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Mail-sorting runs amok As many Montrealers settle in after their July 1 move, they're wondering where their mail is. Chances are it's at the Mail Redirection Centre (MRC) downtown. In the last month, over 100,000 Montrealers have filed Change of Address forms with Canada Post--and virtually all their mail has to go through the MRC before it can get to them. "We hire extra staff every year to get through the summer," says spokesperson Line Brien. Canada Post's system for handling address changes is highly intricate. When you file a Change of Address form, Canada Post notifies your old letter carrier; when he receives mail destined for your old address, it's his job to flag it and re-route it to the MRC. Once there, MRC staff have the job of putting the yellow address-change sticker on your mail and shipping it off to your new letter carrier. Usually, says Brien, the system results in a delay of no more than one or two days. "It's not the kind of task a computer can do," Brien says. "It has to be done by hand because you have to check the names. But we have shuttles going back and forth daily between the MRC and the regional sorting centres to keep the mail moving." --Philip Preville
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