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Update on our community mailbox
Mar. 8th, 2023 03:12 pmOn Friday, I wrote about our woes with the Canada Post community mailbox where we pick up our mail. For those of you unfamiliar with these contraptions, here is what they look like and how they're supposed to work:
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/personal/receiving/manage-mail/community-mailbox.page
I also mentioned receiving a parcel, but being unable to return the key to the parcel compartment through the mailslot, because the mail slot was in the missing Module 1. So I decided to bring the key home and stick it in an envelope together with a note explaining the situation. Over the weekend, I put the envelope in OUR mail compartment; it had an "Urgent" tag on it and the words: Mail carrier - key enclosed & please read note.
My hopes were not high but to my (pleasant) surprise, I opened the box on Monday to find a reply from Margaret-the-postie. She thanked me for returning the key. She said she wasn't sure when the new Module 1 would arrive but recommended phoning a 1-800 number at Canada Post. Which I did. It was one of those telephone trees with press 1 for this, press 2 for that, and so on; but it wasn't too long before I reached a real person who understood what I was talking about. She took down my address, phone number, e-mail etc.
Then today, lo and behold, when we went around the corner to get our mail, there was a brand spanking new Module 1 installed. In fact, it was so new that it had packing tape all down the compartments for individual households. The individual compartments had not yet been keyed - there were still holes under the tape where the locks should be. But the mail slot for outgoing mail was functional and so were the parcel compartments at the bottom. And there was a new twist.
The parcel compartments at the bottom of Module 1 each had a little mini-slot (with a proper flap in it like the outgoing mail slot) marked "Key return".
I was able to test that feature today, as there was a key in our mail compartment. The parcel was another of my delayed-due-to-ransomware-attacks Royal Mail international deliveries. So I retrieved my parcel and then deposited my key in the key-return slot.
We went for a bit of a walk in the neighbourhood and this new module seems to be quite unique. None of the other community boxes we passed had the key-return slots on their parcel compartments. Nor did I find any mention of them in a quick search of the Canada Post site.
Of course, I would still much prefer to have door-to-door delivery restored, but this seems to be a somewhat positive new development.
https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/personal/receiving/manage-mail/community-mailbox.page
I also mentioned receiving a parcel, but being unable to return the key to the parcel compartment through the mailslot, because the mail slot was in the missing Module 1. So I decided to bring the key home and stick it in an envelope together with a note explaining the situation. Over the weekend, I put the envelope in OUR mail compartment; it had an "Urgent" tag on it and the words: Mail carrier - key enclosed & please read note.
My hopes were not high but to my (pleasant) surprise, I opened the box on Monday to find a reply from Margaret-the-postie. She thanked me for returning the key. She said she wasn't sure when the new Module 1 would arrive but recommended phoning a 1-800 number at Canada Post. Which I did. It was one of those telephone trees with press 1 for this, press 2 for that, and so on; but it wasn't too long before I reached a real person who understood what I was talking about. She took down my address, phone number, e-mail etc.
Then today, lo and behold, when we went around the corner to get our mail, there was a brand spanking new Module 1 installed. In fact, it was so new that it had packing tape all down the compartments for individual households. The individual compartments had not yet been keyed - there were still holes under the tape where the locks should be. But the mail slot for outgoing mail was functional and so were the parcel compartments at the bottom. And there was a new twist.
The parcel compartments at the bottom of Module 1 each had a little mini-slot (with a proper flap in it like the outgoing mail slot) marked "Key return".
I was able to test that feature today, as there was a key in our mail compartment. The parcel was another of my delayed-due-to-ransomware-attacks Royal Mail international deliveries. So I retrieved my parcel and then deposited my key in the key-return slot.
We went for a bit of a walk in the neighbourhood and this new module seems to be quite unique. None of the other community boxes we passed had the key-return slots on their parcel compartments. Nor did I find any mention of them in a quick search of the Canada Post site.
Of course, I would still much prefer to have door-to-door delivery restored, but this seems to be a somewhat positive new development.
