Community mailboxes planned for base housing

“Our letter mail volumes have decreased considerably over the last few years, and that decline is not going stop…”

By the end of 2015, Canada Post anticipates that Residential Housing Units (RHU) associated with CFB Esquimalt will be converted from the individual mailing system to community mailbox delivery.

Andrew Graves, an advisor for Canada Post’s Communication Services, says the conversion is a result of newly emerging trends in the mailing needs of Canadian households.

“Our letter mail volumes have decreased considerably over the last few years, and that decline is not going stop as Canadians move to digital communications,” says Graves.

“Canadians sent 1.4 billion fewer letters in 2014 than they did in 2006. At the same time, we are seeing growth in our parcel volumes, but it is still not enough to compensate for the loss in our lettermail business.”

The new community mailboxes will feature individual locked compartments for each household.

These compartments are large enough to accommodate magazines without having to be rolled up as well as parcels of the same size.

Eighty per cent of parcels currently delivered by Canada Post will fit in the newly redesigned boxes.

Large parcel compartments will be located at each community mailbox station, allowing members of a household to access their packages without travelling to a post office or having them left on the doorstep.

Residents of communities converting to the new system are asked to fill out surveys early in the process to share their priorities and preferences when it comes to the conversion.

“Because every community is a little bit different, we approach each community separately,” says Graves.

“Teams across the country in every community are trained as experts to find the most suitable places for the mailboxes in a given neighborhood.”

Using this feedback, CFB Esquimalt and Canada Post worked together to develop a community mailbox plan that suits the requirements of families living in RHUs.

Some RHU residents recently received letters about community mailboxes from Canada Post.

These were sent in error.

In the coming weeks and months, residents of RHUs will receive new letters with information on the location of their community mailboxes and they will receive keys to their compartments.

Rachel Lallouz
Staff Writer