New postal address for rural residents

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Rural residents of Wheatland County will have new mailing addresses sometime in the new year.

Canada Post is completing the civic addressing program, an effort to match physical addresses to mailing addresses in rural areas. The changes were discussed during the Dec. 1 Wheatland County council meeting.

Currently, physical addresses in rural areas are denoted by blue/emergency signs, differing from a property’s mailing addresses. Matching these two addresses will give customers one consistent address, which Canada Post said will improve efficiency and accuracy of mail and parcel delivery. It will also help emergency responders locate and respond to emergencies.

Some residents have already received a notice from Canada Post notifying them of the change and to confirm their emergency address. As part of the change, residents will receive a new postal code and municipality name. This change will be implemented by April 29, 2021.

Across Wheatland County, 1,415 addresses are part of the initiative. The changes will be done in phases, so some residents may get address changes sooner than others. 

For now, residents will continue to use their current mailing address. Residents have one year to inform their mailers of their updated address. 

During that time, Canada Post will continue to deliver mail to the old address.