One man's cheeky response to an arachnophobic mail carrier

When Kevin Keating of Dartmouth stopped receiving his mail, he never dreamed a tiny spider could be the culprit.

Of course, the spider wasn’t stealing his mail, but it did play a part in its hiatus. And after eight days of opening an empty mailbox, the answer to the mystery was handwritten on a yellow Post-it note stuck to a bundle of letters: “spider web.”

Keating’s letter carrier refused to deliver his mail because there was a spider web in the walkway leading up to the mailbox.

“Isn’t that ridiculous? What’s the next thing? Bumblebees, butterflies, ants?” said Keating, who lives in a house at 56 Woodland Ave.

He said when he went outside to investigate, he could “barely see” the web that prevented him from receiving his mail from Sept. 14-23.

“Had this person brought this to light, I would have dealt with it that day. I wouldn’t have cared,” he said, mentioning he has two other entrances the carrier could have used.

But instead, Keating was forced to make multiple phone calls to Canada Post, and eventually the context of the Post-it note was revealed.

Lori Lancaster, manager of media relations for Canada Post in Atlantic Canada, said stopping delivery to a residence is a serious recourse and that, in this case, proper protocol wasn’t followed.

“Health and safety is a pretty serious matter for Canada Post, but spider webs certainly do not fall into those hazards,” she said, mentioning the person was a replacement carrier filling in for a regular.

Lancaster said Canada Post tells all its carriers to be “mindful of potential hazards,” including loose stones on walkways or missing handrails on stairs. If something comes up, a carrier is supposed to alert a supervisor immediately.

Keating’s carrier failed to do that.

“She was obviously overzealous,” said Lancaster.

She said managers have spoken with the carrier and reiterated company protocol.