Canada post rant

[Mikedezo44]

I still can't figure out why they chose this location for the superbox. There is no sidewalk and no parking allowed on this side of the street. In addition, they had to construct a small retaining wall into the sloped yard and a drop curb to allow people to access the mail box from the road. By comparison the other side of the road has sidewalk access, a level boulevard and parking allowed. Both sides of the road offer a residential flankage, so difference there. I think the homeowners on the other corner must have had more influence than our previous owners and they won the battle.

The sad part is Canada Post probably hired a consultant to tell them this was a good idea. Maybe consultant just used google earth for their professional opinion.
Kind of like the "contractors parking" spots at Home Depot, that are no bigger than their regular parking spots

 

[BigEvilDoer]

I check my mail every 15 minutes, even when I do not expect anything. I think it’s some kind of obsession.

So I need my mail at least twice a day. And sometimes I get it twice a day - expedited parcels usually delivered separately from a regular mail.

That really depends. Mail will usually arrive at a similar time 2 of out 3 days a week. Why’s that? Because of junk mail. Every route is divided into 3 sections. If you’re at the beginning of the route, you’ll get mail at the same time on average. if you’re at the end, your postie has had a junk section to deliver, which means they have to hit each and every house on that part. Slows it right down.

If you’re on a direct to house delivery route, the letter carrier will deliver packets up to 200 cubic inches - you can’t expect them to carry around big parcels etc. The parcels are delivered by a person in a van - a CUS (Combined Urban Service) driver.
’

 

[BigEvilDoer]

The sad part is Canada Post probably hired a consultant to tell them this was a good idea. Maybe consultant just used google earth for their professional opinion.
Kind of like the "contractors parking" spots at Home Depot, that are no bigger than their regular parking spots

Well, they actually have people on staff that deal with route measurement. They will calculate the most efficient route to deliver. There are also rules as to how the letter carriers with vans need to park. They do no want us crossing streets to access mail boxes. According to their systems, the location of the box was the best possible location.

But, all that being said, just about every single letter carrier modifies their route to make it more efficient and faster to deliver.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

So to comment on the whole ”Signature / Registered / etc” items.
There was an incident out west this past week where someone freaked the f**k out (rightly so) when a registered letter was delivered to his house. Addressed to, and apparently signed for by his mother, who had died several months ago. Made national news.

I was away from my route for a day, and the replacement delivered 2 passports to the community mail box - forged signatures etc. I delivered more passports on my return to the same address. They were surprised, and consequently lodged a complaint at my depot. The same carrier delivered a registered letter to another address on a different route - forged signature again…. Except, it was to a retired Canada Post union rep from our depot. She came in and raised hell.

As far as I know, the replacement carrier (with 8 years experience) is no longer with CP.. haven’t seen them since the registered letter.

 

[Baggsy]

When we got our box CP surveyed the neighborhood and gave us multiple potential locations to rank. It ended up on the street side of someone's hedge. We've tried to be good neighbors by not dumping our junk at the side of their yard. Most of the stuff blowing around is from windy paper recycling days.

 

[oioioi]

Our community box is the older style brown boxes. 3 individual boxes slapped together. A lot of the junk mail is placed in-between box 1 and box 2 or or box 2 and box 3. Some of it makes out out of it wedged spot and onto the ground.

I have seen a blue box next to the mailbox in my neighborhood. Someone, (closest neighbor) just puts it by the curb on garbage days.

 

[oioioi]

Would the Costco magazine be considered junk mail?

I would think not as it is addressed to me.

 

[Mad Mike]

Well, they actually have people on staff that deal with route measurement. They will calculate the most efficient route to deliver. There are also rules as to how the letter carriers with vans need to park. They do no want us crossing streets to access mail boxes. According to their systems, the location of the box was the best possible location.

But, all that being said, just about every single letter carrier modifies their route to make it more efficient and faster to deliver.

I remember dealing with route measurement -- they are tough! My door and mailslot were 1.5m too far from the street (Heritage Rd, Markham). The carrier asked for a route measurement and it was confirmed - I lost my postie delivery. I did get it back, but I had to install a mailbox on a post that was 1.5m closer to the road.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Our community box is the older style brown boxes. 3 individual boxes slapped together. A lot of the junk mail is placed in-between box 1 and box 2 or or box 2 and box 3. Some of it makes out out of it wedged spot and onto the ground.

I have seen a blue box next to the mailbox in my neighborhood. Someone, (closest neighbor) just puts it by the curb on garbage days.

Please, put a note on the box or something — absolutely DO NOT stuff the junk mail back into the outgoing slot. By doing this, you’re forcing the carrier to sort through it all. IF they miss a letter/bill payment/medical test/whatever it will get sent to the recycling depot never to be see again.

IF you don’t want junk mail, simply place a sticker at the front of your slot saying “NO JUNK”. You will stop receiving it.

Someone placed a blue box beside one of the community boxes (CMB) I have. It’s used by most of the people. But, guaranteed, if on Wednesday after the recycling is done and the blue box is not beside the CMB, there will be junk in the outgoing slot. Like really people… the recycling box is beside the curb 4 feet away — must be too much effort to put it back beside the CMB.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Would the Costco magazine be considered junk mail?

I would think not as it is addressed to me.

No. Anything with an address is not considered to be junk mail. It’s addressed mail - usually second class.

IF you ever get stuff that’s to your address but not for you, chances are it’s from a mailing list from a charity or whatever. Have a look at the top corner - if in the postage box it says “Personalized Mail” it’s basically addressed junk mail. Feel free to recycle it. Putting “Return to Sender” on it or writing a note on it to stop sending simply won’t work… we will take the letter back and it will go to the recycling facility.

 

[Mad Mike]

Please, put a note on the box or something — absolutely DO NOT stuff the junk mail back into the outgoing slot. By doing this, you’re forcing the carrier to sort through it all. IF they miss a letter/bill payment/medical test/whatever it will get sent to the recycling depot never to be see again.

IF you don’t want junk mail, simply place a sticker at the front of your slot saying “NO JUNK”. You will stop receiving it.

Someone placed a blue box beside one of the community boxes (CMB) I have. It’s used by most of the people. But, guaranteed, if on Wednesday after the recycling is done and the blue box is not beside the CMB, there will be junk in the outgoing slot. Like really people… the recycling box is beside the curb 4 feet away — must be too much effort to put it back beside the CMB.

What if the carrier still puts junk in your mailbox? My sign can't be missed, it hangs from the top of my box and I still get junk mail.

Frankly I dont care if the carrier has to sort unsolicited junk mail if they placed it in my box.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

What if the carrier still puts junk in your mailbox? My sign can't be missed, it hangs from the top of my box and I still get junk mail.

Frankly I dont care if the carrier has to sort unsolicited junk mail if they placed it in my box.

Put a big red dot in the middle of the front of the bottom of your box (if CMB). Or, if you have a wall mounted box, put a note on top of the lid, and one on the underside of the lid.

If you still get junk, call your local depot and complain. Supervisor will rag out the carrier for not doing as you wished.

If you’re in a CMB, again, by putting mail in the outgoing slot you’re potentially messing with a neighbour’s bill payment etc.

 

[oioioi]

No. Anything with an address is not considered to be junk mail. It’s addressed mail - usually second class.

IF you ever get stuff that’s to your address but not for you, chances are it’s from a mailing list from a charity or whatever. Have a look at the top corner - if in the postage box it says “Personalized Mail” it’s basically addressed junk mail. Feel free to recycle it. Putting “Return to Sender” on it or writing a note on it to stop sending simply won’t work… we will take the letter back and it will go to the recycling facility.

I tried the "Return to sender" method with with any mail for any of the previous home owners. Even with letters from the bank. It has not worked as I still get the random piece of mail from the same bank for the same previous home owner.

I'm going to assume that the letter carrier or CP has done their job and sent it back to the sender. But I am going to assume that the bank never followed through with the request and took the address off the mailing list. So now I just rip up those letters and recycle them. We have been here for 8 year so they can't be that important.

 

[oioioi]

Put a big red dot in the middle of the front of the bottom of your box (if CMB). Or, if you have a wall mounted box, put a note on top of the lid, and one on the underside of the lid.

If you still get junk, call your local depot and complain. Supervisor will rag out the carrier for not doing as you wished.

If you’re in a CMB, again, by putting mail in the outgoing slot you’re potentially messing with a neighbour’s bill payment etc.

Or by any of the outgoing mail that is being sent by any of the local home owners in the neighborhood.
I use the out mail slots often. My daughter has a pen pal since the start of Covid and I often send some letter.

I am finding harder to find any mail boxes in the general public areas. Unless you are near a shoppers. I get that financially it does not make sense to have them all over the place but it is sort of annoying.

 

[GreyGhost]

Or by any of the outgoing mail that is being sent by any of the local home owners in the neighborhood.
I use the out mail slots often. My daughter has a pen pal since the start of Covid and I often send some letter.

I am finding harder to find any mail boxes in the general public areas. Unless you are near a shoppers. I get that financially it does not make sense to have them all over the place but it is sort of annoying.

I think the lack of sending mailboxes is more due to security than cost of picking up mail. People have figured out that it is profitable to break them open and steal the mail. Those boxes arent cheap and stolen mail hurts trust in the system. I'm surprised they still have boxes and havent put them as through wall slots to mostly solve the risk of attack.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

I tried the "Return to sender" method with with any mail for any of the previous home owners. Even with letters from the bank. It has not worked as I still get the random piece of mail from the same bank for the same previous home owner.

I'm going to assume that the letter carrier or CP has done their job and sent it back to the sender. But I am going to assume that the bank never followed through with the request and took the address off the mailing list. So now I just rip up those letters and recycle them. We have been here for 8 year so they can't be that important.

Chances are the carrier is doing their thing and having it sent back. We put all RTS mail in a bin. Clerks go through it. Anything with “Personalized Mail” marking goes to the recycling, everything else stamped and sent to a different part of the sorting plants.

As for your bank mail, the bank just doesn’t care, unless it’s marked “Personalized Mail” and sent from a mailing list as I mentioned earlier.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

I am finding harder to find any mail boxes in the general public areas. Unless you are near a shoppers. I get that financially it does not make sense to have them all over the place but it is sort of annoying.

There are still plenty of outgoing boxes around. If you’re in an area with CMB’s, all of them have an outgoing slot. Otherwise, major intersections tend to have a box, as well as in many industrial areas.

 

[oioioi]

There are still plenty of outgoing boxes around. If you’re in an area with CMB’s, all of them have an outgoing slot. Otherwise, major intersections tend to have a box, as well as in many industrial areas.

There are plenty of CMB's around my neighbourhood and I'm well aware of them. Use them often for letters.

The regular sized one are the ones that are sometimes needed for larger items like Amazon returns etc.

 

[Malks]

Well, they actually have people on staff that deal with route measurement. They will calculate the most efficient route to deliver. There are also rules as to how the letter carriers with vans need to park. They do no want us crossing streets to access mail boxes. According to their systems, the location of the box was the best possible location.

But, all that being said, just about every single letter carrier modifies their route to make it more efficient and faster to deliver.

Well they should re-evaluate this location because the carrier, who uses their own personal vehicle in our area, must park illegally while at the box. In addition, everyone who stops on their way home to collect their mail is also required to park illegally. I would guess that the route measurement had the carrier continuing around the crescent, rather than the existing practice of making a three point turn after filling the box. As you said, each carrier will figure out the best route to follow by them self.

I have some experience with CP because both my father-in-law and brother-in-law were CP clerks at Canada Post (at locations long since closed) and my best friend is a retired letter carrier. As a teenager I worked as a temp sorting Christmas mail and my wife worked part-time as a clerk with her father at the Burnhamthorpe Station until she finished high school. Unfortunately she didn't like the job enough to go full-time. It would have been nice to have that pension added to our current retirement income.

 

[BigEvilDoer]

Well they should re-evaluate this location because the carrier, who uses their own personal vehicle in our area, must park illegally while at the box. In addition, everyone who stops on their way home to collect their mail is also required to park illegally. I would guess that the route measurement had the carrier continuing around the crescent, rather than the existing practice of making a three point turn after filling the box. As you said, each carrier will figure out the best route to follow by them self.

So, personal vehicles at CP - those are RR and SS routes. They generally Are done by people with their own vehicles, but have a sign and light on top. Very rural areas will get a carrier driving a right hand drive box on wheels.

As for parking illegally - that’s a prime example of the carrier messing around with their route to make it easier for them. If they were found parking on the wrong side of the road etc by a supervisor, that would incur a write up on their file. The route measurement people design the route so that they are always parked on the proper side of the road next to the CMB. They do not want carriers crossing roads to access the CMBs.