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Vandals stop mail delivery

Community mailbox break-in concerns Parkgate neighbours
Damaged mailbox
Peter Teevan was frustrated by the slow response time by Canada Post to repair damage to a community mailbox in the 1900-block Indian River Crescent.

Mail carriers deliver despite sleet and snow, but mailbox vandalism is another matter.

North Vancouver residents around Indian River Crescent spent half of September fetching their mail at an industrial park after their community mailbox was ransacked over the Labour Day long weekend.

It took more than two weeks for Canada Post to fix the mailbox, according to neighbourhood resident Peter Teevan.

The delay left Teevan and his neighbours to get their mail at Canada Post's Charles Street location, approximately six kilometres from the neighbourhood. "There's no parking, there's certainly no handicap access," Teevan said, noting the satellite location didn't seem set up to handle an influx of customers.

Teevan also found it unreasonable that mail could only be picked up between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. The mailbox has since been repaired, but Teevan is concerned the vandals could be identity thieves.

Canada Post logged 4,880 incidents - including vandalism, arson and theft - involving community mailboxes between 2008 and 2013, according to a 2013 report released by CBC News.

The District of West Vancouver joined a campaign to retain home mail delivery earlier this year.

All addresses with doorstep delivery are scheduled to transition to community mailboxes over the next five years, according to Canada Post.

Exception can be made for seniors' residences and rural customers with a mailbox at the end of the driveway.