Neither snow, nor rain ... but staff shortage delays mail for weeks in southern B.C. villages
Bob Sterne and his wife have been checking their mail box in the southern Interior village of Coalmont, B.C., for more that two weeks anticipating the arrival of legal documents from Ontario, but day after day it remains empty.
The Sternes, who run a motel in the tiny Similkameen Valley town, haven't had mail delivered since before Christmas because of what Canada Post calls 'recent unexpected staffing challenges.'
"It's pretty frustrating," Sterne said. "There's an awful lot of people that are pretty upset."
After a few days of not getting mail deliveries, the Sternes contacted the nearest Canada Post office in Princeton, 20 kilometres to the east, and found out their regular mail carrier was away with no replacement provided.
'Mail has just been piling up at the post office'
"We understand that the [mail carrier] went on holiday, which is perfectly acceptable, but they just didn't bother, or couldn't, replace her, so the mail has just been piling up at the post office," Sterne said.
According to Sterne, there have been delays in the past when their regular mail carrier went on holiday, but usually no longer than a week.
"We've actually had a substitute mailman that stayed with us in our motel while he was substituting for our normal mail person, but this time they either just didn't bother or couldn't find anybody and apparently didn't worry about that," he said.
The Sternes eventually went to the Princeton post office with hopes of retrieving the package containing the legal documents and, according to Bob, staff were able to find some of their parcels and Christmas cards, but not the package they were seeking.
They have since contacted Canada Post's Ombudsman office which is aware of the situation, Sterne said. But a response isn't expected for 15 business days.
Mail deliveries expected on weekend
In an email, Canada Post spokesperson Hayley Magermans told CBC News the delivery delays affecting Coalmont and Tulameen are because of recent staffing challenges.
"Additional resources have been called to help sort and deliver all remaining mail for these areas, and we are doing our best to ensure that mail is delivered to these customers," Magermans said.
"We are preparing for a good delivery day to these areas on Saturday."
That's of little consolation to the Sternes who said that's the same thing the postal agency told them last week.
