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ST. JOHN'S, N.L. —

William Pryse-Phillips got a letter on the weekend notifying him it was too dangerous for Canada Post to deliver his mail because of weather conditions.

“However, they still managed to hand-deliver that letter. Very strange. … It doesn’t make sense,” said Pryse-Phillips, who lives in the Rawlin’s Cross area of St. John’s.

He picked up his mail at Kenmount Road headquarters Monday from helpful staff, but said he doesn’t think it was complete, as he hadn’t had mail delivery for 29 days — since before the Jan. 17 blizzard.

“I had no post whatsoever, no mail being delivered since the Thursday before the storm. … I understand that we have to keep mail delivery people safe, but the sidewalks here have been cleared. Couriers can get in. Friends and neighbours can get in,” Pryse-Phillips said, adding he’s also had groceries delivered with no issue.

“I am very disheartened by this breach of promise by Canada Post." — William Pryse-Phillips

He said sidewalks have generally been cleared, mainly by him and his neighbour and occasionally by the city, and his front pathway is also cleared daily.

“I am very disheartened by this breach of promise by Canada Post,” Pryse-Phillips said.

In an emailed response to The Telegram's inquiries about the blizzard backlog and door delivery suspensions, Canada Post spokeswoman Valérie Chartrand said that last week some delivery routes were deemed unsafe and a notice was distributed to affected customers.

Canada Post’s safety committee completed a safety assessment Monday and decided to resume delivery Tuesday on Monkstown Road, Mullock, William, Maxse, Catherine and Hayward streets, Park Place and the odd side of Rennie’s Mill Road.

It was reassessing the situation for Winter Place, Empire, Riverview, and the even side of Rennie’s Mill and Carpasian.

“We apologize to our customers whose service is currently interrupted or delayed,” Canada Post said.

Red alert

Severe weather conditions are impeding mail delivery in Eastern Newfoundland. Delivery will resume once it's safe to do so. For all service updates, visit https://t.co/xqySKoBEuD — Canada Post (@canadapostcorp) February 12, 2020

Since Snowmageddon 2020 and the state of emergency in St. John's was lifted on Jan. 25, Canada Post said, its local operations team has almost eliminated the backlog and there are currently no significant delays.

However, the federal Crown corporation said weather conditions continue to be a challenge in St. John’s and Mount Pearl.

Between Jan. 17 and Monday, Canada Post issued two yellow alerts and three red alerts for eastern Newfoundland.

During this period, there were only three days with no alerts. However, full access to some neighbourhoods was affected, Canada Post said. The latest red alert was Feb. 12.

A yellow alert means weather conditions are impeding mail delivery, and, despite best efforts, some customers may not receive mail.

A red alert confirms Canada Post is suspending delivery for the day and not sending delivery agents out, as the weather conditions have made it unsafe.

An alert can be for a particular community or an entire province, depending on the weather event. The alerts are posted on canadapost.ca as well as Twitter and Facebook.

If customers are not receiving regular mail delivery, Canada Post said they will have been advised they can pick up their mail at the depot located at 98 Kenmount Rd., between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. and can contact Canada Post customer service at 1-800-267-1177 if they have any concerns.

Twitter: @BarbSweetTweets

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