Ontario judge to hear arguments from Canada Post and City of Hamilton on community mailbox issue

The legal dispute between Canada Post and the City of Hamilton over the installation of community mailboxes will continue to be played out in the Ontario Superior Court today. As previously reported, Canada Post wants to install the community mailboxes and phase out door-to-door home deliveries in an effort to cut operating costs. The City of Hamilton is objecting to the policy, and claims that installing mailboxes involves extra costs for the civic authority and raises concerns over street lighting, pedestrian access and traffic control.

The City of Hamilton recently passed a bylaw which would oblige Canada Post to pay $200 for every community mailbox installed and limit where the units can be placed – and it filed a restraining order in an attempt to stop Canada Post from installing any mailboxes without a city permit.

The City of Montreal is also planning to mount a court challenge against Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers is strongly opposed to the policy.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) has said that it will reverse Canada Post’s policy of ending door-to-door mail deliveries if it secures a victory in the national elections in the fall. The NDP is currently Canada’s official opposition party, having secured more seats in the House of Commons than the Liberal Party in the 2011 election, but it has never formed a national government.

Canada Post has been scaling back its door-to-door mail deliveries in response to what it sees as long-term decline in the volume of traditional mail. According to Canada Post, Canadians sent 1.4 billion fewer pieces of mail in 2014 than they did in 2006. In the first quarter of this year, letter volume was down 8.4%, or 41 million pieces of mail, from a year ago. It has been reported that home delivery costs $283 a year per address, whereas delivery to a centralised community mailbox costs $108 a year per address.