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Canada Post has unveiled a redesigned community mailbox made “for the changing needs of Canadians” — needs such as getting your mail after the postal service halts door-to-door delivery.
The 164-centimetre-tall unit has an extra-wide slot for outgoing mail, a sloped roof so rain and snow drains away from the compartment doors and a “new kind of secure lock.”
The new design has wider compartments aimed at accommodating the needs of Canada’s many online shoppers. The mailboxes can hold about half of all packages sent across the country, and each unit has two large compartments that can accept 80% of the parcels that are mailed, Canada Post said. Any package that requires a signature will still be delivered to the door.
“As more people began to communicate and manage their household bills online, lettermail volumes declined sharply. Yet as more people shopped online, parcel volumes shot up,” Canada Post said. “This dramatic shift is creating a pressing need to manage a greater number of parcels and less mail with more valuable items.”
More than half of Internet users (56%) ordered goods or services online in 2012, up from 51% in 2010, according to Statistics Canada. The value of orders placed online by Canadians reached $18.9 billion in 2012, up 24% from 2010.
