Edmonton senior claims mailbox victory over Canada Post

Ken Pudetz was in his early 20s when the Marvelettes recorded Please Mr. Postman.

He's much older now, but there's one lyric from the song that seems perfectly suited to his story.

"I've seen standing here waiting, Mr. Postman, so-o-o patiently ."

Which is exactly what Pudetz has been doing, ever since Canada Post came to his yard in Millwoods and dug a hole to put up a community mailbox.

They dug the hole. He shovelled the dirt back in, then stood guard over the spot for 10 days.

Like the song says, patiently.

Now his perseverance has apparently paid off.

Pudetz, 76, says Canada Post has backed down and he's been told the boxes will be put up outside another Millwoods home about a block away.

"I refused to let them take my dirt," he says. "I own the dirt. I own the grass on top of the dirt, and I chased them away on several occasions."

There's another lyric from that old song, later recorded by some group called the Beatles, that seems to slide nicely into the narrative right about here.

"Mr. Postman, look and see, is there a letter in your bag for me?"

Well, the other day, guess what?

"Finally," Pudetz says, "after 10 days of sitting out here on my lawn chair, protecting my dirt, they wrote me a letter, saying they're going to move the boxes."

He credits his victory to one character trait.

"Pig-headed stubbornness," he says. "I was going to sit here until spring if I had to, in six feet of snow and forty below.

"They gave up. They capitulated. And that's exactly what I wanted them to do."

Canada Post can't confirm what Pudetz says. But he's confident enough that he no longer plans to get up at 6 a.m. to stand guard over his yard.