The looming end of Canada Post's door-to-door service may signal a rise in community mailbox break-ins in North Bay. This is a picture of some units that were broken into Wednesday night on King Street. Submitted photo.
Canada Post changed the locks the next morning. The boxes are temporary, servicing homes on Ferguson street affected by the street construction.
There are reports about a woman with a screwdriver walking in the neighbourhood that day.
City police say they received a report at 4:05 on Tuesday afternoon regarding a suspicious female who looked like she was trying to break into mailboxes on King Street West.
She was described as approximately 35 years old with blonde hair in a pony tail, thin build, wearing a grey sweater and she was carrying a yellow screw driver at the time.
Police responded to the call but she was gone on police arrival and officers were unable to locate her and the mail boxes were not damaged.
North Bay Police are asking BayToday readers to call the station at 705-497-5555 if they have any information on the crime.
These are the same units that were moved last November from a construction site on Ferguson street.
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Canada Post spokesman Phil Legault told BayToday that people who had their mailboxes broken into Wednesday, were being notified today.
"It's extremely rare," said Legault. "We have about five million of these and less than one percent are ever broken into over the year.
"Our security and investigations team is involved with the North Bay police in investigating the break-in. We encourage people to collect their mail as quickly as possible.
"The people who break into these mailboxes are criminals who unfortunately find ways to get into our homes, cars or community mailboxes."
But Keith Bradford, President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 576 in North Bay says the problem is nation-wide.
"The CMB's (community mail boxes) are being broken into with nothing more than a screwdriver. Canada Post will tell you they are taking care of this problem but obviously they haven't. It's still way to easy to walk by and randomly pop a door open.
"Identity theft is such a huge deal nowadays, Canada Post and the Conservatives are not addressing this issue properly as far as we're concerned," said Bradford.
Canada Post began eliminating door-to-door mail delivery last year. The organization plans to replace its home-delivery service with community mailboxes in a gradual rollout over a five-year period. Legault says there is no date set yet for North Bay to lose its door to door service, but the earliest would be next year.
