Today, Canada Post announced the phasing out of its door-to-door delivery service by 2019. With the corporation losing $100s of millions a year and facing a $1 billion deficit by 2020, something had to give. In addition to a bump in stamp prices, door-to-door delivery was deemed too expensive to continue.
So, they are phasing it out.
I’m not sure I’ll notice too much. I do look forward to receiving some of my magazines in the mail, but increasingly, I’m getting these in electronic form. The Holiday Season is the one time I do eagerly check the mailbox adjacent to my front door. It’s Christmas cards I’m looking forward to finding in it. The bills? The junk mail? We’ll, I can do without them anyway…
Mail volume has declined precipitously over the past few years, but it certainly is nice to have it arrive at my door. It’s convenient.
For some, however, it is more than nice. It is more than convenient. It is a matter of accessibility.
There are many questions people with disabilities and mobility challenges (including seniors) will be asking when it comes to the loss of door-to-door mail service. Will the new community mailboxes be located in readily accessible locations? Will the community mailboxes themselves be accessible? Will they be secure?
Many people living outside of urban centres already have community mailbox service. If anyone has experienced challenges or accessibility issues with them, we’d love to hear about it.
For those of you who will be losing your door-to-door mail delivery service, what do you think it? What concerns you about it? Canada Post needs to know.
