Rural residents frustrated by postal changes

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Some rural residents are facing challenges because of Canada Post’s move to change mailing addresses to match resident’s “blue sign” physical addresses, known as civic addressing.

Canada Post is implementing the change this spring, which is affecting 1,415 addresses within Wheatland County. But some rural residents say they have been adversely affected by the implementation of the program.

David Hill, a Wheatland County resident, said he received less than four weeks’ notice of the change, and that the notice itself was a difficult-to-read photocopy. He said the change in his mailing address will cost him money, as he had just purchased $420 worth of printed invoices as well as a $175 order for bank cheques, both that show his now old mailing address.

“To their credit, they (Canada Post) said they will continue to forward any mail addressed to your old box for the following year,” said Hill. “But that really doesn’t help me when I run a business and I have just spent a whole bunch of money on addressed products.”

As part of the implementation, postal boxes have also been moved for some residents.

The location of Hill’s new post box is less convenient and less safe, he said. 

“My issue is I never go by these new boxes because they’re a mile away from where I live in the wrong direction from where I travel,” he said. “They are on a major road where there are no turnarounds, so I have to do a U-turn to reach them.”

The change also reduces privacy, said Ernie Goebel, another Wheatland County resident affected by the mailing change. 

“If anybody picks up our mail, they can immediately figure out exactly where we live,” he said.

Goebel says he had issues with Canada Post making deliveries correctly in the past. But now he worries that the extra step of matching his address to his post box could result in more errors. 

“I think that makes it more difficult for whoever is delivering,” he said.