COUNTY - Municipality of Lunenburg Mayor Don Downe says he has received dozens of calls from residents who fear Canada Post is going to remove their mailboxes, particularly from seniors with limited mobility.

 "Let it be very clear that their direction is to undermine the ability to have home mail delivery," said the mayor at a July 14 council meeting.

 "Ottawa needs to understand this is something we do not support."

 The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has been notifying local customers in writing that Canada Post is going to change the way their mail is delivered.

 "They say home mailbox delivery must be changed to community mailboxes because some mailboxes in your area are unsafe to deliver to," said part of the correspondence.

 It says decisions will be made without input from customers or the people who deliver the mail, and that people should speak up now before it's too late.

 "Let's be clear. This is not all about worker health and safety. Canada Post wants to save millions of dollars, all at the expense of the workers who deliver your mail and the customers Canada Post is supposed to serve. This should not be allowed to happen. It is a matter of fairness and respect for rural communities."

 A number of councillors spoke up about the issue at the July 14 meeting.

 "Canada Post is using this … to eliminate another service from rural Canada and good God they've taken enough from us. If we don't stand up and speak out, they'll take more," said Lee Nauss.

 "Canada Post has decided to paint the country with the same brush and say there's a problem with rural mail delivery, whether it's on the 103 or some back dirt road, it's all the same from their perspective," said Frank Fawson, adding it's hard to quantify something that's called a safety risk.

 "There's an allowable risk in everything and they're setting the bar very, very low because they have an agenda to change things."

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 Martin Bell said garbage trucks,snowplows and school buses are far more apt to be involved in accidents than mail delivery people, and questioned if there had been any local incidents involving mail delivery vehicles in the past decade.

 "I'd like Canada Post to show us the statistics they have, because I can find none to support what they're upset about."

 According to a Canada Post mailout, the national rural mailbox delivery review is a result of 40 health and safety-related decisions from Labour Canada officers and more than 2,300 complaints from employees.

 "This review is not an effort to cut costs. Our primary goal is to provide the best service possible in a manner that also ensures the health and safety of our employees."

 Canada Post says mailboxes will be assessed by factors such as volume and speed of traffic, sight lines and stopping distance, legal restrictions and the position of the mail carrier's vehicle stopped on the road. "Our assessment teams will look at every possible way to maintain rural mailbox delivery."

 In some cases, customers may have to move their mailboxes just a few metres or cluster them with a neighbour's.

 "Despite our best efforts, some rural mailboxes won't meet the established safety criteria, and those customers will have the option of a community mailbox or a free postal box. Changing a customer's mode of delivery is something we consider only as a last resort, when all other options have been exhausted."

 Canada Post representatives are expected to meet in person with anyone whose mailbox does not meet the safety standards.

 "Your input plays a crucial role in this entire process," said the correspondence.

 For more information, check on-line at http://www.canadapost.ca/ruralmail, or call 1-866-501-1669.

posted on 07/21/09