Made me look twice

Mailbox mock-up outside The UPS Store, Kelowna, BC

The postal system in Canada is in a bit of a chaotic state. Door-to-door delivery is being phased out, the only thing that most people still get in their mail boxes are bills, and the security of the Canada Post "superboxes" is suspect at best.

So the UPS Store is trying to convince consumers to get their mail delivered to a box at one of the UPS Store locations. And why would you think that the UPS Store might be a good place to rent a mail box?

From the firm's founding in 1980 until its acquisition in 2001, these locations were known as Mail Boxes Etc. After the 2001 acquisition by UPS the Mail Boxes Etc. locations have been re-branded as UPS Stores.

I saw this cardboard mock-up of a stack of mail boxes from across the parking lot and did a double take. Of course the store is not putting mail boxes on the sidewalk in front of the store, but the very realistic mock-up sure caught my eye.