Frustrated residents looking for answers from Canada Post

Times Reporter

 

After more than 10 days without any mail, one woman from Namaka finally became frustrated enough try to do something about it. Kim Favell lives near Namaka Lake, and said she has had ongoing issues with her carrier for close to two years. 

“It’s non-stop. This is not the first time we’ve gone through basically hell to get our mail and we’re just tired of it,” said Favell. 

Favell said every week she is getting anywhere from two to six letters that aren’t hers that she redirects back to the Post Office to be sent to the right person. She also said some of her neighbours will personally deliver mail mistakenly sent to them to the correct home. When she realized it had been 10 days since she had received any mail, she decided to call the post office. 

“That’s when I phoned the Post Office and they told me ‘oh well we just figured people would phone here to find out what’s gong on,’ ” said Favell. 

Favell questioned why the post office didn’t put up a notice at the site informing residents that their mail was not going to be delivered for a few days, and she said they still responded thinking people would phone and inquire. Some of the residents are elderly people waiting on pension cheques that they rely on. On Jan. 7, she went around the Hamlet of Namaka with a letter she had written, regarding the issue. Many people were eager to sign the petition. 

“I had no problems getting people in the Hamlet of Namaka to sign. A lot of the time I didn’t even finish my sentence, they just took the paper out of my hand and signed. So there is definitely a problem here.” 

Favell brought the letter to MP Kevin Sorenson when he was in Strathmore on Jan. 13. She wanted to hand deliver the letter and signatures so there could be no confusion and it didn’t end up lost in the mail.    

“I don’t know what else we can do to resolve this,” said Favell. 

She said in between the bad times she has spoken to the carrier and questioned why he hadn’t been there in a few days. According to Favell, his response was that if he doesn’t have gas money, he will pick up the packages from the depot and hold onto them until he does have gas to go and do his deliveries. 

“If we`re paying him to get out and do a job, that’s kind of what we expect to happen,” said Teresa Williams, spokesperson with Canada Post.

Last year Favell said she slipped and twisted muscles at the mail site because it had not been cleared of ice and snow. She complained about the site and said 10 days later the boxes had been moved in a row to face south. She had thought the Post Office had moved them, but stated when she went out with her petition on Jan. 7, she learned it was another resident who had finally gotten frustrated enough to do it himself. 

“I don’t like seeing anybody lose their job but he’s had so many chances, it’s just not acceptable anymore,” said Favell. 

Williams said she can understand some people may not get their mail due to the weather. She said it is a policy that if it’s not safe for a carrier to deliver, they should not put themselves at undue risk. 

“So if people are not getting their mail and it is because of the weather, what we would suggest they do is call the post office and say I’m coming into town tomorrow. I will pick up my mail, please hold it for me. That way the carrier will not go out with it,” said Williams. 

She said if a carrier is not able to deliver to a community box, they are supposed to notify the post office. She recommends if there is an issue with mail service, people should call 1-800-267-1177.

“I know people hate calling a 1 800 number but really that is the best source for getting issues taken care of. You can report all kinds of issues there including issues with your community mail box. That’s also the best place to call if you have not received mail delivery,” said Williams. 

“The reason we tell people to call that number is because they have the computer system to record the details. Then we can go back with that data and say ok do we have a trend here.”

By being able to find that trend they can start figuring out the pattern and finding ways to resolve the issue. Williams said if people call the post office, they will know what is going on in the post office but not necessarily what is going on in that route because they aren’t able to pull up the trends in mail disruption and complaints. For Namaka She said they will do some serious digging into the issue and try to figure out what the issue is and resolve it. A few weeks ago a Wheatland County resident was upset about their carrier going on holidays and therefore no mail being delivered over the holiday season.

“Now normally the carrier was supposed to provide a trained replacement but in this case they didn’t so Canada Post found someone before Christmas,” said Williams.  

She said the person was available for most of the days leading up to Christmas but she did have some previous engagements and they knew there were some days she wouldn’t be able to deliver. Williams said they brought in a lot of help to get her caught up before Christmas she did have some difficulties staying caught up after Christmas and Williams said she does not think the carrier was able to make it to all of her customers every day Williams she said everything is caught up and now working they way it should be She said it seems to be for the most part weather related, and that there are some areas where the roads are impassable.