Want Canada Post to deliver mail to your home? Ask your doctor!

As Canada Post begins to move more mail delivery to community boxes, they are indicating they can make some exceptions to maintain home service.

The primary exception will be for those who have validated medical reasons for being unable to collect their mail from the central boxes. So, basically: a doctor’s note.

Currently Canada Post is “sending questionnaires to people who’ve indicated they can’t pick up their mail from a community box,” reports CBC News.

The medical community, however, isn’t so please with this mandate. In a statement issued Thursday, President of the Canadian Medical Association Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti said:

It was with surprise that the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) learned through the media of Canada Post’s new process to have physicians assess Canadians for their suitability to receive home delivery of their mail. This demonstrates a complete lack of awareness of the challenges facing health care professionals and the patients seeking access to care. Physicians are already burdened with administrative process that comes at the expense of face time with patients. Furthermore, it appears little consideration has been given to the confidentiality and privacy of patient information. We ask that Canada Post immediately interrupt the application of its policy and give thorough consideration to all aspects of this issue through consultation with all stakeholders.

While their community boxes are rather uniform, Canada Post says their approach to solutions for customers with issues picking up their mail won’t be. Adjustments Canada Post might make could be “as simple as adjusting the mailbox height or a device that makes it easier to turn the key,” Canada Post spokesman Jon Hamilton told CBC. Other customers may opt to redirect their mail to a relative’s address, or have home delivery only in the winter months.

By the end of 2014, another 100,000 addresses will convert from at-home delivery to community boxes.

But not all Canadians will be getting the keys to shiny new mailboxes in the next five years. Canada Post has already indicated there will be no change in service for seniors’ residences, apartments or condos where mail is delivered to the lobby, rural customers with a mailbox at the end of their driveway, or businesses within business corridors or with high volumes of mail.

Featured image: Paul Vasarhelyi / Shutterstock