Save Door-to-Door Service - Canada Post

Whenever I drive to Starbucks, I see this sign staked in the front yard of one particular house. I couldn't read the fine print at the bottom, so I was rather perplexed by the meaning of the sign - "Save door-to-door". Eh? What is that. One day I looked a bit closer and realized that the sign referred to the decision by Canada Post to eliminate door-to-door mail delivery over the next few years. They plan to replace it with community mailboxes, already a feature of rural routes and new developments. Why? Well, mainly because Canadians are sending less mail. We have email. We have electronic billing. We have paperless statements. Most of the mail that shows up in our mailbox is advertising... and maybe something from Revenue Canada.

Anyhow, I guess you can order these signs (Save door-to-door) for your window or your front yard. It's a way to indicate your support for door-to-door mail delivery. I know that their are several arguments for saving it:

• the elderly and others with mobility issues will have trouble accessing community mailboxes.
• community mailboxes aren't safe
• community mailboxes are unsightly and messy (people chuck flyers and advertisements on the ground)

I took a look at the website - www.savecanadapost.ca - because I thought there might be other arguments for saving door-to-door delivery... but there aren't.

I am a bit torn on this issue. I have had door-to-door mail delivery and it is very nice. I have also lived in an apartment building where I had to go downstairs to get my mail from a bank of mailboxes (something that would still continue after door-to-door is eliminated). I have also lived in a house where our mail is delivered to a community mailbox - down the street and around the corner.

I also wonder at some of the arguments put forward:

Security - no doubt, some community mailboxes get pried open and that's not secure. But the same can happen to the mailbox on your house. Personally, I've had small parcels delivered to my house door and left sitting out in the rain, visible for all to see. I'd much rather receive a pick-up-your-parcel-at-the-local-post-office tag.

Unsightly - is that the problem of the community mailboxes or the people who pick up their mail? I don't understand people who pick up their mail and then throw the advertisements on the ground. Who do they think is going to pick up after them. Myself, I just tuck them back in the mail slot.

Mobility - most houses in our neighbourhood have stairs - either at the front door or within the homes themselves. For sure, some people with mobility issues live in houses with stairs... but if they can negotiate the stairs and get to their vehicle, then it would seem they can probably get to their mailbox. If they are so house-bound that they can't get out to check their mail, then I wonder how they get out to buy groceries. I know a lot of seniors who live in apartments or condo complexes where their mail is delivered to banks of mailboxes in the lobbies. My mother lives in a senior's housing development where she has to walk to the main office building to collect her mail from a bank of mailboxes. Essentially a community mailbox.

I get the upset about losing something that we've had for decades. It's been a huge convenience for us... but is it essential? I also find it interesting that I've only seen one of the Save Door-to-Door signs while driving around town. I won't be posting one on my lawn... I already don't have Door-to-Door service.

And in case you think we have it bad... did you know prior to 1942, Canadians enjoyed twice-a-day mail delivery? And we got our mail on Saturdays too!! But that all changed in 1942 as the war took its toll on the number of men available for letter carrier duties. According to the Canadian Museum of History:

In May [1942], letter carrier delivery service is reduced from two deliveries to one delivery a day, six days a week. In 1945, twice-daily letter carrier service is restored "provided that such restoration will be effective gradually ... when men returning from military service are available ... [and] when the actual requirements of the public service demand the restoration of the two deliveries per day." In April 1946, two deliveries per day are resumed in residential areas. In 1951, letter carrier delivery service to residential areas is reduced from two to one calls per day. Starting 17 February 1969, Saturday delivery service in major urban centres is discontinued and a five-day week delivery service is introduced.

I can only imagine the upset in 1951 and 1969. I wonder if we had signs on our front lawns back then bemoaning the loss of twice-daily mail delivery. Or signs in our windows lamenting the loss of Saturday delivery.

As an aside... the United States Postal Service discontinued twice-daily mail delivery in 1950, but still delivers mail on Saturdays...

And the Royal Mail in Great Britain only eliminated twice-daily mail delivery about 10 years ago. They are only now toying with the idea of eliminating Saturday deliveries. They're even talking about switching from daily delivery to delivery every second day.

The times... they are a-changing... A real tragedy would be if our emails were only delivered once a day!

P.S. A good question is: Who is behind the Save-Door-to-Door campaign? No surprise - it's CUPW - the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Highly paid postal workers want to keep their jobs... and their benefits.