By Sheldon Spackman

Mail theft victim says parcel pickup policy needs change

Jan 30, 2019 | 3:01 PM

A local woman is calling on Canada Post to change its policy regarding parcel pickups after someone stole a package by forging her signature.

Brenda Hamilton lives on a rural property southeast of Red Deer and celebrated a birthday last Friday. She says her sister in B.C. mailed a parcel to her but she never received it.

Hamilton says someone stole the parcel slip from her mailbox then forged her signature in order to collect the parcel from a Canada Post location in Red Deer.

“My sister sent me a gift from Chapters in the mail and generally when we get something from Canada Post, we get the Canada Post slip and we have to go into Deer Park to pick it up,” she explains. “She had been phoning to ask me why I haven’t called about my package and I said, ‘Well I haven’t received anything from you.’ So she messaged me and said, ‘Here’s the tracking number and it says that it was picked up.’”

Hamilton says she and her sister assumed the package was picked up by a Canada Post worker who drops-off parcels at their pick-up location.

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“I went there to pick it up and the lady said it’s been picked up already,” adds Hamilton. “I thought how can that be if I have to have my I.D.? So she went and found the pickup slip and the back was signed his name. He then signed my name and picked up my parcel because all he had to do was show his I.D. but there’s nothing to verify that that was my signature.”

Hamilton says Canada Post should change its policy to prevent this from happening to others.

“There is a lot of package theft that goes on and mail theft right now,” she laments. “I guess for the community, be cautious. If they know somebody is sending out, make sure they know something’s coming for you and be on the lookout for your package slip.”

Hamilton says the incident has left her feeling outraged.

“I’m so angry over it because it’s not only wasted my time, it’s wasted her time and her money and it was my birthday gift,” exclaims Hamilton. “It was something she had sent for me and now we’re not sure what Canada Post is going to do about it, if they’re going to refund her the cost of it to be able to repurchase it. I’m still waiting for them to get back to me on that, so it’s super frustrating.”

Hamilton says the crime has also left her wondering what other mail might have been stolen from her mailbox.

“Does he have more information about me or did he just steal this hoping that it was something of worth in there?” wonders Hamilton. “I just want Canada Post to be aware that their policy is terrible and it needs to be removed from their parcel pickup slips. If you don’t have your I.D. and it’s not your name, then you shouldn’t be able to pick it up.”

Officials with Canada Post Media Relations say the incident has been referred to its Security and Investigations team.

“As for our policy, a customer who has received a delivery notice card must present themselves at the post office and show acceptable identification,” Canada Post says a written statement provided to rdnewsNOW. “The item can also be picked up by someone who resides at the same address or at an alternate address as long as they have authorization.”

Canada Post has provided the following link to their website that shows their list of acceptable ID.

Red Deer RCMP say they are not seeing any spikes in mail theft reports within the city.

“Mail theft is not a concern in Red Deer at this time,” says Cpl. Karen Kay. “We have noticed a steep decline since the installation of Canada Post’s new community mail boxes, which are better equipped to prevent mail theft.”