Friday September 3, 2021 | LANGFORD, BC
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Back in the heat of summer, a nice stroll to the local Canada Post community mailbox included, once there, dealing with foliage overgrowth and unlevel surfaces.
In response to an inquiry by Island Social Trends, after a few weeks the overgrown foliage was trimmed back and gravel was added to areas around the large set of mailboxes to even out the surface (in the Happy Valley area of Langford).
Canada Post owns the mailboxes but whatever municipality in which the mailbox is located is responsible for the upkeep of the area around it. In this case, the parks department of the City of Langford provided the gravel and trimmed back the foliage.
As first published July 17, 2021 and updated July 30, 2021:
Community mailboxes are used by many people in Greater Victoria to receive their letter mail and parcels. For some it’s a short walk to the mailbox, for others it’s a ride by bicycle or vehicle — intentional trip or stopping on the way to or from doing other errands.
These mailboxes are supplied and maintained by Canada Post as an alternative to home delivery.
The Canada Post corporation is responsible for the area directly in front of community mailboxes to make sure they are safe and allow for unimpeded access for customers and employees, says Canada Post media relations rep, Nicole Lecompte.
Island Social Trends inquired about the maintenance around a community mailbox in the Langford area recently. A postal worker loading in mail one day said it was hard for him to close the main door to all the boxes due to foliage in the way. It’s also in the way for some people to easily access their individual mail compartment.
In this dry weather the sort of overgrown foliage could be a fire hazard if a cigarette butt or vehicle spark were to fall on it. As well, the area is poorly paved including a 6-inch drop where vehicles park alongside the mailbox.
Besides all that, the community mailbox is an eyesore in another wise popular and family-friendly neighbourhood within Langford.
Summer & winter clearing:
Lecompte says that clearing the area of overgrown vegetation during the summer months as well as clearing the area of snow and ice during the winter months is a Canada Post responsibility.
“We also maintain the community mailboxes themselves. The area of responsibility at this community mailbox location would be from the outside edge of the first community mailbox module (or concrete pad) to the outside edge of the last module (or concrete pad), and from the front of the modules to the street,” she articulates.
Foliage clearing & gravel infill:
“Outside of this area is considered municipal property and each municipality has its own by-laws with respect to city property maintenance,” the Canada Post rep told Island Social Trends this week.
Meanwhile, the local Canada Post operations team has looked into the local situation at a mailbox in Langford near the Galloping Goose Trail and will be having the community mailbox site cleared of the foliage, which is expected to be done by early next week.
The gravel area around that particular community mailbox in Langford falls outside of Canada Post’s area of responsibility, however Lecompte says the corporation acknowledges the potential safety concern and will add some compacted gravel in order to eliminate the 6-inch drop and make it level with the paved portion. Their estimate for completion of that work is within the next three weeks.
The concrete pad itself is small, seeing vehicles parking briefly in the roadway and doing U-turns as part of retrieving their household mail.
Submitting complaints to Canada Post:
Canada Post asks that residents report these types of issues by contacting their main customer service line at 1-866-607-6301 so that they can resolve the situation as quickly as possible.
Canada Post customers can also submit a service request online on the Canada Post Community Mailbox webpage. The drop-down menu of problems is quite limited: Lost, stolen or misplaced keys | Broken key or lock | Frozen lock | Snow clearance.
Other concerns can be submitted through the Canada Post Customer Support section. The Canada Post service team can answer questions about the delivery of online-shopping parcels, and help work out issues such as:
- Accessibility issues
If you’re having difficulty accessing your community mailbox because of a mobility issue, we’ll work with you to find a solution. - Litter or vandalism
If you notice garbage around your community mailbox, damage or an open compartment, call to report the issue. - Delivery status of a trackable item
- Community mailboxes
- Postage rates
- Sending and receiving mail
- Email marketing: inquiries and unsubscribing
===== Canada Post article archive (by Island Social Trends):
- Canada Post community mailbox management & municipal responsibilities (July 17, 2021)
- Post-pandemic social anxiety in dogs leads to incidents for Canada Post delivery agents (July 17, 2021)
- Canada Post employees require safety around dogs (July 12, 2021)
- Canada Post on relocating retail outlet within Westshore Town Centre (April 19, 2021)
- COVID pushes Canada Post outlet to new location in Langford (April 16, 2021)
- Canada Post: ultimate deadline Dec 18 for holiday parcels, priority, Xpresspost (December 17, 2020)
- People flocking to Canada Post for holiday season (December 11, 2020)
- Canada Post experiences continued delays with parcel deliveries during pandemic (May 26, 2020)
- Canada Post: through rain, snow, sleet, hail or pandemic (March 14, 2020)
- Senate approves back-to-work legislation to end Canada Post strikes (November 26, 2018)
- Bill C89: Senate hears from Canada Post & workers union (November 24, 2018)