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Canada Post culling underused mailboxes in Whitehorse

Canada Post is removing a dozen mailboxes from around Whitehorse because it says they’re not getting used enough.
mailboxes

Canada Post is removing a dozen mailboxes from around Whitehorse because it says they’re not getting used enough.

In a statement to the News, Canada Post said a total of 12 boxes are being taken out of service. The mailboxes are in the downtown, industrial and Hillcrest neighbourhoods. Mailboxes are only being removed from areas where other mailboxes or a post office is located nearby.

Yellow signs on a handful of the red boxes popped up this week informing Yukoners that some boxes were going to be “removed from service so it can be placed at another site in the near future.”

“Low usage means that there is often little to no mail in a box, yet we still need to check the box every day. The decline in mail means this is unfortunately more and more a reality across the country,” spokesperson Darcia Kmet said in an email.

“Rather than have someone check an empty or near empty box every day, we make changes to focus our resources on serving customers.”

That’s not the only change residents will see when they try to mail a letter starting later this month.

“Beginning the week of June 26, residents will see a second mailbox at each of the remaining 17 sites,” Kmet said.

One mailbox will be for mail destined to postal codes within the territory and the other one will be for everything else, she said.

Having fewer mailboxes to check is supposed to help staff focus on the growing number of parcels that Canada Post deals with.

“As you may know, residents in Whitehorse are well ahead of the curve when it comes to e-commerce and Canada Post has seen a growth in parcel volumes all over the country, but in Whitehorse specifically, too,” she said.

“For the last three holiday seasons, we opened a temporary parcel pickup-up location in the downtown core.”

According to Canada Post, the Yukon has 250 existing community mailbox sites, all equipped with an outgoing mail slot.

Contact Ashley Joannou at ashleyj@yukon-news.com