Post office moves quickly following BayToday story

Before. This was the situation facing people on Ferguson Street as they tried to pick up their mail.

Canada Post acted quickly this morning to have a contractor move its post boxes away from a pile of blasting mats after a story appeared on BayToday yesterday showing the boxes in the Ferguson St. construction zone and completely inaccessible.

The boxes now sit at the corner of Ferguson and King, about a block away from construction.

After. The boxes were quickly moved to King Street this morning. Photo by Jeff Turl.

Canada Post Media Relations Manager Eugene Knapik says it wasn't the corporation's fault.

"Temporary community mailboxes were set up because of the construction. Based on information we were given there wasn't supposed to be any construction there," he said.

Canada Post stopped door to door delivery on the street over safety concerns for its letter carriers.

"When it was reported to us that the construction site expanded to include the area around the community mailboxes we made arrangements to have them moved.

"Whoever notified us of the construction gave us an area where construction was going to stop. We installed it in an area we thought was going to be safe."

But Keith Bradford, President of Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 576 says Canada Post was warned..

Bradford says he was told that a representative from the construction company (Bruman) had come in previously to that picture being taken.

"I understand it was several days if not a week before, and asked for the mail boxes to be moved as it would be creating a hazardous environment. Local management was made aware, and as you know, nothing was done until you broke the story."

Knapik looked into it, and agreed with Bradford. 

"We're investigating to find out what happened," he said. "We should have moved those boxes days ago."

Canada Post will go door to door to tell customers where the boxes are now located. 

"We don't want people to be in an unsafe spot that isn't appropriate, to have people pick up their mail in the middle of unsafe construction."

Ferguson Street construction as it looked this morning.

Knapik says door to door delivery will resume as usual in the neighbourhood after construction, until the corporation axes it permanently.

He doesn't now when that is scheduled to happen.