By Amy Cleary | for The Pearl | Vol. 7 No. 1 (January 16, 2019)
Mount Pearl City Councillor Lucy Stoyles says she has listened to residents about the problems with Canada Post community mailboxes and has decided to act.
“We’ve had a couple of cold days, and I’ve had several phone calls from neighbours complaining about their mailboxes being frozen,” said Stoyles, who has been a tough critic of the Crown Corporation’s community mailboxes in the past. “They know the routine, they have to call and wait three days for something to be done. I’m curious to find out how much money Canada Post is saving with these community mailboxes, and I plan to be in contact with them to find out.”
Stoyles wasn’t the only member of the council to comment on Canada Post at the most recent council meeting.
“I would also like to comment on Canada Post,” said Mayor Dave Aker. “Our snow clearing takes priority because you need to plow snow from the centre of a roadway to a curb and to a sidewalk, and most of the mailboxes are located parallel to a curb or sidewalk or at a trail head. My concern isn’t with the post office boxes on a sidewalk… (Rather that) they take the snow and push it towardsthe trail head, but they block off the trail.”
According to Aker, residents have been in contact with him about Canada Post. Council has too, he added, and they are working on a solution to benefit both parties.
“I’m not saying that no snow should be going into the trail way, but we should not limit access to our residents,” said Aker.
When contacted for a response by The Pearl, Canada Post provided a written statement.
“Canada Post is responsible for the maintenance of the super mailboxes (community mailboxes),” it said. “We clear the area in front of the mailbox and should a snow plow pass after we cleaned the area, we will resend a crew to clear the site again. We are aware that there was a recent significant snowfall event in Mount Pearl. Our crews worked hard to clear the snow which proved challenging given the amount of snow that fell in a short amount of time. The clearance of sites commenced as soon as possible and was ongoing for a few days following the storm (which dumped approximately 45 cm in that region). As mentioned, Canada Post is responsible for the snow removal at community mailboxes and we take this responsibility very seriously. Should any residents have any issue with their community mailbox, they should contact us at 1-800-267-1177 and we will address the issue as quickly as possible. “
