Canada Post is going replace the locks on thousands of community mailboxes after too many of them were frozen shut last winter.
The federal agency notified the first customers in September, and will continue working on the boxes over the next few months.
Work is currently being done in a number of areas including Montreal, Ottawa, the Eastern Townships, and parts of the Maritimes.
Customers are getting a notice in the mail, and a new key about two weeks before the change is made.
Spokesperson Jon Hamilton would not say exactly how many locks are being replaced nor would he say how much it is costing the Crown corporation.
"Unfortunately the design appeared to be susceptible to freezing rain. It was designed not to be. Rather than do whack-a-mole if there are issues this winter we decided let's just replace them all," said Hamilton.
It's not the first time the mailboxes have been criticized.
Many people find the boxes are too narrow, making it extremely difficult to reach items that are pushed all the way to the back.
Canada Post says it also frequently gets complaints that people cannot reach the boxes because of uncleared snow.
The original designer, Ross J. Slade, said what was built in 2014 is nothing at all like what he first specified in 1981.
His boxes have openings that are much more square, and were supposed to stand on legs so that snow would be pushed underneath.
The new version of the boxes, with its narrow fronts and freeze-prone locks, was unveiled in 2014.
About 5 million households in Canada use community mailboxes.
