There are indeed hazards on the job for your friendly neighbourhood letter carrier.
“Most of the injuries that Canada Post employees suffer are dog bites,” according to Al Pellerin. He’s a superintendent at Canada Post, explaining why stickers showing the yellow silhouette of a dog are showing up on home mailboxes in Timmins.
“Paw Patrol” originated in Sudbury. It’s intended to remind letter carriers – especially those who work on a casual or relief basis – of which homes have dogs.
Pellerin says home owners are generally very receptive to the idea.
“We knock on the door, we ask permission to the customers, ‘Is it okay if we put this yellow sticker on your mailbox’ and it just brings awareness to our employees,” he says.
The vast majority of homeowners say yes.
“We deliver to anywhere 600-800 points of call a day,” says Pellerin. “ So for someone to try to remember every dog, that’s not used to that route, to try to remember that this house has a dog. If they’re only remembering an address or maybe two addresses, it makes it a little easier than the whole entire route itself.”