When Ladysmith resident Joyce McCleary Binder went to pick up her mail last week, she walked upon an unpleasant surprise. Her community mailbox located on Rte. 366 was tipped over, sitting on a diagonal edge, with many of the locks frozen shut, including hers.

To deal with the situation she called Canada Post in Shawville to hopefully get some answers or some type of assistance. Instead, she was told to take matters into her own hands.

She says that Canada Post has been no help, in terms of fixing the issues and that one of their employees suggested she use lock de-icer to get her mail.

“This is a joke, but not a funny joke,” said McCleary Binder. “I’m tired of playing their game.”

McCleary Binder believes the problem was caused by snow-plows pushing large piles of snow, slush and ice onto the mailboxes, which has been worsened by the accumulation of salt caught within the locks.

She also says that the lower-level locks, have generally not been affected, however hers is still frozen.

To solve the problem once and for all, she decided to e-mail a formal complaint to Canada Post, to which they responded that they’ve opened a service ticket regarding the problem and that she would be contacted as soon as the issue has been resolved. She said that she’s still waiting for a response.

Andrew Turcotte, who’s had the same problem with his mailbox, says he hasn’t been able to open his without using a can of lock de-icer to do so, since the beginning of January.

“You can’t get your mail,” said Turcotte. “Every time you go to the mail box. They changed the locks last week and they’re all froze up again.”

He says that Canada Post had changed the locks, in order to solve the problem, however even the new ones have already been affected.

“They changed the locks, apparently last Friday,” said Turcotte. “It’s the same thing again. We don’t know what’s going on, but it’s just so inconvenient. You just can’t open your mailbox.”

Turcotte believes that it shouldn’t be up to the residents of the municipality to thaw out their locks, claiming that it’s up to Canada Post to stop the problem from getting worse.

Turcotte thinks the mailboxes should be relocated to a warmer, interior location in order to prevent the locks from freezing in the future.

Canada Post left a statement on one of the mailboxes, stating that they’re resolving the issue as fast as they can.

Wayne Dunlop, another Ladysmith resident, doesn’t see why citizens are all up in arms about the situation. While he’s been affected by the same problem, he believes that, while an inconvenience for some, it’s still something citizens could deal with without complaining about it.

“It’s not hard for anybody to spray with their own lock,” said Dunlop. “How hard is it? You do your own house lock, so why can’t you do that? For a lot of people, it’s just something to complain about.”

“If you can spend $30 on a bottle of whisky or beer. “Why can’t you buy a $1 can of lock de-icer”,” said Dunlop.”

Dunlop believes the situation could be fixed, if the mailboxes were in a different location, preferably further away from the roads where snow-plows run regularly.

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