Canada Post blames 'technical error' after locks changed before keys delivered

Canada Post has apologized after "a timing issue" led some Ottawa residents to receive keys to their community mailbox in the mail after the locks had already been changed.

• Canada Post changes locks on Ottawa super mailbox with new keys still inside
• Canada Post replacing defective community mailbox locks that freeze in winter
• Canada Post sorry community mailboxes frozen shut

Residents in the Blossom Park neighbourhood who used a community mailbox onAlderwoodStreet found out the locks had been changed Wednesday when they went to check their mail.

It was only after a postal worker arrived that they learned many of the new keys for the locks were already in the mailboxes.

"Unfortunately, we experienced a technical error with one community mailbox site that resulted in a timing issue in our lock-change process," Canada Post said in a statement Thursday.

The Crown corporation said29 households who use that community mailbox were affected.

Keys not delivered Thursday to beleft at post office

They said they have hand-delivered five of the keys andhave left notes for the remaining households to call them so they can deliver the keys this evening.

For those who can't be reached this evening, Canada Post said they will make the keys available for pickup at the post office in the Shoppers Drug Mart on 2515 Bank Street tomorrow.

Thelocks at the super mailbox were due to be changed after concerns about freezing during the winter months, but residents say Canada Post was supposed to mail the new keys weeks in advance.

Blossom park resident Jo-Anne Sparkes said she got a notice in October that the locks would be changed.

"Which was great that they were going to change the locks but I don't think they synchronized timing properly and this is a bad time of the year," Sparkes said.