Documents published by CBC on Tuesday, July 30th revealed that over 48,000 incidents of community mailbox vandalism were reported to Canada Post since 2008, and Invermere only accounted for one of those.

In the online article, “Super mailboxes in B.C. targeted thousands of times, records reveal,” Invermere was indicated as having one box “found open.”

Incidents were also labelled as either: box/lock stolen, overturned, lock damage (may include general wear and tear), pried (includes lock damage and vandalism as a result of prying), vandalism/intentional lock damage/lock cut, theft after delivery, and other.

“Whether [the box found open in Invermere] wasn’t locked properly or someone tried to enter the box, we fixed that. If it’s an internal problem or an attempted break in, we deal with that and investigate,” Canada Post general manager of communications Jon Hamilton told The Echo. “It’s difficult to say what that might have been.”

Mr. Hamilton said that because of the increasing trend of online shopping, community mailboxes — with over 450,000 units in the province — are becoming more popular than ever for receiving packages.

When incidents do occur, they are taken seriously and are dealt with through internal investigators and local authorities.

“Rest assured that a community mailbox is a very safe way to receive your mail and parcels; they’ve been in use for decades,” he said. “Some four million Canadians use them, and only very rarely are there incidents.”

While there have been nearly 50,000 mailbox incidents in B.C. over the past five years, Mr. Hamilton said the rate is not increasing.

“Certain areas are higher risk, but Invermere is not one of those places.”

Concerned customers can call the service line at 1-877-683-5895 on weekdays, but Mr. Hamilton said Canada Post will notify customers if there is any reason for worry.

“We’ve got a lot of furniture on the street,” he said. “We keep a close eye on it – we attend them all several times each day.”