House Delivery Starts Switching To Corner Box Delivery Today

Starting today in Oakville, Ontario, Canada Post no longer delivers directly to residential homes. All residents have to pick up their mail at their local corner boxes.

We live in the country, so still have the option of home delivery. BUT they moved our mailbox down the street (clumping several together) so we have to be on the look out for dump trucks (heading to the aggregate yard up the road) and speeding commuters. No sidewalks, of course.

BlackJag Excellent news. For four reasons. (1) home delivery is an obsolete extravagance. (2)we want a profitable Canada Post. (3) people need the exercise. (4) better mail security (now everyone gets a locked post office box).

I saw my first 'cluster boxes' in California in 1981. The local luxury-home real estate developers could not believe their ears when the local postmaster said "If you don't believe me, go ahead, put mail slots in the front doors of the houses; the home buyers will be suing you, not me. But, from now on, in my zip codes, mail gets delivered to street corners, period."

The bosses back in DC loved this guy; he had the guts they dreamed about.

I understand that one of the earliest appearances of street-corner 'cluster boxes' was in Columbia, Maryland, in the 1960s; but that was from an (unreliable) eyewitness.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

That still happens to be offered by UPS, Fedex and other private carriers.

Here's a laugh. It's usually people in the US that complain about using products made in other countries, including Canada. Now it seems that Canada has a similar complaint, as their new cluster boxes are made in Kansas (USA)!




https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dai...1633357.html

I wonder how long it will be before corner delivery starts in the suburbs. I am putting off buying that new mailbox post.


-IBFS

I have never lived in an area served by cluster box delivery.

How are items too large for a cluster box, or items that require a signature upon delivery handled?

Is a notice left to pick the item up at the post office, or does the carrier take the item to the house for delivery or signature?

Don

My daughter lived in a trailer park for a few years back in the eighties. Mail that would not fit in the cluster box in that case was delivered to the office. The person in the office would sign for receiving it, and upon pick up the recipient would have to sign.

Peter

I've lived in apartments and condos with cluster boxes for years. The typical cluster box looks like this:



Although they can be marked in multiple ways, each resident gets one box and a unique key to their box (They try not to coordinate the box number with the unit number for security reasons.) If an oversized parcel is delivered, it typically gets inserted into one of the large "parcel boxes" at the bottom or side of the cluster box and the key for it is dropped in your regular mailbox. The recipient inserts the key into the parcel box and picks up their package. When the key is inserted into the parcel box it is automatically "locked" there for the mail carrier to pickup the next day. (Similar in concept to the old storage lockers in train/bus depots of the past.) There's also a mail slot for customers to leave stamped mail for the carrier to pickup the next day.

I can't speak to the question of signature requirements, as it has happened to me very seldom. I believe they leave a notice in your mailbox to either come to the post office or else leave the signed form in your mailbox to authorize the mail carrier to leave the parcel in the parcel box the next day.

At present I live in a complex where we don't have the parcel boxes, but there is a staffed office open during business hours and all packages are typically left there (USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc.). A notice is then inserted into your mailbox (or they send you an e-mail) advising you to pickup the parcel as soon as possible. During the holidays, the complex staff will even deliver the parcels to you (whether home or not) but only if you sign a waiver authorizing them to do so.

Of course, different communities have different regulations, but that's essentially how it works.

One thing I am surprised about in the complex where I live is that the mailboxes are in a separate structure that can only be accessed by the mail carrier and the complex staff. Since the complex staff has access to it, we often receive internal notices, newsletters, etc., in our mailbox that were not sent through the US Mail. (Technically, that's illegal.)

wt1:

Thanks for the explanation and the visual. I think that the Post Office is trending toward a cluster box for every household. It's my understanding that new housing developments in my town are obligated to use cluster boxes. It makes me thankful for house delivery.

Don

I know cluster boxes are the preferred way to go for the USPS, but it just doesn't work in every application.

In some subdivisions (I'm not talking about apartments or condos but expensive homes ... even McMansions, etc.) where there are multiple homeowners with large lots ... no one wants a "cluster box" on their property.

Consider these points:

> If the property is already built and deeded, there is a real estate war going on as to who is the "unlucky" recipient that has a cluster box on their property.

> Who takes the diminished value of their real estate property value because of the cluster box?

> Then, there is the insurance issue, since all residents will stop at the cluster box, it is putting an undue burden of liability on one homeowner should anyone get injured or fall at or near the cluster box.

> Those in the snow belt will have to be responsible for snow removal, ice melt and the like in order for the mail carrier to deliver there.

> Then, there is always the problem of damage to the property (i.e. car tires and/or foot traffic up on the grass, ruining it (if there's no curbing) and so forth.

> Finally, someone has to bear the cost of these cluster boxes which are upwards of $1500 to $2000 each, plus installation, and if they need some periodic maintenance, the costs for that, too.

It's just not as simple as it might seem on the surface.

I live in West Manchester, Ohio (1985) and we have never had door to door delivery. We all go to the post office where we have boxes they put our mail in. Each person has their own box with a key. Works well kind of a social event for local gossip and news.

It's 30 years I do it; the boxes are at 500 feet I get the mail when I return from work. Honestly it's more secure than a letter box on the wall of the house, it's lock at least.

Everything old is new again. Originally, postage in the US only paid delivery from one post office to another and recipients had to pick up their mail at the post office or pay a private carrier to deliver their mail (which were adorned with private carrier stamps). In 1896 the rural free delivery started delivering to rural homes.

The reality is that the USPS is in near financial ruin and home delivery costs the USPS a lot of money. Door to door delivery costs approx. $350 per household in urban areas, and $280 per household in rural areas. Cluster boxes would reduce those costs by more than 50% per household according to the Inspector General.

WRT to "expensive properties" there is always "eminent domain," or perhaps the USPS would be even more happy to welcome those folks to go down to the post office to pickup their mail.

New housing tracts - developments are required to provide a mail delivery point approved by the local Postmaster & built by the developer. They acquire the needed modular postal equipment from approved USPS suppliers and are required to install the equipment per specific construction specifications. The developer is advised that failure to install such equipment for mail delivery would forfeit delivery option to that development and force residents to pick-up mail at the local PO or rent PO Boxes. This is similar to new apartment house construction where mailrooms or foyer receptacles are part of the construction plan (rather than have the carrier deliver within the total structure they deliver to a central point new the entrance). In my general local area I have seen the installation of cluster boxes for mail delivery in new tracts adjacent to door to door home delivery. Whether the home delivery portions of the route will be discontinued for the cluster box delivery method is yet to be seen. (just fyi)