Attack of the killer mailboxes

Sigh.

Canada Post will assess more than 800,000 rural mailboxes across the country to determine whether they meet new safety standards established by the Crown corporation. The move comes after complaints from mail-delivery drivers that many mailboxes are on blind hills or sharp corners, or in high-traffic areas. Some rural mail carriers are refusing to deliver to locations they say are unsafe. After the complaints, Canada Post consulted with the National Research Council, which examined issues such as the location of the boxes, sight lines for the drivers and the driving behaviours of Canadians. They produced a computerized checklist of safety standards that drivers will use to analyze the safety of Canada's 800,000 rural mailboxes... Ottawa, meanwhile, is promising to restore "traditional" mail delivery to rural communities, says a report. A spokesperson for Lawrence Cannon, the minister responsible for Canada Post, said Thursday the government will do whatever is needed to restore delivery to rural residents, said the Globe and Mail... Last spring, dozens of unionized drivers refused to deliver mail to rural parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, citing safety concerns. More than 200 drivers have claimed their routes are unsafe, and complained about poor road conditions and the risk of repetitive stress injuries from reaching out from their vehicles to put mail in the boxes.

Oh for the love of... The post office, recall, has a legal monopoly on the delivery of first-class mail. The justification always offered is that if competition were allowed, no one would deliver on rural routes. (Which is nonsense -- courier companies will deliver to any address in Canada, provided the price is right. But leave that to one side.) So give them a monopoly, and what happens? With the post office firmly in the grip of the Canadian Union of Prize Wusses, no one will deliver on rural routes. Well. If delivering the mail is too hazardous for Canada Post, and if the government is serious about doing "whatever is needed" to restore service on rural routes, isn't it time to send in a few daring entrepreneurs and their hand-picked teams of leathernecks to tame those unruly mailboxes? Either them or the army. MORE: Actually, the post office hasn't delivered the mail in years...

The recent loss of door-to-door service follows a trend that has occurred for more than two decades. Until June, 1985, group mailboxes had been limited to rural areas. Since then, Canada Post has been installing community boxes in new subdivisions in urban areas. Prior to that change, Mr. Caines said, only about 46 per cent of Canadian residences received service to the home.