Happy February!

💝February can bring freezing rain, as it is usually too cold for plain rain! This is what we've had over the years... Goodbye January: 61 cm snow!

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 Here we are! The first image is the January calendar image. I should have put it in for February, and then put February's images on it for January. The icey wonderland was pretty. Silly me!

Now, I ordered a calendar for the kids, as well as for us, but we haven't seen them since last November for JB's birthday. I realized that we aren't doing 'Christmas' anytime soon.  Things weren't looking good, so I packed up their calendar and JB sent it priority post on Jan. 6th. We sent it priority (extra $), but in hindsight, we should have sent it regular mail. 

I hoped they would at least get it by February!!! I wonder if it is COVID cases that is slowing them down. Usually we get things to Ottawa faster than this via snail mail. It's a good lesson. 

Each day, Caitlin and I check the Canada Post tracking information. We'd text back and forth, reporting progress. Each day, Canada Post would add a day. Originally, it was to arrive Tuesday, Jan. 11th. They revised it... they just added a day at a time. You have to laugh. It could just be incompetence. It's 85 km into Ottawa, but we have no desire to go into the city, at this point. JB has a cancer treatment this month. We cannot risk it.

At first it was expected Jan. 11th. Next, they changed the 'expected delivery' date. Then they stopped giving a 'expected delivery'. I submitted a query a week ago, and Canada Post promised to look into it, asking me to give it until Jan. 31st. Suddenly, after the inquiry, it was found in Toronto on  Jan. 27th. 

Jan. 31st, Caitlin texted me, suddenly it was in Ottawa, and we had an 'expected delivery' date! It was Feb. 1st. When I looked again, it'd been delivered. 

The kids have a CPU, like this one, and Caitlin had to bundle up and go out, in between working, and visit the mailbox. She sent a photo, showing that it was up on the fridge! FINALLY!

 

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Those dratted CPUs make the news again!

Update: Here is a new problem! You turn up at your mailbox unit and it isn't there!

Community mailbox mystery solved

Residents couldn't figure out where their CPU had gone! Canada Post spokeswoman Anick Losier confirmed the mailbox was taken out by a car that spun out of control overnight Saturday and slammed into the mailbox, “practically ripping it out of the ground.” Police had no record of the collision, though it is possible the accident went unreported.


They have ordered this in bulk, and they are very poor quality. You can see they are very different from the original ones, placed in the new attempt to eliminate all letter carriers.

Canada Post, wishing to pop these suckers into Canadian communities, well before their time, have ordered them in bulk from an American company. New communities, as they develop, have been getting these Community Postal Units (CPUs). The not-so-brilliant Canada Post, influenced by the previous Conservative government to cut costs at all costs, has ordered these cheap mailboxes in bulk. Previously, the mailboxes have been introduced slowly, with, presumably, good, solid boxes.

Canada Post Corporation, and its affiliate Purolator Courier Ltd.,:(2006 article)

• collected, processed and delivered 9.23 billion pieces of mail and parcels during the 1997-98 fiscal year 
• serves 35 million Canadians, 
• served 900 000+ businesses and public institutions, 
• delivers an average of 37 million pieces of mail,
• processes through 22 major plants to over 12.7 million addresses in Canada.

We've seen these boxes in suburban areas quite a bit, but the huge turnover from door-to-door by Canada Post Corp., has been terrible. About one third of Canadians still get door-to-door.
The majority of us wanted reduced delivery, not getting converted to those dreaded CPUs. It doesn't bother some of the young people, with email, Twitter and electronic devices, but many of us cannot depend upon technology. Ours goes out in a storm. And, what happens when a spouse dies? The mail doesn't come to our door, and family must figure out how to access the electronics.

Those of us in rural settings still have our mailboxes. They are prone to poisonous Wild Parsnip, ice, snow ploughs and wind, and young men with baseball bats.

What's wrong with the new CPUs?

They’ve tried hot water, wood alcohol, heated keys and de-icing solutions, but some frustrated Ottawa residents still can’t get into their community mailboxes frozen shut by last week’s freezing rain. The Citizen reports the same difficulties in Charlottetown, PEI; Saguenay, Quebec, and Oakville, in southern Ontario.

Frozen mailboxes vex Ottawa residents

Robert Bowen of Solva Drive in Nepean said he has twice been frozen out of his mailbox this year, and has used lock de-icer purchased from Canadian Tire to liberate his mail.

OTTAWACITIZEN.COM

Canada Post in modern day

What's wrong with them? Those who are physically disabled, frail, or people working nights, are colliding with neighbours as they attempt to access their mailboxes. They've been installed in stupid places, in crowded city streets, blocking the view, or clocking traffic patterns.

• They don't survive Canadian winters.
• There were many incidents of theft over Christmas.
• They are putting many people out of work.
• They are built for USA winters.
• They have outsourced to the US, when Canadians need work.

I worked for Canada Post in the summer. It was during my high school years, grades 10 - 13 (1972 - 1975). They introduced the modern Postal Code in 1971. It was in Pay and Services, firstly in the Scarborough Postal Plant in Toronto.

The History of Canada Post Corporation

• The Making of the Modern Post Office:1920-1950
• Mechanization, Technology and Postal Business: 1951 to the Present

• New France or the French Foundation:1506-1759
• Planting the Imperial Postal System in British North America: 1760-1840
• Toward Postal Reform and Self-Government: 1841-1867
• The Canadian Post Office in the New Dominion: 1868-1899
• The Post at the Beginning of "Canada’" Century": 1900-1919