Retired letter carrier Ken Brodie forged many relationships delivering mail in his 20 years strolling through Richmond neighbourhoods.
But it’s stories of friendships like his that will soon draw to a close all across the country after Canada Post announced last week that it will eliminate door-to-door mail service to single-detached homes within the next five years. Those with the current door-to-door service will soon have to access their mail at a nearby community mailbox. Parcels will also be placed in locked boxes or stored at a local mail office.
Brodie believes the changes will affect many daily relationships between residents and carriers, especially amongst the elderly.
“Canada Post has to make changes, I suppose, and they’re out there to make money like everyone else.
“Delivering mail was just a more personal thing and a lot of people looked forward to getting the mail.…The important thing for me is with elderly people. A lot of them feel lonely and to me the letter carrier was a big part of their daily life,” said Brodie.
The 71-year-old worked at Canada Post for 35 years. He worked in Richmond from 1979 to 1999 and forged many friendships along the way.
“Most of the time the carrier would just talk to the residents. Sometimes we would just sit there and talk, not only about post office stuff or the weather but about how their lives were going. It was amazing how much they would tell you and what’s going on,” he said.
One of the best friendships he made was with Rina Miller, now 85, who used to live at the end of No. 4 Road near Finn Slough.
“I don’t like it. We’re losing something socially. We used to know everybody, especially the mailman,” said Miller of the upcoming postal changes.
Miller actually had a community mailbox, but she and her husband met Brodie when he dropped off parcels that wouldn’t fit in the box. Technically, Brodie was supposed to take the parcel to a mail office, but back then it was a different time.
“I should have actually sent it to the sub-office. But it saved them a trip to pick it up,” he said.
As time passed Brodie and his wife became friends with the Millers and the four would frequently meet for tea.
Today, they still enjoy talking about Finn Slough and the nearby fishermen who came and went over the years, as well as the packages of honeycomb and wool sweaters Miller received from family back in Scotland.
“I could smell the honey and knew what she was getting,” Brodie laughed.
The long-time Richmond resident loves animals and to this day, in non-stereotypical fashion for a letter carrier, takes care of dogs in his spare time for people who go out of town or work long hours.
But what letter carrier doesn’t have a few good dog stories.
Brodie recalls being bitten by a dog just three times in his career. One of those times was when he walked up next to a baby stroller on a porch, which Brodie says may have set the dog off. There was also the German Shepherd, a retired police dog, that constantly barked at him over the years only for Brodie to realize it was the clanging of his keys that put the dog into a frenzy.
Dogs aside, Brodie also recalls constantly being scratched by cats when he would put his hands through the door slots. Then there were the hornets.
“To get next door at one house I would go through this hedge as a short cut. Well, one day there was a hornet’s nest and oh gosh,” chuckled Brodie.
Another challenge that letter carriers will no longer face is trekking through snow from house to house.
“We had some really bad winters. Especially if you got into an older neighbourhood where homes had a dozen stairs or so. And if they were newly painted stairs, oh boy, you would be on your head. Yes, there is that rain, sleet and snow saying, but the post office had a fine line. If it was a safety hazard you were allowed to bring mail back,” said Brodie.
There are about 25,000 single-detached houses in Richmond. Some newer subdivisions, such as Terra Nova, already have community mailboxes.
In an email to the News Canada Post said it does not currently have numbers on how many homes will be affected by the changes. The first community mailboxes are expected to be installed in late 2014.
