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

Letter carriers vs. community mail boxes

This box hangs open,
you can see how small they are!

I've always loved the post office. Not so much

the boxes, but getting mail. When we lived in Bala, we'd walk the 2km to the Post Office.

My hubby's mother worked for Canada Post in Chesterville for many years. She supported her mom and dad, as well as hubby, this way. Don't we need Canadians to have jobs?

Now we rely on our mailbox at the end of the driveway. They deliver the mail in a wee truck, driving wheel on the right. This is rural mail!

We order a lot by email. These packages often fit into our mailbox, but sometimes they come through UPS. My UPS guy is a pet, as my mom would have said. He told me a little bit about their working conditions. He delivers to our area, about an hour out of Ottawa. He has to drive back into the city at the end of the day. I asked if he had kids and he said, no. He told me their hours are too long. He often doesn't get home until 8 at night, and this is bad for families. Many families are ending up divorced. Despite UPS claiming to be a people oriented employer, it is impossible to get time off for things like kid's soccer games.

This is the way Canada Post is going to go. Private companies will rise up, employees won't have union rights, nor any bargaining power. This will take us back to the bad old days.

I've signed a petition. I think it might be slacktivism, but since CUPW is lobbying, I figured it couldn't hurt. I can't remember Canada Post asking my opinion.

Jennifer Jilks ‏@jennjilks  5m5 minutes ago

Don't let Canada Post end door to door delivery http://www.change.org/p/don-t-let-canada-post-end-door-to-door-delivery?recruiter=47118149&utm_campaign=twitter_link_action_box&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=share_petition … via @CdnChange

Rideau Ferry Postal Boxes

It's a nice shelter

What a mess

Winter is a trial

 

Then there are the men and women who will lost their jobs – from coast-to-coast.

Why weren't Canadians thoughts considered? Small businesses want daily mail. Canada Post refused to grandfather door-to-door. 

Citizens wanted to go to every-other-day services, at least, rather than nothing.

They are ticking off many people with the placement of these boxes. It is fine in a new development, but think of inner city locations and the suburbs, where there isn't space.

Vancouver

Perth

Canada Post delivers good news to Kanata woman struggling with new mailbox

OTTAWACITIZEN.COM

A Kanata woman will no longer have to ask for help to get her mail after Canada Post said Tuesday they have switched her to a box that's easier 

Another community mailbox. Another victim.

Windsor senior gets eight stitches with his mail, blames Canada Post for not removing snow
An 81-year-old Windsor man is blaming Canada Post for eight stitches around his eye. Irving McLeod said...
BLOGS.WINDSORSTAR.COM

Canada Post | National Post

news.nationalpost.com/tag/canada-post/

Union taking Canada Post to federal court over plan to end door-to-door mail ... a 'serial job killer' as hundreds protest decision to end door-to-door delivery ...

Canada Post 'superbox' battle brews in Kanata neighbourhood

OTTAWACITIZEN.COM

The conversion from door-to-door mail delivery is not going smoothly in one Kanata neighbourhood where some residents say Canada Post is ignoring their suggestions about the placement of the street...




Olivia Chow decries Canada Post cuts as ‘destroying’ mail services while Justin Trudeau slams timing









'These job-killing and service-cutting measures will isolate seniors, the poor and the disabled living in urban areas,' Olivia Chow said