October 15, 2004

(Letter sent to the Ottawa Citizen)

Dear Editor:

The October 15th letter from Ottawa teacher Richard Bercuson, The puzzle of mail that moves by snail leaves much to be desired. His feeble attempt at humour casts aspersions on Canada Post and our on-time delivery performance.

For the record, mail between Ottawa and Toronto moves by highway service and according to independent surveys is delivered on time over 97 per cent of the time. In order to meet our delivery standards the majority of lettermail, over 80 per cent, is actually delivered by our employees one day ahead of schedule.

It is interesting to note that people have problems with mail going from Canada to the United States, but not with mail coming north. Think about that...when mail is brought into Canada it is treated as domestic mail but the same cannot be said for mail going into the U.S.

A check with our customer service indicates there are no specific service issues with mail delivery between Ottawa and Toronto. Perhaps Mr. Bercuson's problem is as unique as his story telling ability.

Sincerely,

John Caines
Manager, National Media Relations
Ottawa (613) 734-7675