Ottawa residents frustrated over frozen mailboxes

Canada Post is responding to hundreds of frustrated customers in Ottawa. Their new community mailboxes are frozen and they have not been able to access their mail in days. It is happening throughout the city, but primarily at mailboxes in Kanata and Nepean.  Gwyneth Davidson is armed with the tools of the trade these days: a curling iron and a hair dryer; whatever it takes to open her mailbox.

“Okay, we will see if it works today,” she says as she tries to fit her key into her assigned mailbox slot.  It doesn’t turn. Davidson's community mailbox, installed just last fall on Cordova Avenue around the corner from her home, has been frozen shut since Friday. Her approach is gentle compared to others she's seen.

“I have seen people punching the mailboxes, kicking the mailboxes, shaking the mailboxes and just pounding with their fists on the door trying to break up the ice that is inside the lock,” she says.

Jennifer Rayner, a neighbor, has experienced the same frustration, “I can’t unlock it.  It’s driving me insane,” she says, “there’s probably bills to pay.”

It's a common theme these days for Canada Post mail carrier Bill Kitts.

"I’ve seen a lot of complaints over last few days,” says Kitts, as Rayner and Davidson hover nearby, “I've helped people out last couple days, they've been meeting me like this at the mailbox and there have been a few that I can't even get open.”

Enter the fix. Contractors hired by Canada Post to squirt de-icer into the mailboxes.  It is a slow, methodical process that can take between 15 minutes to an hour to get just one community mailbox operating.  Then it is on to the next problem spot.

Canada Post says of the 250-thousand people using community mailboxes in Ottawa, only a few hundred have complained about their mailboxes being frozen.

“The call centre is up and running,” says Jon Hamilton with Canada Post, “we have people ready to go out and work on the boxes and they have been doing just that.  We ask for people's patience. The rainy, warm temperatures followed by the sudden cold temperatures have caused problems we haven't seen in the past.”

After complaining for three days, Marc Coallier's mailbox is finally fixed. He lives off Bank and Heron and had called Canada Post daily since Monday. With a quick turn, his mailbox opens to reveal a stack of notices and bills. But he is not convinced it won't happen again.

"This is Canada,” he says, “We’ve got rain and ice. These boxes are made for Florida or Alabama but not for Canada.”

With a final squirt, Gwyneth Davidson gets access to her mail.

“Eureka, look at that,” she says as she opens it up.

Davidson says Canada Post needs to final a permanent solution for this by either fixing the boxes, protecting them from the elements or bringing back door to door delivery.