Residents in Calgary’s southeast community of Ogden are coming forward with concerns about the placement of their super mailbox due to snow and flooding.
“Every time a snowplow comes by, they create a snow berm so we have to crawl over it,” Karen Jensen said Wednesday. “When it starts to thaw, we get lakes.”
Jensen said the issues began four years ago when the Canada Post community mailbox near 72 Avenue and 21 Street S.E. was first installed.
“It’s extremely frustrating. We’ve spoken with our MLA and our local mail carriers. They’re just as frustrated as we are,” Jensen said.
“We have a lot of seniors in our community and people with hip replacements. It’s a real inconvenience.”
Millican-Ogden Community Association president and former city councillor Rick Smith said while he hasn’t heard many complaints about the super mailboxes in the area, he agrees the placement of this one is flawed.
“Certainly, this one has some pretty obvious problems to it,” Smith said. “My first impression on this particular one is that really it wasn’t installed properly.
“It looks like it’s below the level of the road so the water doesn’t have a chance to drain away.”
Jensen said mail hasn’t been delivered to the community mailbox in several days due to flooding around it.
“We’re at our wits’ end. Right now, we’re two weeks without mail,” she said.
“City of Calgary says it’s a Canada Post issue. We’ve gone to Canada Post and Canada Post says it’s a City of Calgary issue,” Jensen explained. “All we ask is to be safe when we go get our mail.”
In a statement, Canada Post said it is investigating the issue.
“Canada Post is responsible for maintaining community mailbox sites and keeping their front area clear and safe for customers and delivery agents,” Nicole Lecompte with Canada Post media relations said.
“We have been doing so for over 30 years and continue to take this responsibility very seriously.”
Lecompte also confirmed the community mailbox has been inaccessible for the last week due to excessive water from melting snow.
“This hazard has made it unsafe for our agents to make their deliveries,” she said. “Our local operations and delivery service team are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.”
Residents are being asked to pick up their mail at the post office at 4141 118 Avenue S.E. between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. or to call 1-800-267-1177.
The city said in a statement it’s looking at the snow clearing issues around the mailbox.
“Our operators make every effort to minimize the impact of windrows, but we remind citizens that the road is used as a natural snow storage area. The City of Calgary is currently investigating this issue.”
For Jensen, the fix is pretty simple.
“Move it across the street, lift it up, just make it safer for us.”