We may have to slug through ice and snow to get our mail in community mailboxes as Ottawa promises to end door-to-door delivery.
As a postal strike stretches on, it may only be a matter of time before we will have to venture outside in the cold to community mailboxes to get our mail.
City of Toronto officials are concerned by a plan by the federal government to eliminate Canada Post door-to-door delivery and replace the service with community mailboxes.
It is estimated up to 11,000 mail boxes will be needed to replace home delivery in Toronto. The boxes will be an eyesore for many; leading to problems with their placement in dense areas; with snowplowing and maintaining, according to a councillor.
The 55,000 postal workers have been on strike since September 21 as people and businesses suffer.
An urgent motion by Councillor Josh Matlow was considered by Council October 9 calling for City staff to approach Canada Post for more details on the mailboxes.
“It will be particularly challenging to find enough possible locations in dense, older parts of the city,” Council was told. Staff also have “to consider the aesthetic impacts on our neighbourhoods and practical concerns including accessibility, safety, traffic and snow clearing.”
Councillors are seeking the number of mailboxes and where they will be installed; the timelines for installation; designs being considered and guidelines for citing the structures.
The CUPW has ended its nationwide strike and have begun rotating strikes.
The motion asked if the City will be reimbursed for its services in upkeeping the boxes once installed. The costs include: installation, traffic management, snow clearing and litter collection.
“Implementing these new boxes poses a lot of potential issues,” Matlow said. “Further complicating matters is that Canada Post requires the boxes to be on concrete slabs and at least nine metres from an intersection.”
Some 75 percent of Canadians receive their mail through these boxes,” according to the motion. “However, they have been placed in very few dense, urban areas across the country.”
This is not the first time that community mailboxes in Toronto have been considered. In 2014, the federal government announced their intention to eliminate home delivery but due to public outrage, the plan was cancelled in 2018.
Some 55,000 postal workers who are members of CUPW went on strike last September 25.