Tales of far-flung postie pen pals

Stafford postie and Courier writer Kamil Sterniczuk’s friendships with posties around the world are delivering insights into their lives and work.

Doreen’s a Canada Post delivery agent.

She’s one of many international postal workers I’ve met through Postcrossing – a project that allows you to exchange postcards with people around the world. It’s helped me learn about the work of posties in different countries – including Doreen, who painted a picture of life with Canada Post.

Canada Post delivers to more than 16 million addresses and has 6,200 post offices. Around 170,000 new addresses are added each year. It’s a crown corporation – which means it’s owned by the government. It has 65,000 employees.

After 23 years in the role, Doreen still enjoys work as a delivery agent . Her day starts at 7.30am, when she spends up to 90 minutes sorting mail and parcels – around 50% is unsorted – before loading her Ford Transit. Doreen’s suburban walk has 750 stops – a combination of 250 single-family houses, residential buildings and businesses. It’s six loops in Royal Mail terms. As a general rule, there are no shared duties, unless help is needed with lifting large parcels. Doreen has around 20 of them a day and each can weigh up to 50lbs. Between 1 and 1.30pm, she’s back in the office with some ‘kill mail’ (kill-offs) for a 30-minute break before clocking off. She works full-time, between 35-40 hours a week, across five days. Canada Post doesn’t deliver at weekends

Direct mail – or Admail – accounts for 20% of Canada Post’s income. Advertisers pay 17 cents per flyer, with carriers receiving a cent and a half.

Delivery agents earn, on average, $30 an hour and, interestingly, are allowed to carry Mace to protect themselves from dog attacks. In 2014, Canada Post made international headlines when a delivery agent left the equivalent of a ‘Something for you’ note that read: ‘Bear at door’.

Uniform allocation is handled through a points system. Each year, a delivery agent has 500 points to spend on a wide array of garments, with an Arctic Parka the most ‘expensive’ at 180 points. Safety equipment, such as cleats, is free of charge and there’s an allowance of $250 a year for boots. The uniform colour is changing from navy blue to yellow to increase visibility and improve safety.

In 2014, Canada Post began to phase out door-to-door deliveries in urban areas in favour of community mailboxes (CMBs). This process would affect 32% of Canadian addresses. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers opposed the move which it claimed would adversely impact seniors and the disabled. The CMB roll-out was halted, however many were already installed and remain to this day. Although CMBs are proving unpopular, there’s general recognition that change is necessary.

Canada Post has begun trialling banking through its post office branches. There’s a hope that, between banking and postal services, some smaller and more remote towns can be supported with these basic –but vital – functions of daily life.