lumped in with the rest of the costs.

It might not be a high stress job, but again, there is literally no other service like it in Canada, nor will there ever be while Canada Post operates. If Canada Post was never created, we would have probably had community mail boxes from the beginning.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by gjhall

Do you know if there is any plan to make all the mail come this way?

I'd much prefer to just pick it all up at the post office than at a community box.

Seems like a good business opportunity for small stores as well. Could be an opportunity with the new local commercial zoning in residential areas to boot.

No, there is not such a plan as far as I'm aware. But if you would like your mail to come this way you can always rent a PO box.

[DEWLine]

If you want to go to a post office rather than a community mailbox on a corner or along a bike path, you'd better have more venues for those little outlets scattered throughout the cities.

Otherwise, my suggestion to restore delivery-to-the-door stands.

[Postmaster]

I'm a Postman in the Alta Vista area and my route is completely door-to-door. I don't know if folks have noticed, but Canada Post has been turning a profit for the past 2 quarters. I imagine that would be enough to warrant keeping DtD for the time being.

I get all my info through the news much like everyone else, but the only chance of stopping the CMB from supplanting door-to-door would be the Liberals or NDP being elected. I would doubt they could reverse the system back due to logistical reasons, but they might decide to stop spreading CMBs for the time being.

That's just my estimate, they don't tell us much.

[1overcosc]

They have been remarkably slow coming up with timelines for many areas. Kingston for example has not yet seen any DTD phase out plans anywhere in the city yet. I do wonder if they're starting to stall on purpose.