Canada Post is spending an obscene amount of money to “assess” rural mailboxes across the country under the guise of safety.

Rural residents across Muskoka are being told to move their mailboxes, in many instances to an unsafe location to the customer, in order to ensure that the company’s own mail carriers are safe.

The fact that many residents, especially the elderly, will be forced to drive greater distances to a nearby drop-off area doesn’t seem to faze the Crown corporation, which is spending upwards of $400 million to assess rural routes.

Give us a break. If you’ve got mail carriers on the ground, complaining about specific drop-off points, those are the ones that should be investigated. The idea of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to have two guys in a truck driving around the back roads of the country and checking out mailboxes is asinine and only a decision a Crown corporation could make. Will they be delivering mail in the process?

Even the union is referring to Canada Post’s response to safety complaints by some of its members as exaggerated. That could be because they too see the writing on the wall: cut back on services and save money.

The fact that some rural residents are being given three weeks to move their mailboxes is also laughable. Have you tried to hammer a stake into frozen ground?

Their timing is also impeccable. This is the time where traditionally people get the most mail in the form of Christmas cards and bills, the latter we’re sure most will agree Canada Post can keep.

If this isn’t simply about saving money, will Canada Post agree to permanently extend its hours of operation for those forced to pick up their mail, in many instances after work, at their local post office? Probably not.

Given a choice of either picking your mail up at a community building such as the local post office or getting a community mail box, we suggest the latter since it is the only sure way that some mail delivery to rural areas will continue. It may also mean fewer layoffs in the end, at least until the federal powers, in their wisdom, or lack thereof, fully deregulate the service.

T.d.V.