Mail thieves in Metro Vancouver have upped the ante.
Residents of Surrey’s Grandview Heights neighbourhood were startled to find two entire community mailboxes stolen this week, snapped right off their metal bases.
“It looks like somebody must have come in with a winch or something,” said Stephen Gale of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.
“They’re gone just like that, full of whatever mail was in them.”
The boxes were the new, more secure community box models. The old ones were replaced because thieves had targeted them four times.
Victoria Blinkhorn of the Grandview Heights Stewardship Association said the entire area is being hit, and that her own mailbox was broken into just a few weeks ago.
“I know a lot of people who have given up all hope in Canada Post and have their mail now sent to UPS or a mailbox service,” Blinkhorn said.
The thefts were committed the same week Canada Post announced about 5,000 homes in Delta will be the first in Metro Vancouver to lose door-to-door delivery.
Despite the number of thefts, Canada Post continues to insist community boxes are safe.
“You’re talking about a locked box compared to an unlocked box on the side of your door,” spokesman Jon Hamilton said.
Canada Post also said it has a bait mail program, similar to the bait car tactic used by police, and it’s constantly working to improve security measures.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Michele Brunoro
