Many seniors have indicated to Canada Post that they will be physically unable to pick up their mail from community mailboxes as door-to-door service is phased out over the next five years.
Now the postal authority wants them to prove it.
In a mailout questionnaire, Canada Post is requiring seniors to provide them with medical information – a move which Elsie Dean, a member of Voices of Burnaby Seniors, called an invasion of privacy.
“Older people on low income, they are being plagued with having to present all the details of their lives in order to get a little bit of help,” she said. “Of course they should deliver mail to all seniors, to all people, actually.”
“One of the big problems we have is that seniors can’t walk more than two blocks, so it’s going to be difficult for many seniors who may not be able to get a doctor’s certificate.”
The decision by Canada Post to eliminate home delivery is an effort to save money, but Dean noted there are options to subsidize the national service. She suggested postal banking, a system implemented in other countries in which the post office offers financial services that help fund mail delivery.
“The banks do OK, they don’t have a problem covering their costs and making a good profit,” she said. “It’s possible for a very strong organization which the post office is to find other means.
“We need to keep our services.”
Door-to-door delivery will be nixed in 11 communities across Canada this fall, including parts of Calgary, Halifax and Ottawa. No B.C. neighbourhoods are among those 11 affected communities.
The switch to community mailboxes is scheduled for completion by 2019.
