As the end of door-to-door mail delivery draws ever closer, at least one homeowner in Yorkton is incensed by Canada Post’s handling of the process of selecting locations for new community mailboxes.
Tisha Ford bought her home in the Heritage Heights area five years ago. She was pleased to get a corner lot on a quiet crescent. In February that changed when a representative from Canada Post showed up on her doorstep with a letter. Ford said the man was rude to her daughter.
“First of all he asked if she was the owner of the home and she said ‘no, I’m just her daughter,’ and he just basically shoved it at her and said this is your new mailbox site,” Ford explained.
She called the man and left a message.
“He called me back in the morning and we had a 20-minute discussion and I just wasn’t making any headway,” she said. “No matter what I said, he just kept saying no, that doesn’t matter to us, that’s not true. I said it’s going to devalue my property. He said no, that doesn’t happen. It doesn’t increase traffic flow, is what he told me, it doesn’t interfere with anything at all on your property.”
Still, she worries about property values, traffic flow and litter, all concerns that have been raised across the country as Canada Post phases out home delivery.
She does not understand why it could not be located on City land near the entrance to Heritage Heights Park just down the street.
She complained to the crown corporation, which began months of emails back and forth saying they were looking at her concerns.
Then, last week, she got home from work to find her lawn marked for the location of the new mailbox.
“The thing that makes me most mad, I think, is that it now seems like they were just stringing me along for months when they had no intention of ever changing the location,” Ford said.
Jon Hamilton, a spokesperson for Canada Post said that is not the case, that they explained to Ford that the location was the safest, most accessible and convenient spot for the box and tried to contact her on several occasions without success.
“This is the best site for the neighbourhood,” he said. “At this point we are proceeding with the installation.”
That became more than apparent Monday when Ford got home to find they had dug up the lawn. She said in doing so they damaged her lawn and in-ground sprinkler system.
Hamilton said Canada Post would repair any damage their workers caused.
Ford also complained to the city.
In an email Monday, Michael Eger, a planner with the Planning and Engineering department said there is not much the City can do.
“The new community mailboxes are a sole initiative by Canada Post,” Eger wrote. “They have federal Legislation that allows them to use public property for placement of mailboxes. Unfortunately, the City has no authority or legal ability to influence locations that Canada Post has chosen.”
He did say, however, that she might still have a case.
“Our records show that there is approximately two feet of publicly-owned land between the sidewalk and your property line. As it appears the new mailbox may encroach on your property, I have notified Canada Post and asked for an immediate response to your concern.”
Hamilton said that does not change the corporation’s position.
