A community mailbox that was left open overnight in a Halifax community has left one resident looking for change.

Doug McLellan discovered his new community mailbox on Spinnaker Drive was open Tuesday night, and later Wednesday morning. The door was left open for ten hours.

“That’s the box people put outgoing mail in,” he said. “It’s not just an issue of incoming mail being lost or taken, but outgoing, as well.”

McLellan immediately called Canada Post to report it, but said he was only able to get a hold of someone through its Facebook page.

Neighbour Sheila Noade says she isn’t surprised. She didn’t want community mailboxes in the first place.

“I don’t think there’s much care about your mail if [the mailboxes] are being left open,” she said.

Tony Rogers, the president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, says the door being left open wasn’t an accident.

“The box on Spinnaker was left open intentionally because [the postal worker] could not close it,” he said.

Rogers says the installation of the boxes was so rushed, he expects similar issues to arise.

“When they went to repair it, they said the installation was not done properly,” he said. “It was so unbalanced, you couldn’t get the lock to engage.”

Canada Post said in a statement that it sent a contractor to review the situation, remove all the mail and repair the box. They say he was not able to repair the equipment on the spot and a work order was issued.

McLellan wants to see changes in the future so it doesn’t happen again.

“I think they need a better way of responding and following up,” he said. “The fact they were felt open overnight is appalling.”

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelly Linehan.