Where's my mail?

July 6, 2011 11:27 AM

Canada Post: Since the back to work legislation, Canada Post seems to be rationing my mail. What I mean is, since they resumed mail delivery, my house has not gotten more than two letters a day. My neighbors have said similar things about their mail deliveries, no one is getting more than the lightest trickle of mail. I'm waiting on a number of items that I know have been in their system for a month... What's going on?

I'm sorry if this is ChatFilter, but I can't find any information about mail service since they resumed.

My office has also gotten VERY little mail since delivery resumed. No more than a four or five letters a day, and we usually average 10-20/day.

posted by smitt to Law & Government (13 answers total)

They are most likely dealing with the backlog -- carriers can only carry so much on each route, and while your office may have avg'd 10 pieces a day, the guy next door might have only avg'd 1 a day -- but to catch up with the backlog, you'll both be getting 5/day until it's stabilized.
posted by modernnomad at 11:33 AM on July 6, 2011

Best answer: Here's a CBC News story on the subject.
posted by mcwetboy at 12:08 PM on July 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't buy the carry limit idea. At my apartment building the mail truck pulls up and the mail carrier pulls a cart into the mail room. No one carries any bags of mail anywhere. I've been getting the standard daily dose of junk mail, but just one or two pieces of letter mail per day, most of it old.

There's a reason why there's not a lot of widespread sympathy for the postal union.
posted by dodecapus at 12:35 PM on July 6, 2011

I'm experiencing the same thing. I keep expecting a pile to appear in my mailbox (including a Woody Allen DVD I'm looking forward to), but every day it's just a trickle.
posted by davebush at 12:46 PM on July 6, 2011

In Italy they burned the backlog of undelivered mail in the wake of a postal strike a few years ago.
posted by jamjam at 1:06 PM on July 6, 2011

Is it possible it's a Slowdown Strike?
posted by symbioid at 1:08 PM on July 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm seeing the same phenomenon in my apt. building. Thanks for the CBC article mcwetboy .
posted by amusem at 1:22 PM on July 6, 2011

There is a huge backlog of mail and a CP spokeman (Losier) has admitted that CP is limiting overtime. You're dealing with more mail than you get at Christmas-time, without the Christmas-time postal hours. In addition to that, many pieces of mail you might get (flyers, junk mail) may have been completely eliminated by the companies sending it for fear it would be a waste of money until everything is back in order.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 1:23 PM on July 6, 2011

It's easier to deliver flyers because it doesn't have to be sorted - your mail is likely sitting waiting to be sorted before getting into your letter carriers bag
posted by Heart_on_Sleeve at 3:48 PM on July 6, 2011

Best answer: I work for Canada Post as a "casual" worker (almost 3 years now) and I can tell you definitively that the corporation is intentionally not staffing adequately to get the millions of pieces of mail out of the system. I am number 45 on a list of 80 "casuals" who are on call at any moment and I expected I would be working full time right now, like I would at Christmas. Instead, they are barely even now letting part timers extend their hours and only just starting to offer overtime to permanent employees.

Here is the Union's position.

I have only worked one shift since we were ordered back to work a week ago. Before the strike/lockout I was working 30 hours a week. When I worked that one shift, I saw them send mail away from our plant and back to the regional hub - delaying that mail by at least a few days. Postal workers can get reprimanded for "delay of mail", yet here we have a case of the management deliberately delaying mail - for what reason? There is plenty of staff willing to do the work.
posted by smartypantz at 5:31 PM on July 6, 2011 [7 favorites]

Also there are reports across the country where letter carriers were being forced to deliver multiple sets of out dated fliers before they even handled "first class" mail. And then weren't allowed to work overtime on their own route to get the first class mail out. There's literally buckets of mail sitting at letter carrier's cases not being sorted right now because the company refuses to spend the money to get it out. They say they have lost so much money during the lockout (which they themselves implemented) but they also saved a whole lot of money in wages during that time too.
posted by smartypantz at 5:35 PM on July 6, 2011 [1 favorite]

smartypantz, that fits with what people are saying in Montreal – they're seeing junk mail but not the cheques, bills and other important stuff they need. Thanks for the view from inside.
posted by zadcat at 9:45 PM on July 6, 2011

This morning there is an article in the Toronto Star about a backlog of 40 million letters.
posted by FishBike at 8:56 AM on July 7, 2011