If you’re one of those lucky Canadians to have had the privilege to become friends with your long-time mail carrier, the time is quickly coming to bid him or her a fond farewell.
Canada Post recently sent letters to St. Albert residents telling them they will be included in the second round of communities to lose door-to-door delivery and gain those charming super mailboxes. That conversion, as the Crown corporation so warmly puts it, is scheduled for next spring.
The first round was rolled out this week and includes 71,300 homes and 2,300 businesses in several communities across the country including Fort McMurray and Calgary’s east end.
If you’ve had one of those special deliverers who always seemed to go the extra distance bringing Christmas cards well after dark, or by leaving a note to tell you the parcel is around the back to keep it out of sight, count yourself lucky. Be sure to wave hello next time you see him or her. Maybe stop and say thank you. That postal carrier has likely been a part of your neighbourhood for a long time.
Maybe your grand kids will remember the friendly mail man or mail woman, much in the way you may fondly reminisce about those long-ago times in the early 1960s when milk was brought to your door in a horse-drawn cart. But times change and we are all part of it. You should ask yourself about the last time you sent a handwritten letter to anybody or put stamps on that big bundle of holiday greetings.
Compare the amount of mail you now receive to the amount you used to get a decade ago or even to the amount you get electronically. Despite a desire to hang on to the past, you don’t have to be a business grad to see the mail service no longer makes sense. In this modern world, if you want to have something delivered to your door, chances are it will be a pizza.
