Mailboxes

Growing up in Canada, I lived at multiple places, four that I remember well: Burnaby, PoCo, Calgary, and High River. We never had door-to-door delivery. We always had community mailboxes. 

I thought this was normal. 

I thought having a mailbox at the end of every driveway was insane when we moved to the States (to be fair, our house in Spanish Fork had a community box and I applauded that; and Darla's neighbourhood has a community box as well...but literally one for the entire gated community, so it isn't quite as convenient as walkable community boxes). 

Admittedly, I don't remember Burnaby very well. I wasn't ever in charge of getting the mail. But I know we had a playground visible from our window. I'll bet the mailbox was right there as well. 

In PoCo, our mailbox was a 1 minute walk from our house (91 meters)—and a 7 minute walk to the playground (500 meters). We also had a 2–3 minute walk to a provincial park/forest, and a 10–15 minute walk to the recreation center.

In Calgary, our mailbox was a ~1 minute walk from our house (56 meters)—at the playground on our street. There was also a large open field directly across the street from us. And another playground just a 5 minute walk away. And another playground a 10 minute walk away. And...there were outdoor ice rinks we could get to...

In High River, our mailbox was a 1 minute walk from our house (77 meters)—at the playground on our street. We could also access the lakes with a 3-minute walk, 250 meters—conveniently there is now a playground at Sunshine Lake. When I lived there we had walk to the other lake (Emerson) to get to a playground...past the elementary school (just a 6 minute walk from our house—450 meters), where there is another playground where we were freely allowed to play outside of school hours. They've since taken down the playground at Emerson, but the sledding hill is still there (a 15 minute walk from our house). River access was about a 40 minute walk from our house...but no one wants to live too close to the river anyway...for flooding reasons.

My parents weren't particularly picky about mailbox location when selecting a place to live, as far as I'm aware. It just so happens that Canada Post surveys neighbourhoods to place mailboxes as conveniently as possible for everyone—at entrances to neighbourhoods, at social hubs like playgrounds (which are more plentiful than they are in the States, from my experience). 

For comparison, our nearest playground is a 27-minute walk away (1.2 miles). The next closest is a 39-minute walk (1.7 miles). And the next closest is a 44-minute walk (1.9 miles). The lake is completely private. The kids tromp around in the drainage ditch behind our house...but technically I think they're not supposed to. Public access to the river is extremely limited (and a 1 hour and 30 minute walk from our house). Is it any wonder I feel completely stranded where we live? I mean, I understand that cars are a thing. And I do drive the kids to the pool (by the river) and we drive to the park (so the kids still have energy to play once we get there). But...mostly we just walk around the block because there is no where to go. 

I'd be lying if I said I don't dream about having public spaces just one minute out my front door...or even ten minutes!

Door-to-do delivery is convenient, I suppose. But not really any less convenient than stopping at the community box to grab the mail, in my opinion. As my kids pointed out while we were debating things, we try to go for a walk everyday anyway, so we would simply plan our walking route to include the mailbox (wherever it happened to be).

There's been much hubbub online regarding the end of door-to-door delivery in Canada because, as it turns out, it wasn't always normal everywhere to have community boxes. It was just normal for...me (everywhere I'd been).

I've seen people decrying it as the end of social good, the rise of individualism (though I'm not sure how a community mailbox marks the rise of individualism). People are worrying about how the elderly will get their mail (they can request door service once a week and also a neighbour could grab their mail for them...just saying...Grandpa Frank had a mailbox at the end of his driveway—in Utah—and still had a neighbour who would bring his mail to his door every day). They worry about the loss of community—how will lonely people survive without their daily mail drop?!

Many people see this change as catastrophic.

I don't.

Now, I don't know which rural post offices will be closing. From what I read they're planning on closing post offices in rural communities that have been urbanized. So they'd be moving from a PO Box model to more community mailboxes. I don't think they'll be shutting down all post offices.

And I've seen articles about (community) mailboxes being vandalized in cities like San Antonio, for example, but I think that speaks to a different sort of problem. And, really, our own mailbox (and mail) has been vandalized right in front of our house, unfortunately. So door-to-door delivery doesn't solve that problem either.

Anyway, all my experiences with community boxes have been positive and I think it's a good model, considering the decline in mail (thanks in large part to the internet, honestly).