THUNDER BAY -- Some residents in city who typically rely on community mailboxes will have to pick up their mail at the post office until the New Year.
This follows a recent incident in which nearly 100 of the individual mailboxes were broken into.
Canada Post spokesman John Caines said delivery has been stopped to community mailboxes in the Woodcrest Road and Rosslyn Road until early January when security can be upgraded and improved.
"Unfortunately there are some Grinches out there," Caines said on the phone from Ottawa.
"We're working with the local officials to try and apprehend these culprits and once we do it'll be even better for everybody but in the meantime they can come to the post office and pick up their packages."
There aren't enough people to deliver the mail directly, especially during Canada Post's busiest time of the year.
Canada Post won't say how the mailboxes were tampered with but Caines said communities will be getting new and improved boxes that have yet to be broken into.
"The more you talk about security the less secure you are," he said.
The Canadian Union of Postal Workers said earlier in the week that it's concerned about community mailboxes as Canada Post phases out door-to-door service. Caines said it's unfortunate that the union would use something like this to criticize changes to the system.
It was an isolated incident and break-ins are common this time of year for everything from vehicles to homes.
