Residents fear mailbox crime sprees

Some North End residents in Winnipeg are worried that new community mailboxes could become targets for vandalism and crime. The base of one mailbox was recently set on fire before it was even installed. The community mailboxes have been appearing on Andrews Street in the past two weeks, with some already installed and others only having a concrete foundation.

One resident, Stephen Giesbrecht, believes the vandalism is a sign of what's to come, saying, "Somebody's going to get annoyed they that they can’t get into it and they’re going to set it on fire. Or they’re going to knock it over — It doesn’t take much to get into these." The federal government announced that Canada Post would undergo a transformation due to financial difficulties, leading to the phasing out of door-to-door delivery.

Canada Post plans to convert around 136,000 addresses to community mailboxes over the next five years, starting with 4 million addresses. Some residents are concerned about potential vandalism, the loss of mail security, and the added burden on seniors who will need to collect their mail.