Letter carrier offers tips to help keep postal workers safe during this difficult time

SooToday received the following letter to the editor from Caitlin Foster, mail carrier with Canada Post, regarding mail delivery service during the COVID-19 pandemic:

To my community:



I'm a Canada Post letter carrier. The mail service is continuing through this COVID-19 crisis. We are part of the supply chain, and we will be the ones delivering all those government aid cheques that are in desperate need. I ask all of you to read and pass this information along so we can stay safe in our job while also doing our civic duty.

As more people stay home, I'd like to ask all of you all to please not come to the door to greet us. If everyone did that on our routes we'd be in contact with 600-1200 people per day.

Please stay out of apartment lobbies when we are putting in the mail. We need to practice social distancing as much as possible. Being in the small vestibule with me is not safe.

If you live in an apartment and are expecting a parcel, please make sure to answer your buzzer and not just buzz us up. We need to explain instructions on how you need to receive the parcel to keep us safe. We will likely go to your apartment door, knock and walk away. Please give us a five-second head start before you open your apartment door to get your parcel.

If you have a business in the city and had your mail brought directly to you before, please understand that we would prefer not to walk into them currently. A mailbox or some type of labelled receptacle outside your business door would help us immensely, and keep your mail coming to you. Please don't expect us to take outgoing mail as a courtesy for you during this crisis. It would help us to place them in a red street letterbox.

And please tell people to treat us kindly. We are blazing ahead through this crisis head first. We are just as scared as you are. We have small babies and care for aging parents. We have immunocompromised members and spouses going through chemo. We are out there keeping the lifeblood of the country pumping. A wave from the window, a note on the door saying you support us through this, a smile or a thumbs up will go a long way for us.

We are doing our part to keep Canada moving.

Thank you for helping to keep us safe.

Caitlin Foster,

Social Steward

CUPW local 600 in Canada Post